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Quest Means Business

Brussels Braces for Fallout of Conflict; Powell: I Won't Step Down Until Investigation Truly Over; E.U. Lawmakers to Hold Vote on U.S. Trade Deal Thursday; Trump Waives U.S. Shipping Law for 60 Days to Ease Oil Prices; Trump Blasts Allies for Not Supporting U.S. war Efforts; E.U. Standard of Living and Regulations; Interview with Wizz Air CEO Jozsef Varadi. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired March 18, 2026 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[16:00:20]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Closing bell ringing now on Wall Street and it has been a fairly torrid session one way

or another. The market is firmly lower with all the major indices. We will show you over the course of the program. And in fact, if I am not mistaken,

we are at the low point of the day. Sir, bring us out, put us out of our misery. Haywood -- one and two and one, two, three, four.

The trading is over. Those are the markets and the main events we are talking about tonight. Jerome Powell says he has no intention of leaving

the Federal Reserve until the Department of Justice ends its investigation into him and various activities.

Also tonight, Europe is facing a double crisis, soaring energy costs and a growing anger from President Trump over its refusal to offer military

support.

You're going to hear tonight on this program from the European Commission's EVP, executive vice president, because we are in Brussels, that I will tell

you more about it and the E.U. Parliament just up the road, they are preparing to vote on a long awaited trade deal with the U.S., the Europe's

Trade Commissioner tells me, Washington must stick to its side of the bargain, and it all hopes it over by the summer.

We will get to all of that, because tonight QUEST MEANS BUSINESS live from brussels on Wednesday. It is March the 18th. I am Richard Quest, and you

better believe it, in Brussels, I mean business.

Good evening.

Tonight, we are at the heart of the E.U., Europe -- E.U., as the bloc tries to head off the ripple effects of the Iran War. Leaders around the

continent are trying to resist President Trump's pressure to become more involved in the conflict the. The United States President is not taking

kindly to their reticence.

People here are bracing for an energy shock. The price of natural gas has spiked in the last few weeks, and that's going to be on the top of mind for

the European Central Bank as it makes its decision tomorrow, by the way, not only is the ECB making its decision, but on Friday, there is a European

Council.

Tonight, we will be speaking to the E.U. head of competition, Teresa Ribera of Spain, Europe's Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic, will be joining us

and the European Parliament Member, Hana Jalloul Muro will be joining me here live in the studio talking about that as well.

Tonight, you're going to hear from the CEO of the European aviation giant, the central European giant, Wizz Air, Jozsef Varadi. What a busy program we

have over the course of the next hour.

The chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, in the last hour or so has said he is not and will not step down until the investigation is over --

into him is over.

Chair Powell spoke after the Fed left interest rates on hold. Now, that was widely expected. The Fed Chair's term is set to expire after the next Fed

meeting, and a federal judge recently stalled the criminal investigation into him. It basically threw out the summon -- thew out the subpoena, but

the U.S. Attorney has said she is going to appeal, so Powell told reporters, if Trump's pick, Kevin Warsh is not confirmed by the time his

term is over, he will continue to serve as chair pro tem.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEROME POWELL, U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: That is what the law calls for. That's what we have done on several occasions, including involving me,

and it is what we are going to do in this situation, and while I am at it, on the question of whether I will leave while the investigation is ongoing,

I have no intention of leaving the board until the investigation is well and truly over with transparency and finality, and I would refer you to the

statement that was in the Fed's brief that you all have seen, and I won't have anything more for you on that.

On the question of whether I will then continue to serve as a governor after my term ends and after the investigation is over, I have not made

that decision yet and I will make that decision based on what I think is best for the institution and for the people we serve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Vanessa is with me, Vanessa Yurkevich in Washington at the Federal Reserve.

[16:05:08]

Theres a real fiesta of information there, wasn't it? He is going to stay on. He is going to stay on until the new guy is in and until the

investigation is over. So that's not particularly encouraging for President Trump.

But he hasn't made the big decision on whether to stay as a governor and crucially, they left rates alone but are watching inflation because of oil.

Have I got it just about the gist?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: That's just about it. We've got a lot of news in the press conference and a lot of news

actually from Jerome Powell that he preempted.

He didn't even let us get to questions about this DOJ investigation and whether or not he would stay on as a board member. I guess, he knew those

questions were coming. But as you mentioned, there is some question about whether or not Trump's nominee for the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh will be

confirmed in time by the time that Jerome Powell leaves office.

