If Donald Trump returns to the White House, any “bridge” between the Trump-led US and Europe can only be formed by people who defend the EU project, Klaus Welle, a former secretary-general of the European Parliament (2009 to 2022), told Euractiv.

With the US presidential elections scheduled for Tuesday (5 November), Europe is preparing for how to deal with the results.

Welle, an experienced EU official who managed the European Parliament from 2009 to 2022 and currently is the head of the centre-right Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies’ Academic Council – close to the European People’s Party – described these US elections as the most “consequential” since World War II.