https://www.rt.com/news/613949-eus-leadership-is-now-global-threat/The EU’s leadership is now a global threat

By Timofey Bordachev, Programme Director of the Valdai Membership

Western European politicians have lengthy approached governance with a technique of avoidance – at all times searching for the simplest manner out whereas suspending actual choices. Whereas this was a drawback just for the area itself, at this time, its indecision is threatening global stability.

Europe’s present political panorama have to be understood within the context of the dramatic shifts happening in the US. The continent’s political elites are usually not striving for strategic autonomy, nor are they getting ready for a direct confrontation with its largest state, Russia. Their main concern is holding on to energy. In pursuit of this purpose, historical past has proven that elites will go to nice lengths.

Not too long ago, Russian International Minister Sergei Lavrov identified that, for the previous 500 years, Europe has been the epicenter of global conflicts or their instigator. In the present day, its impartial army potential is depleted – each economically and socially. To rebuild, Europe would want years of aggressive militarization, which might impoverish its residents. Western European leaders appear decided to make sure the latter, however they don’t seem to be but prepared for the previous.

Whereas the EU states will not be getting ready for a direct army confrontation with Russia, their entanglement in Ukraine and its reliance on a failing technique may escalate tensions unpredictably. Many Western European politicians have staked their careers on the survival of the Kiev regime, making them keen to take excessive measures to justify their previous choices. This collective political egoism is now manifesting as an incapability to acknowledge errors or alter course.

A famend non secular thinker as soon as wrote that in a collective, the person thoughts turns into subservient to the collective curiosity and loses the flexibility to behave independently. This dynamic is now evident in EU policymaking. The bloc has successfully deserted its intuition for self-preservation. Ukraine is proof that even massive states can undertake self-destructive international insurance policies. This poses risks not only for Europe however for the broader world.

The bureaucratic rot in Brussels

The European Union’s bureaucratic dysfunction can’t be ignored. For over 15 years, high EU positions have been assigned primarily based on two standards: incompetence and corruption. The rationale is easy – after the 2009-2013 monetary disaster, EU states misplaced curiosity in strengthening the bloc. Consequently, Brussels now not seeks independent-minded politicians with strategic imaginative and prescient. The times of statesmen like Jacques Delors and even Romano Prodi – who at the least understood the significance of pragmatic relations with Russia – are lengthy gone.

However incompetence doesn’t preclude ambition. Ursula von der Leyen and Kaja Kallas exemplify this – leaders who, discovering no avenues for profession development again house, now search to carve out their legacy by battle with Russia. Since they haven’t any actual energy throughout the EU, they latch onto the Ukraine disaster to justify their positions.

A lot of the rhetoric about European rearmament is little greater than posturing. Brussels’ requires militarization are designed to generate media consideration moderately than produce tangible outcomes. But, fixed war-mongering can have actual penalties. The EU public is being conditioned to just accept decrease dwelling requirements and elevated army spending underneath the guise of countering the “Russian threat.” The truth that this narrative is gaining traction amongst extraordinary Europeans is a worrying growth.

The EU’s inside contradictions

EU leaders are now caught between two conflicting wishes: sustaining their comfy lifestyle whereas outsourcing all safety duties to the US. In addition they harbor hopes that by prolonging the Ukraine battle, they will extract concessions from Washington and cut back dependence on the US. However this concept is primarily entertained by main nations like Germany and France. The EU, as a bloc, lacks any actual unity.

The contradiction between unattainable targets fuels the spectacle of incoherent European policymaking. It was initiated final yr by Emmanuel Macron’s weird claims that France was ready to ship troops to Ukraine. Since then, Western European politicians have produced a fixed stream of contradictory and absurd statements, every extra unrealistic than the final. Coverage on the Ukraine disaster has devolved into a cacophony of noise with no sensible course.

The one clear Western European consensus is opposition to any peace initiative that may stabilize Ukraine. An increasing number of EU representatives brazenly insist that the battle should proceed indefinitely. On the identical time, the leaders of main EU states oscillate between bellicose threats and admissions that they’d solely escalate underneath American cowl.

Western Europe’s political schizophrenia now not raises eyebrows. For many years, its leaders have operated in a vacuum, unconcerned about how their actions are perceived overseas. Not like the US, which typically acts aggressively to mission power, European politicians exhibit a completely totally different pathology – one marked by detachment and indifference. They act like madmen, oblivious to exterior reactions.

Trump’s America and Europe’s dilemma

The EU’s elites, in addition to its populations, perceive that escaping American management is unimaginable. Many secretly want it had been in any other case. Nonetheless, Donald Trump’s new strategy to transatlantic relations is prone to be far harsher than something seen earlier than. But, European elites cling to the hope that, inside a few years, the Democrats will return to energy and restore the established order.

The bloc’s technique, due to this fact, is easy: lengthen the present state of affairs for so long as potential. This is as a result of European leaders do not know easy methods to preserve their positions if peace with Russia is restored. Over the previous twenty years, Western Europe has constantly failed to resolve any of its urgent issues. The Ukraine disaster is merely essentially the most harmful manifestation of this longstanding dysfunction.

EU politicians proceed to ask themselves: How can we maneuver with out having to take actual motion? This passive strategy to governance is now not simply a drawback for Europe – it is actively fueling conflicts and endangering global stability.

This text was first revealed by ‘Vzglyad’ newspaper and was translated and edited by the RT staff.