He said he is going to stay on as chairman pro tem until Kevin Warsh fills his seat and then he went on to say that he is going to remain on the board

until the DOJ investigation is wrapped up.

And as you mentioned, a judge did block that DOJ investigation into Jerome Powell. It is over not whether he lied to Congress over the scope and size

of the renovations at the Federal Reserve building. He said he is going to stay there until that's wrapped up.

Once that's over with and who knows when that will be, Richard, he says he hasn't made a decision if he is going to stay at the Federal Reserve.

However, he did say he is going to make that decision based on whether or not he is serving those that they serve in the best way and those that he

serves is the American people, is the public.

And so Jerome Powell, very much alluding to his future as far as he can tell us, but the future of Jerome Powell at the Federal Reserve remains

unknown in terms of the length of time that he is going to be spending here at the Fed. And to just note on the Federal Reserve's decision today, they

did leave rates unchanged for the second time in a row this year after cutting rates three times.

There was a lot of talk of uncertainty, though, going forward, Richard, as you mentioned, a huge war with Iran sending oil prices soaring across the

globe impact to gas prices here in the United States and Jerome Powell said that he and many members of the board just don't know where the economy is

going and so they need to wait and see before they make any decisions on changing that Fed Funds Rate -- Richard.

QUEST: Vanessa, I am grateful. Vanessa is in Washington at the Fed.

On that question of monetary policy and how the war is causing more uncertainty than usual and the difficulties of doing it. Take a look at

exactly at what is happening at the moment, and you will start to see.

If you look at the way monetary policy has been moving, the dot-plot shows fewer members expect to cut rates and this is how you can tell. You see the

way those numbers go over there and you see them over here in the middle. That shows the larger number of people who are now starting to be more

concerned looking into the future than, say for example, where we start at the beginning because it is rather difficult to understand exactly what

happens.

Now, Chair Powell cautions that these predictions were made, these predictions were made very much with fairly low conviction and that if

there was ever a dot-plot to skip, it would have been this particular one.

Onto the big board now and you'll see the Fed Chair repeatedly pointed out that inflation has been above target for the past five years, which of

course, is by no means an achievement. The comments helped push stocks lower that, of course, a direct interpretation that they are not going to

cut rates further.

David Malpass is with me. How lucky we are tonight. Former president of the World Bank, now Vice Chair at American Global Strategies.

David, if I may, the problem here is we know the economic impact of the war is how long and how deep and that's the great unknown. What are you making

of it?

DAVID MALPASS, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD BANK: Hi Richard. Well, difficult situations worldwide, but one thing I note is that the market

fell more and more as it became clear that Chair Powell would stay on and to me, the key issue is whether the Federal Reserve is going to do reforms.

I have been a critic of their models, they don't work and the inflation model in particular is not a useful model. So what does the market make of

it? That the reforms are being delayed, which is problematic.

On the positive side, one thing to make of it is markets are forward looking.

[16:10:10]

And there are some positive changes going on that will affect oil. One was the Jones Act waiver that was put forward today. I think that will have

more impact than people realize and that's good.

Also, the Saudis are pushing more oil through the cross -- the pipeline that goes over to the Red Sea, and so that's an important exit point for

Saudi oil and will add to global supplies and you could add to that list.

So there is some good things going on. The market is digesting it all real time.

QUEST: What do you -- where do you think the risk basis is though having -- bearing in mind that the positive nature of what you've said, at best, they

sort of negate the downside risk. And I think would you agree that the risk is still very firmly edged towards the downside?

MALPASS: Well, no, I am not sure I agree with that. The risk is that day by day, Iran is still attacking the oil in the Strait of Hormuz which is going

to take time to resolve. So, that is a daily risk, but the bigger issue is the risk longer term and we have been in this before that the Fed will keep

doing its inflation targeting model, which has made such massive mistakes in the past.

And so, I think markets are looking at that prospect that as oil feeds into gasoline, then the Fed says, well, that's a justification for higher

interest rates, not lower interest rates. They were pretty decided on that and the number of dissents went down today in the FOMC meeting.

QUEST: You raise a very, very good point on this question of the Fed's inflation model because Kevin Warsh has made it clear that reform is part -

- a big part of what he intends to do, reaching agreement on what that reform will look like will not be that straightforward.

But as you point out, to have been over your target for so long, calls into question the way in which you're going about your business.

MALPASS: That's right. I think the Fed feels that if they just put rates high enough, inflation will go down, which is not really a viable strategy.

