Europe lambasted for failing to deter Putin’s war
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DAVOS, Switzerland — The European Union failed to counter Russian President Vladimir PutinCurrent and ex-leaders told CNBC that they need to find new friendships and strike flexible alliances around the globe.
“We are too Euro-centric on this crisis, in the sense we think this is Russia versus the West — it is much broader than that,” Alexander Stubb, the former prime minister of Finland, said in Davos.
Josep Borrell (EU’s top diplomat) explained earlier this month that the West must pay greater attention to other countries, including China, in order to convince these nations to reject Moscow and its invasion of Ukraine.
Borrell, speaking to CNBC in the background of the G-7 meeting of foreign ministers, suggested that Europe had given up on trying align China to its views regarding the invasion. “To persuade China, [it]”It’s a hard task,” he stated to CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick, May 12.
The Chinese authorities have so far refused to fully denounce Russia’s unprovoked invasion of its neighbor — having abstained during a vote for a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Moscow.
China isn’t the only one that has remained silent during the conflict. Russia has been a topic of concern for India, Brazil, and the United Arab Emirates.
Stubb also served as Finland’s foreign and finance minister. He said the conflict in Ukraine has triggered a larger debate on the future global order.
CNBC’s he said that “it is an uncomfortable discussion for us Europeans or the North Americans, as we fully understand we have more to lose in this one.”
Borrell said that in order for the EU to reach its foreign policy goals, it might have to look beyond America. He suggested the EU had to find a way to engage with all people in the world, in order to understand what was happening in Ukraine.
Alliances flexible
Stubb suggested that this is an area where the EU needs to be more flexible. Flexible alliances could prove the solution.
“This will mean that in some cases, we are going to collaborate with countries we don’t feel as comfortable with,” he stated. He was referring to the hypocrisy of European leaders.
Alexander Schallenberg (Austrian foreign affairs minister) spoke at the same session. Schallenberg said the EU’s reaction to Putin’s incursion in Ukraine had been “naive”, and that it had turned the conflict into “a shock therapy.”
Many European nations have been looking to trade with Russia for many years in an effort to improve economic relations with Russia, or at the very least to maintain western values. Germany was an example of this, as it rapidly increased its Russian energy supply even after the illegal annexation by Moscow of Crimea.
Another EU member, Hungary has been strengthening its relations with the Kremlin over recent years.
These deals came in spite of warnings from the Baltic nations — Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia — which, given their history with their larger neighbor, have tried to push closer to the West since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Natalie Jaresko (ex-finance minister in Ukraine) said this at the Davos panel.
“Because there was plenty to be warned since the [2007]Munich Security Conference was where Putin made his declarations of war against the liberal order. To the war in Chechnya, he invaded Georgia. And he invaded Ukraine. What else did we need to learn about his publicly stated intentions?
Roberta Metsola (President of European Parliament) believes it is not the right time to hold the EU responsible, but to declare that it will never be again indifferent.
“We took what could have many years’ of comfort and looked away from problems at our doorstep. We also ignored crises that have started because of our inaction. Metsola said that, rather than looking back and saying that we were selfishly selfish, it was time for us to admit that we have been wrong.
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