The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, defended on Saturday that the European Union’s response to the “invalid referenda” and Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions should be “more of the same” that has been done so far. “We must persevere and persevere with patience and strategic perseverance what we have been doing since the beginning,” he said, and that means sending more weapons to Ukraine, maintaining and increasing economic sanctions against Russia and continuing the battle of words and ideas.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the Forum La Toja – Vínculo Atlántico, which ended today on the Galician island of A Toxa, Borrell recalled that “we can’t reinvent the wheel every day”.
Regarding the need to continue sending weapons to Ukraine, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign and Security Policy recalled that Ukraine would not have been able to defend itself as it has been without military aid. “It is vital,” he said, reiterating that the military equipment proved to be effective.
“We have not wanted to supply weapons like combat aircraft because we want to remain non-belligerent,” he explained, saying that “we must continue to supply weapons to Ukraine without belligerent”.
Likewise, it is necessary to “maintain and increase economic sanctions against Russia”, rejecting the idea that they are ineffective. “It’s like a diet to lose weight,” he noted, citing as an example the fact that 95% of Russian car factories are shut down for lack of parts, or that 70% of civilian planes are unable to operate for the same reason. fly.
Sanctions undermine the productive efficiency of the Russian economy and will have very significant effects in the medium term, he said.
Finally, the third focus is on the “battle of ideas” and “words”, saying that this is the battleground for diplomats. “It’s a fight that’s important too. Convince the world of what the causes are and why they are experiencing the effects of this war,” he said.
Asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threats to resort to nuclear power, Borrell is direct: “I’d rather not talk about the nuclear threat because the more I talk, the more I play Putin’s game.”
Announcing the annexation, Borrell recalled that the European Union considers the referendums held by Russia to be “invalid”. “No one could consider them valid. Referendums celebrated at night, in the middle of a country at war, without guarantees of any kind, without censuses or debates, referring to regions of a country over which it does not even have military control .”, he explained.
‘A war Putin has already lost’
In his speech at the forum’s closing session, Borrell defended that this is “a war that Putin has already lost, but which Ukraine has not yet won”. And that Europe must “wake up”.
The head of European diplomacy recalled that Europe was built as an object of peace, but he wanted to forget the concept of power and replace it with that of trade and law. “The EU has replaced power with the peaceful relationship that builds trade and maintains legislation. And today we realize that interdependence alone is no guarantee of peace.”
“Trade relations require two, but one is enough to make war. And this ‘one’ is willing to do it, has done it and will continue to do it,” he affirmed.
Borrell argues that it is time to think about a new relationship with the idea of power, based not only on ‘soft power’, on soft power, but also on elements of coercive power. “Having military instruments is not a whim, it is necessary and essential for survival,” he said, speaking of the need for more defensive strength for the European Union.
The Vice-President of the European Commission also recalled that European countries individually spend four times more on defense than Russia and as much as China. However, together we are not one, because there are many duplications in our capabilities and others that we do not have. He therefore defends that “re-armament cannot be done in an uncoordinated way”, but in a community way.
Borrell recalled that Putin thought the war was going to be fast and didn’t expect to withdraw in seven months, at the same time decreing mobilization and threatening the nuclear weapon. And Putin had not expected the European reaction either. “I was too confident that our energy dependence would keep us from acting. And that we wouldn’t overcome our divisions,” he said. “But the war did not stop us from standing up to Russia, it served to break this dependence,” he explained.
Borrell explained that Putin built his empire thanks to oil and gas, but remembered that unlike China – which has the weapons of the economy and cutting-edge technology against the West – Russia is an “economic dwarf”. Russia’s economy, he said, is now as big as Italy’s, but in terms of GDP per capita, it’s three times smaller. And he summed it up: “Russia is a big gas station where the owner has the atomic bomb”.
Borrell argued that “this war must end well to build peace.” But he left the terms: Ukraine “to regain its territorial integrity, and Russia “to pay for the consequences of destruction and, in political terms, to acknowledge its moral guilt”.
The journalist traveled at the invitation of the organization of the forum.
Source: DN