So, you know I would like to see them recognize that inflation is backward looking and therefore not a satisfactory target for the Fed setting

interest rates. Same thing on the balance sheet side. You know, they are expanding rapidly the size of their balance sheet, which I think drains

money from the short end of the curve and makes it harder to adjust to the supply chain needs of the economy, so they're going in the wrong direction

on that.

And in both cases, you have to create the foundation for a better, stronger Fed model that doesn't make the mistakes that they have made repeatedly in

the past.

President David Malpass, former, of the World Bank, we will look forward, hopefully please to you joining us in the future so we can actually analyze

the changes. I am grateful for your time tonight, sir. Thank you.

QUEST: Now, the head of the E.U.'s clean energy transition told me today that the E.U. is not currently planning direct support for either countries

or companies in some shape or form.

Commissioner Teresa Ribera says it has already diversified its supplies after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Now, the Commissioner told me, the

conflict shows the need for Europe to have its own independent supply of clean energy, which of course is all about renewables.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TERESA RIBERA, E.U. EVP FOR A CLEAN, JUST AND COMPETITIVE TRANSITION: We need to accelerate this transition, yes, when we cut off from Russia, we

were trying to diversify our suppliers and this meant going to the LNG coming from the United States and Qatar. Those were our main suppliers

since this point in time. The United States LNG has grown up four times since 2022, now, we cannot diversify anymore.

We need to think how we can get rid of that as soon as possible, even if we are aware that for a while, we will still need LNG. We need to come up with

short term measures to provide relief, but at the very same time, to bet on the deep transformation.

[16:15:10]

Let's talk about the relief first, and then we will do the deep transformation. What relief are you proposing?

RIBERA: There are things that are already within around regulation, for instance, we have created an emissions trading scheme that allows to count

on a big amount of money in our budgets, and this can be used to facilitate the cost of electricity, the cost of energy to our industries, up to 80

percent, so it is quite a lot.

We can work on households and efficiency measures in our bills, in our housing, and we should be thinking of how we can come up with direct

subsidies to the families and that is covered with a common framework to avoid -- to prevent market fragmentation.

QUEST: Right. But do you see in this current crisis the need to provide direct support, state aid for energy companies and the provision of energy?

RIBERA: I could say that it is not yet the case, we are better prepared than in the previous occasion, but I think that we will always be

supporting our people, our citizens, to afford the short term shocking situations.

So, we need to be ready in case it is needed. Is it the case already? Probably not. And we would love that this case never arrives.

QUEST: As you look at that, let's talk about the transition. We are going to need fossil fuels for a very long time. You know that, everybody knows

it. The idea of --

RIBERA: What do you mean by a very long time?

QUEST: Fifty years, 60 years, 70 years.

RIBERA: Maybe not so long.

QUEST: Really?

RIBERA: Well, you know that we decided not so far ago and reality shows that it is a good case to be defended. That we aim to be fully decarbonized

by 2050. That's not 50 years. That's 25 years.

That means electrifying to the extent possible.

QUEST: Electrifying running on what?

RIBERA: Running on homegrown technologies so to say, wind and solar that prevent from any type of bombing or aggressivity around the availability of

fossil fuels. Thinking on being much more efficient and effective, using the grids and interconnections. So to be able to count on the

complementarities, developing the capacity to store our electricity, or facilitating the creation of green molecules around hydrogen.

So, it is not that we don't need fossil fuels for a while. Of course, we need fossil fuels for a while, but the quicker we go, the more freedom that

we get and the more competitive that our economies will be.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: And we will hear more from the Commissioner of Competition, particularly on the question of competition with Teresa Ribera later, when

I will ask her about whether the E.U. is simply too aggressive with regulation, as well as what she will consider as paramount aims to buy our

parent company, Warner Bros Discovery. Nothing like asking the Commissioner. Don't worry, she didn't give any secrets away.

E.U. lawmakers are set to vote this week on a trade deal with the United States. I spoke to the European Commission's trade chief about those

negotiations. The Turnberry Agreement and how it's going now to be put into force.

QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:21:13]

QUEST: Good evening from Brussels. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS tonight coming from the heart of the European Union and the Commission.

E.U. lawmakers are holding a key vote on Thursday on a trade deal with the United States, the so-called Turnberry Agreement.

The Parliament's Trade Committee is proposing to cut E.U. duties on U.S. goods. It is all part of that deal that Ursula von der Leyen reached with

Donald Trump in Scotland. It will also expand access for agricultural products and seafood from the United States.

It was part of the agreement that was struck in Scotland last summer, and now, they are adding a Sunrise Clause as well, making duty cuts conditional

on Washington sticking to its 15 percent import tariff ceiling, because of course, the whole thing got caught up badly by the Supreme Court decision.

