Josep Borrell, EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, delivered a lecture on Friday evening at the university of Oxford outlining the global challenges facing Europe.
The lecture was given in memory of former European Commissioner Ralf Dahrendorf, a German-British political scientist and politician who opposed Nazism during WWII, at Saint Anthony’s College which focuses on international relations.
“I have always been very much interested in bringing together the world of ideas and politics,” Borrell started. “People who think, and people who act. I enjoy moments like this with people who think deeply about what is happening in this contested and challenging world.”
Borrell sees a world with more confrontation, more polarity and less multilateralism. China has risen to super-power status, rivalling the US and Europe not just in manufacturing, but also in military power, and supporting Russia. At the same time, middle powers such as India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, South Africa or Turkey are emerging as important actors on the global stage.
“We, Europeans, wanted to create in our neighbourhood a ring of friends. Instead of that, what we have today is a ring of fire. A ring of fire coming from the Sahel to the Middle East, the Caucasus and now in the battlefields of Ukraine.”
And there are two wars where people are fighting for the same land, he continued. "This shows that geography is back. Most of the conflicts in our neighbourhood are territorial – they are about land. A land that has been promised to two people, in the case of Palestine, and a land at the crossroads of two worlds, in the case of Ukraine."
There was no doubt that Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is “Europe’s most existential threat. Although not everyone in the European Council will share this view.” Under Putin’s leadership, Russia has returned to the imperialist understanding of the world. Imperial Russia from the Tzar times and the Soviet empire times have been rehabilitated by Putin dreaming of a former size and influence.
He admitted that the EU did not see it coming. “Today, Putin’s Russia is an existential threat to us all. If Putin succeeds in Ukraine, he will not stop there.” The prospect of having in Kyiv a puppet government like the one in Belarus, and the Russian troops on the Polish border, and Russia controlling 44% of the world’s grain market is something that Europeans should be aware of.
Borrell also broke the façade of EU’s united solidarity with Ukraine. “But you know as well as I, that there are EU Member States that still do not share this assessment. And in a Union governed by unanimity our policies on Russia are always threatened by a single veto, as Victor Orban proved by delaying our last assistance package to Ukraine.”
In fact, the European Commission proposal more than two months ago to use the extraordinary revenues from the immobilised Russian Central Bank assets in the EU for the benefit of Ukraine has still not been adopted by the Council. The idea was to use most of the revenues to finance the procurement of ammunition and weapons. The Belgian EU Presidency is still working on a “compromise” solution.
“We Europeans were not prepared for the harshness of the world, to which we have finally woken up.” Borrell said. He referred to “the horrible terrorist attack by Hamas of 7 October and Israel’s response – for many people, the disproportionate response – (which) plunged the Middle East into the worst cycle of violence in decades.”
“Just before the 7th of October, many believed that the Abraham Accords had diluted the Palestinian issue. Well, they had not.”
He was adamant about that Principles, Cooperation and Strength are the three pillars that should guide the EU in this emerging new, dangerous world order. The first principle outlaws “the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state”. Russia has violated this principle.
The other principle is anchored in international humanitarian law and “regulates how wars are fought and safeguards the protection of civilians”. Both Russia and Israel are violating this principle.
Borrell repeated that he is often confronted with the accusation of double standards and has still difficulties managing them. “But the fact is, people have not forgotten the war in Iraq, even if some EU Member States did not participate. Others participated with a lot of enthusiasm and other quickly withdrew. This is the case of the country I know best” (Spain).
The accusation of double standards is often made by countries in the South that have neither condemned Russia’s aggression nor Hamas terrorist attack on 7 October. We keep trying to explain EU decision making processes, he said. We keep trying to explain the different historical experiences of our Member States.
“We all agree that Hamas has sparked this new cycle of violence with their atrocious attack, that we have to condemn once and again. But what has happened in Gaza [in the following] 6 months is another horror. And one horror cannot justify another.” He did not differentiate between Hamas militants and civilians among the dead in Gaza.
“We have been united in front of Ukraine, we remained united in front of Russia. We have not been united in giving an answer, a basic answer condemning Hamas, asking for the freedom of the hostages, asking for humanitarian support, asking for a political solution. It has to be converted in actions, not just in declarations.”
Borrell finished his original lecture on a positive note to the students at Oxford. "We are facing significant challenges, but in many ways, you are graduating into the freest Europe there has ever been. This is something worth defending. The economy of free and democratic Europe is more than 10 times that of Russia, and even our combined defence spending is 4 times higher – even though it is still too fragmented.”
The Ukrainian existence depends on us, he concluded. “If I cut the supply of arms to Ukraine, Ukraine cannot resist, they will have to surrender, and the war will finish. On the contrary, we will do whatever we can in order to provide the Ukrainians with the military and political support, and we will provide the people in the Middle East all our political engagement to look for a fair peace.”
As regards the Middle East conflict, the challenge is to look for a peace plan, he said. Israelis and Palestinians could live side-by-side in peace and security although the prospects for that have never been so bleak.
To contribute to peace in the Middle East, the international community needs to get actively involved in the process. But besides organising a preparatory peace conference, the European External Action Service (EEAS), which he heads, has not come up with any concrete ideas for relaunching the two-state solution process and making the two state-solution achievable.
Mitvim, an Israeli think tank, published recently the “Israeli Initiative” which offers a political horizon for both Palestinians and Israelis. It starts with an exit strategy for ending the war in Gaza and continues with the gradual establishment of a demilitarized, peaceful Palestinian state in a few years’ time from now. The opening phase will include the convening of an international peace conference.
Borrell’s lecture also dealt with other global changes such as international trade, solidarity and climate change. For his full speech, click here.
M. Apelblat
The Brussels Times