I spoke to the European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Development who joined me, and I asked him about the negotiations.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAROS SEFCOVIC, EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER FOR TRADE AND ECONOMIC SECURITY: The fact that when we've been negotiating a deal, I believe that both sides

clearly understood that this is the most consequential of the trade relationship the E.U. and U.S. had. I mean, because we should never forget

that the number one destination for U.S. exports and goods and services, that its $1.7 trillion between the two of us and we are also the biggest

investor in the United States of America, more than $3 trillion, creating more than three million of jobs.

So therefore, we approach this deal negotiations very responsibly. And I think we all have our procedures and currently, this is in the Parliament

and I am sure that we would respect our part of the deal and we of course, expect that the United States will do the same.

QUEST: But they say you're going slow.

SEFCOVIC: Well, I think we are going according to our, you know, parliamentary procedures. So, this week there will be a vote in

Parliamentary Committee. I believe that very soon we will have a vote in the Parliament. So, I believe, it would be done before the summer and I

hope that also United States of America will be done before summer, because they also have to respect their part of the bargain.

QUEST: How difficult is it when they keep changing the rules? By that, I mean the tariffs. So for instance, you end up with the Supreme Court

decision which overturned the tariffs which then he -- the President imposes more. Do you actually know what the tariff is for the E.U.?

SEFCOVIC: I think I have to say that immediately after the Supreme Court's ruling, I got a phone call from both of my partners, Secretary Lutnick and

Ambassador Greer, we kind of talked it through. We know that they are looking into this as a transitional period. They assured me that we are

talking about three to four months, and then we go back to the deal, 15 percent all-inclusive tariffs for European products with, of course,

important carve outs like aircraft and air parts.

And for us, it is very important because I also have my domestic audience and I am reassuring them that the deal is a deal. Americans will respect

their part of the bargain and we will do the same.

QUEST: But you can't be sure?

SEFCOVIC: I mean, you have to trust your partners because, I mean, I do a lot of these negotiations, and I think we had so many meetings with my

partners that we developed also very strong personal relationship, and I trust them. They do their best and the same on my side.

QUEST: What do you make of the President's threat to stop trading with Spain, bearing in mind because of the way they've behaved, in his view over

the war over NATO, five percent, and Iran, what is your understanding of the President's phrase, I am going to stop trading with Spain.

SEFCOVIC: Of course, I mean, if it comes to trade, this is what we called in Brussels, European exclusive competence.

[16:25:10]

So it is a European Commission, it is me who is negotiating on behalf of 27 member states. And we, of course, will always will stand by our member

states and of course, I discuss it with my counterparts in the U.S.

My major goal is to de-escalate the situation. I think we are going in the right direction, and I believe that what is the priority for the U.S. is

the priority for us. Let's stick to the bargain we got in Turnberry.

QUEST: Right, I understand, and I can see why you'd say that, but did you ring up either, Commissioner either Secretary Lutnick or Ambassador Greer

and say, what does the President mean? Have you forgotten it is a European competency? It is not Spain. You can't stop trade with Spain without us.

SEFCOVIC: I think, of course, we discussed all the issues, but, you know, I wouldn't be a good diplomat and commissioner if I would reveal private

conversations. We are working on de-escalating all the tensions, and we are focusing on the ball. It means delivery on the deal, growing of the trade

and investments, which are crisscrossing the Atlantic and that is our goal and that's my priority.

QUEST: Supply chains once again, are being completely disrupted by the war in Iran. Fuel obviously is the obvious one, but also the container ships,

the sheer amount of disruption to global trade at the moment is very worrying.

SEFCOVIC: It is. And I have to say that therefore, we've been, of course, looking very carefully at the figures and the numbers we got over the last

year and I have to say that in spite of all the turbulence, if it comes to the United States that our trade was growing, and I think in a positive

sense from both sides, of course, now, we would have to factor in this level of instability.

And therefore, what we did was that we've been doing our utmost to diversify the portfolio of our trade partners. So currently, we are the

biggest trader on this planet. So, we trade more than U.S. We trade more with China.

We have free trade agreements with 80 countries plus, and of course, it helps us to make sure that we would have quite diverse portfolio of the

partners. So I believe that we can rebalance some of these issues. But I think that trade, you are absolutely right, would suffer because, of

course, the major sea line is disrupted. Of course container ships, as you said, many of them are stranded.

So I think it would be the challenge for all of us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: That's the European Trade Commissioner. The deal is going to the Parliament.

Oil prices are rising quite sharply as Middle East energy facilities gas, particularly a gas production plant has come under attack.

Now The White House is pausing a century-old rule, the Jones Act, to steady the market. The Jones Act -- I will tell you about that and my experience

with the Jones Act in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:31:11]

QUEST: Hello. I'm Richard Quest.

We have a lot more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS from Brussels tonight. We'll have the Wizz Air chief executive Joe Varadi, who will join me. Wizz has

canceled many of its flights to the Middle East. It's undergoing a large transition, and we'll catch up on exactly how they are performing.

Also, President Trump is blasting Europe again for staying on the sidelines of the Iran conflict. With me in a moment or three the vice chair of the

European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs. We'll get to all of that after the headlines because, well, you know how this goes. This is

CNN, and on this network, the news always comes first.

The U.S. National Intelligence director says Iran's government is degraded, but remains intact. Tulsi Gabbard told U.S. senators that Tehran remains

capable of attacking U.S. and allied interests in the Middle East. She also said only the president can decide if a country poses an imminent threat.

Israel has killed Iran's intelligence minister. Esmail Khatib was targeted in an overnight strike in Tel Aviv -- in Tehran, I beg your pardon, just

days after killing the country's top security official, Ali Larijani. His death marks the latest attack by Israel on the country's senior leadership.

The Federal Reserve has voted to hold rates steady in the 3.5 percent to 3.75 percent range. That is the target reference range, as it's known. The

Fed chair Jerome Powell says the war with Iran is creating uncertainty over policy makers predict higher inflation, steady unemployment and only one

rate cut this year when you take a look at the dot plot.

In the last hour, Qatar's Interior Ministry says a key gas complex has been targeted by Iran. Qatar Energy says the missile strike caused significant

damage and the crews are working to contain the resulting fire. Saudi Arabia said it intercepted four ballistic missiles targeting Riyadh. Debris

fell in various parts of the city, though no damage reported. It's happened close to where foreign ministers gathered for a meeting on regional

security.

Oil prices continue to rise quite sharply. Brent -- sorry, West Texas, WTI crude, rose 2 percent. Brent, the price of crude is up 5.5 percent, now

trading at $105 a barrel. Just off the tops of the day.

The White House is attempting to ease prices by lifting shipping restrictions with the so-called Jones Act. The waiver allows -- it's

complicated but basically a foreign ship can pick up stuff in the U.S. and drop it off in the U.S. without touching a foreign port. The Jones Act goes

back a century, typically only permits U.S. flag ships to move goods between U.S. ports.

Anna Cooban is in London.

Anna, two views. David Malpass, former president of the World Bank, on this program a short moment ago, he said he thought the Jones Act would have a

bigger impact, but most people seem to think or a lot of people seem to think negligible.

ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS CORRESPONDENT: I think that's the sort of general view, Richard, is that this is going to do something but

not enough. Now, the Jones Act, as you mentioned there, it's a very old law. I've printed it off right here. It's only about 40 pages. It was

signed in 1920 by Woodrow Wilson, and this was a protectionist act.

[16:35:08]

It was basically designed as a way to help grow and protect the U.S. shipbuilding industry. But it's not just U.S. flag vessels, it's U.S. made

vessels, U.S. crewed vessels, and really, when we're getting to that sort of level of made in the USA, they tend to be more expensive. And so what

this is hoping to achieve is actually reducing the cost of shipping fuels around the U.S. easing that flow.

And by removing this essentially protectionist measure, I think that's very much a sign of the times of the level of, you know, the level of crisis we

are currently in in terms of trying to lower the price of gas. The gas that people put in their cars, that's up over 30 percent in the past month.

Diesel, a key fuel that helps ship goods around with trucks and business transportation costs, that has now surpassed the $5 a gallon mark. The

first time it's done that since December 2022.

So ever the United States can do it is trying to do including repealing this very old protectionist law, Richard.

QUEST: I'm well familiar with the Jones Act. I actually broke it but that's a story for another day in different circumstances.

Anna Cooban, thank you.

President Trump is lashing out at U.S. allies who reject his call to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. The president suggested they take

responsibility for it after the U.S. handles the threat from Tehran. Now, Mr. Trump has been criticizing NATO countries all week for remaining on the

sidelines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They're not cooperating at all. Spain, I think, they've been very bad. Very bad. Not good at all. We

may cut off trade with them.

I think NATO is making a very foolish mistake. And I've long said that, you know, I wonder whether or not NATO would ever be there for us. So this is a

-- this was a great test because we don't need them, but they should have been there. I'm disappointed with -- I like him, I think he's a nice man,

but I'm disappointed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Hana Muro is the vice chair of the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, also a member of the Delegation for Relations with the

Arab Peninsula, is with me now.

Good to see you. Thank you.

HANA JALLOUL MURO, VICE-CHAIR, EU PARLIAMENT'S COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Good to see you, too. Thank you.

QUEST: The difficulty now is that European countries and your own country, Spain particularly, are being painted as being the bad. The bad actors

here. That don't want to get involved, that don't want to help the United States, even though you're going to benefit from the work that's being

done.

JALLOUL MURO: Well, that's not entirely true. What we have always said, my president, Pedro Sanchez, always says that we don't support any military

unilateral intervention without the support of the Security Council of the United Nations. So he has always taken this position. He always spoke

about, you know, not having double standards when he supported Palestine or the Ukraine. So the issue is that we cannot support something. It has not

been consistent through United Nations.

QUEST: Right. What role do you see for the building behind and the building where you are up the street?

JALLOUL MURO: I think that we need to be united in what we have in front of us. Now first of all, we have been very, very vocal all together against

the government of Iran. And I want to say that. My prime minister, too. Talking about putting, you know, the Revolutionary Guard under the E.U.

terrorist list, confronting the government because of the lack of respect for human rights in the country. But now we need to be united for what we

have in front of us. You know, a very big energy crisis due to this war.

QUEST: OK. OK.

JALLOUL MURO: Consequence of this war.

QUEST: Right. But under the Pottery Barn principle, which you're all familiar with, you know, you break it, you own it, the U.S. is in this

mess. Israel is in this mess, and so are the rest of us by default. Doesn't it sort of require us to help the U.S. get out of it?

JALLOUL MURO: Yes. And this should be talking about de-escalation and diplomatic means and ending the war as soon as possible. This passes

through that, you know, because by now we have -- we have almost one million displaced in Lebanon and many more than 1,000 people that are dead.

Today the infrastructures of the country were bombed. Where does this lead us to? This is one.

And second, we are scared also about the consequences with terrorist groups aligning themselves. We want to end the militias in the Middle East. We

support any actions against Hezbollah and Hamas, but we need to understand that many civilians are being killed, and this is not bringing any solution

by far. Where is the end of this war? What is the outcome of this war? We cannot see the end because also the U.S. is not putting, you know, there's

no light on what is going to be the day after.

QUEST: So --

JALLOUL MURO: That's worrying, I will say.

QUEST: As the vice chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, how bad are relations between Europe and the United States now? And I'm not talking

about people to people. I'm talking about government to government.

[16:40:05]

JALLOUL MURO: Well, I would say that I would not put it in that sense. What we have to do now is to be together, all of us, in order to defend our

interests, our interests now, and to do safeguard and protect our citizens for this crisis. We are going to confront this energy crisis the U.S. have

put us through. We want to have good transatlantic relationship with the U.S. I think the president of the commission, Ursula von der Leyen, show

her willingness to have good relations with the U.S., with the tariff agreements that, you know, was negotiated with the -- we accepted 50

percent tariff.

QUEST: But aren't you playing -- aren't just continuing to play the game that Mark Carney talked about at Davos? You're all still hoping out of hope

that somehow the United States is going to -- under Trump is going to let you do what you want or he's not going to exact revenge on you. And I

always wonder, at what point will daylight dawn?

JALLOUL MURO: Well, why do we have to be expecting or waiting for him to tell us what we have to do? We need to be independent in very good

relations and relation of respect with U.S. But we need to think in our own interests and to have our strategic autonomy. And this is depending on the

leadership we want to have, you know, with the rest of the world. We need to think in our leadership and our strategic autonomy, safeguarding our

relationship with the U.S.

QUEST: Just a quick one before we finish, because since you're here, we might as well get. Are you in favor and are you going to pass the Turnberry

Agreement, trade agreement?

JALLOUL MURO: We are going to push for strong safeguards and guarantees tomorrow to make sure that the United States respect the agreement that we

got last July, and we have to push for that.

QUEST: I'm very grateful. Thank you so much for coming in.

JALLOUL MURO: Thanks to you.

QUEST: And kind of you for joining us tonight. Thank you very much.

JALLOUL MURO: Thank you. Bye-bye.

QUEST: Now in just a moment more of my conversation with Commissioner Ribera, the executive vice president of a critical European Commission. I

asked her what she thinks of people who joke about E.U. regulations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERESA RIBERA, E.U. EVP FOR A CLEAN, JUST AND COMPETITIVE TRANSITION: I think that this is people that may be jealous of the high quality of life

in Europe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:44:50]

QUEST: The E.U.'s new competition chief winning the job just over a year says she thinks people are jealous of the bloc's high standard of living

when they complain about European regulation.

[16:45:02]

Just last year, the E.U. handed out large fines to Meta, to Apple, and to Google, and in doing so, they drew the ire of President Trump and many in

the United States.

So I asked Commissioner Ribera whether there is still a need to pursue similar cases under her administration.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RIBERA: I don't think that we've been aggressive. I think that we have tried to comply with our, what I would call constitutional obligation to

ensure a level playing field, and to prevent such a big concentration of power in a very few that nobody can challenge the traditional incumbents.

And then they could be abusing that position. And that's happening in the digital markets because digital is as energy, a very important part of our

day-to-day business, our day-to-day comfort in our home, in our house, in our families, in our households, in our industries.

So, yes, we need to pay attention to prevent this type of concentration of power. And we have nice regulations that allow us to be a -- how to say,

upfront, identifying how we can ensure interoperability, how we can ensure that any new challenger can access to the data so I think that that's the

intention. In many cases, in most of the cases, it's not even about fines, but learning how to ensure these interoperability and level playing field

so to prevent abuses that could dismantle the possibility of advertisers or media taking the role.

QUEST: Media, I'm so glad you mentioned that. I would be remiss if I didn't talk about my own company because the merger of Paramount, Skydance and

Warner Bros. Discovery, unless I'm very much mistaken, is going to end up on your desk.

RIBERA: It may be the case, yes. It may be the case, but in fact it's big companies covering a big share of the market. So I cannot project. I don't

know what it will find, but it is interesting.

QUEST: What would be the principles that you're looking at?

RIBERA: Well, we could be, if this means that there could not be, for instance, an option to sell your creativity, your products to any other

company than the result of this merger. That could be an impactful and negative outcome. Imagine that you are a fantastic writer of scripts and

you only can go through a single dominant corporate. That could not be good. You could be protesting, you could be saying, hey, I would like to

have other options.

So I think that we need, I cannot project, maybe everything is OK and there is no problem. But I think that it is because of the size, because of the

importance, there could probably be many people trying to identify to what extent it makes sense or not.

QUEST: What about that famous phrase? You know it well. America innovates, China duplicates, Europe regulates.

RIBERA: I think that this is a people that may be jealous of the high quality of life in Europe. Look, what we have got in terms of expectancy of

life, high quality of life, style for everybody. And in fact, we are great innovators too.

I was talking about renewable energy in the past five minutes ago. We still have lots of interesting cases around clean tech, and I think that this is

a very interesting driver, not only for the industrials that are consumers of those solutions, but also for those industrials and service providers

that know that the basis of our economy are changing deeply, and the more effective, the more efficient, the more smart we are in the use of

materials, the more competitive we may be.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Well, you can't blame me for asking the commissioner what she might do about the merger of our own company. But needless to say, I didn't get

anywhere.

As QUEST MEANS BUSINESS continues, more on the Middle East conflict ahead, including the impact on the aviation industry. We will be talking to the

CEO of the Hungarian airline giant Wizz Air, Jozsef Varadi, after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:51:57]

QUEST: Airline Wizz Air is one of many carriers suspending flights to the Middle East as the current war escalates. Excuse me. It is halting travel

to Tel Aviv until at least April 7th, which is particularly interesting since Tel Aviv and Israel is going to be the new big hub for Wizz. The

Hungarian Airlines also suspending flights between Europe and other destinations including the UAE and Jordan. A few weeks ago tens of

thousands of travelers were trapped in UAE hubs, many in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, following the closure of the airspace.

The chief executive of Wizz Air is Jozsef Varadi.

It's now good to see you as always, sir.

JOZSEF VARADI, CEO, WIZZ AIR: Good to see you, Richard.

QUEST: Let's just take, let's just pull this apart. First of all, fuel surcharges. What are you going to do with that?

VARADI: Well, we've never done fuel surcharge. And we will never do fuel surcharge. I don't think it works. At the end of the day, you have to

manage capacity against demand and price accordingly to market requirements. So fuel surcharge is not achieving anything. You're going to

have a problem when you stop it because this is going to hit your PNL. We've never done it. We will never do it.

QUEST: Well, hang on a second. You're very deliberate on that. Tony Fernandes on this program said he's put four of, you know, five to 7 seven

to 10 percent. We've seen Delta has put some on. It's costing you money on your margins.

VARADI: Well, we are pretty well-hedged for the next few months. We are hedged 80 percent of our fuel requirements for the next two months, over 70

percent for the next six months. So I don't think I'm under pressure with regard to fuel costs.

QUEST: When you hedge, that's such a risk. Many airlines don't hedge, U.S. carriers don't hedge or not much hedging but you are a firm believer in it.

VARADI: Well, look, we have been burning our fingers before so I think we became a little smarter. And of course when you hedge it is cost to the

business. The only guy who makes money on hedges really is the bank who provides the hedge. But at the end of the day when situation like this

happens, you are very well covered.

QUEST: It's looking rather prescient that you pulled out of Abu Dhabi in a sense, but at the same time, you've got people like AirAsia going into

Bahrain and you're retrenching back to your home turf.

VARADI: We are clearly seeing that, especially given the events unfolding at the moment, that demand is moving to Europe. We are seeing huge pick up

on European traffic on the short run. Next few weeks we are very strongly booked. Actually demand is increasing beyond expectations. Somebody is

getting very well booked in Europe, so we are just shifting demand from the Middle East to Europe.

QUEST: Right. But you can only grow so far in Central Europe. I'm guessing you're going to tell me about how many airports that there are still to be

opened up, but it's still not geographically expanding yourself.

VARADI: Well, we are actually. This summer we are growing 30 percent on seats in Europe. Some of it is Western European growth in Italy. Italy is a

very strong market for us, but most of the growth comes through Central Europe. Let's not forget Central and Eastern Europe is outpacing Western

Europe on GDP growth and GDP growth translates into discretionary spending and airline travel.

[16:55:01]

QUEST: Have you decided what you're doing with the XLRs? The, I mean, you've got lots of them. I'm guessing that there'll be people who'll take

them from you. They're not the best aircraft for what you wanted them for.

VARADI: Well, we have 11 of them precisely. Yet five to be delivered. We are going to fly a few extra routes, like from the U.K. to Saudi Arabia,

Jeddah and Medina. And some of them will be kind of backup operation when you have to avoid airspace and you have to fly longer range.

QUEST: Do you feel that you've sort of, I mean, you've not seen it all, but you've dealt with Ukraine. That was a big market for you. And now you're

having to deal with the Middle East. It's just one thing after another in terms of managing the crises.

VARADI: That makes you resilient day by day. I think we know how to handle this crisis. Actually I have to say that over the last five years this

crisis is the easiest to manage because we have learned a lot and we have not been so much exposed. We only had 40 percent -- 4 percent, sorry, of

our capacity designated to the Middle East.

QUEST: You've got a first class. I never thought, I never thought I'd hear the day where I would use those words. Wizz Air has a first class.

VARADI: You are very welcome to travel on our first class, if you call it first class.

QUEST: It's a -- it's a product at the front that's differentiated from the back.

VARADI: Look, I mean, we have become a big airline. A lot more segmented in terms of customers we are flying.

QUEST: Right.

VARADI: There are customer needs for more comfort and effectively we're not changing anything in the aircraft. It is the same seat configuration and we

are doing exactly the same what all the legacy carriers are doing for three times the price.

QUEST: How long have you been CEO now?

VARADI: Too long, 25 years.

QUEST: How long to go?

VARADI: I don't know. I think I still have a way to go.

QUEST: Good to see you as always. Thank you. Thank you very much indeed.

VARADI: Thank you. Thank you.

QUEST: We'll have a "Profitable Moment" after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: I promised you, I had to tell you about the Jones Act in tonight's "Profitable Moment."

So I boarded the ship in New York. It was heading for New Year's Eve. I was broadcasting, and we were sailing down on the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S.

and there was a plane crash. And the boss said to me, get off the ship. I need you back in New York to broadcast. I went to get off the ship at the

next thing, which was Florida, but we hadn't touched a foreign port and therefore the Jones Act.

Well, needless to say, we had to take great legal advice about this potential disaster of me breaking the Jones Act. I got off the ship. The

lawyer said, yes, don't worry, it's a fine. Don't worry, it's a fine. I got off the ship. I said to the customs guy, immigration guy, the Jones Act,

the Jones Act. He looked at me like I was mad. He said, just go. Go. So that's the Jones Act for you.

And that is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I don't know why I told you that. And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for this Wednesday night. I'm Richard Quest in

Brussels. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable. I'll be back in London tomorrow.

END