| Submit your comments on this article |
| Europe |
| Franco-German EU reform plan: caste system and vassalage to the US |
| 2023-09-21 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Ol'eysa Orlenko [REGNUM] On September 19, the ministries for European affairs of France and Germany officially received a report previously ordered by these departments on the prospects for enlargement of the European Union. This news is widely discussed by the French media, trying to somewhat primitively show a united Europe as a bulwark of the forces of good against the forces of evil. At the same time, some statements by experts and politicians quoted by journalists demonstrate cynicism and an excellent understanding of the situation. A shocking contrast for the slightly more attentive reader. For Vladimir Zelensky , who spends most of his time traveling abroad, it is extremely important to become a president who realizes the dream of the leaders of post-Soviet Ukraine - joining the EU. Hence his insistent demands for European politicians to open the arms of a “single European family” as payment for the implementation of the Eastern policy of Western countries. The EU's response is twofold. On the one hand, he demonstrates full support for the “democratic” Ukrainian regime. On the other hand, assurances of the inevitability of integration are accompanied by long discussions of the complexities of the process. The text of the expert report, commissioned by the heads of the departments for European affairs of France and Germany, Laurence Boone and Anna Luhrmann , sets the intrigue with its very title: “Swimming on the high seas.” The situation when the shores are not visible, the horizon merges with the surface of the water, and you have to walk using instruments, was not chosen for comparison by chance. Twelve French and German political scientists - the authors of this report - clearly stated that "by 2030, the borders of Europe will expand." This opinion fits well within the framework of Emmanuel Macron’s speech in Bratislava at the GLOBSEC security forum on May 31, 2023. The head of the Council of Europe, Charles Michel, spoke about the same thing this summer. The inevitability of this process is due, according to the report, to “Russian aggression.” At the same time, the text speaks of the need to take into account the mistakes of the past and remember the experience, in particular, of the admission of Poland to the European Union. Then hasty integration led to insufficient elaboration of issues related to the observance of human rights in this country. As a result, experts say the human rights sector in Poland continues to deteriorate. This means that new countries will need to be accepted on different terms. The issue of criteria for admission to the EU and the readiness of certain countries for this has been discussed for a long time. You can remember Turkey, whose candidacy was accepted back in 1999, and a positive solution has not yet been found. However, the EU's dilemma now is that five recognized (North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia) Balkan countries and one unrecognized one (Kosovo) are awaiting accession. And now Ukraine and Moldova are actively knocking on the door of a united Europe, as well as Georgia, which, according to its President Salome Zurabishvili, already proved its readiness in 2008. At the same time, the pro-European population of the countries awaiting their turn holds rather critical views on European politics. They consider the EU integration process not fast, but, on the contrary, too slow. According to the founder of the Serbian NGO Center for European Policy (CEP), Milena Mihailovic, Europe has demonstrated “ frivolity and inaction in integration policy.” In her opinion, this has led to the current President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, moving away from the European community and moving closer to Russia. The publication Le Monde, which quotes Mikhailovich, and a number of other media write about the naivety of European leaders, whose “eyes were opened” after the start of the SVO. And also the positive results of Eastern European countries admitted to the European Union. But at the same time, they cite the opinion of French diplomat Pierre Mirel, who called Ukraine “a monster that will need to be swallowed,” meaning the resources that this country will draw from the EU by becoming part of it. According to Mirel, the European system was based on the belief in the victory of democracy and the market economy, which would do its job in the countries joining the EU. To think so, Mirel believes, was a mistake. The Franco-German report presented to the ministers contains a proposal for a way out of the difficult situation. It lies in transforming the European Union in accordance with new realities. In the future Europe there must be different categories of members. The most important will be the “inner circle” of countries and politicians who make decisions and have access to information. The second will include the European Union itself and lower levels of its officials. The third will include associate members, and the fourth will include the European Community. In other words, we see the consolidation of the idea of a “Europe of two speeds”, when some countries, developed and strong, can decide the fate of others, undeveloped and weak. The same point of view is shared by French diplomat and former French representative to the OSCE Maxime Lefebvre. According to him, the backbone of the European Union is France and Germany. His future depends on their decisions. It is not advisable to involve other countries in the discussion of serious issues, since they are all too different and will certainly begin to argue with each other. At the same time, Europe, according to the diplomat, has limits to its independence, because it cannot exist outside the NATO framework. After all, only the United States can provide the EU with a guarantee of nuclear safety, says Lefefre, mentioning, however, that, yes, France also has nuclear weapons. But he considers the presence of American soldiers in Europe a guarantee that Russia will not attack it. Therefore, he concludes, true independence is less important to the European Union now, but commitment to the “Western world” is needed. So, everything is very clear. Caste system, vassal allegiance to NATO and the USA. And also the contractual nature of a number of values, when in the name of achieving political goals one can, for example, consider one or another regime to be democratic, human rights to be conditionally observed, standards to be achieved, and fascism to be non-existent. As Macron said at a meeting with ambassadors on August 28, 2023: “ I can safely say that now in Europe with 27 members it is difficult to do anything on important issues. With 32 or 35 members it will be more difficult to remain moral.” From RIA Novosti, somewhat related The Prime Minister of Poland announced the cessation of arms supplies to Ukraine Poland has stopped supplying weapons to Ukraine because it is actively arming itself, Prime Minister of the Republic Mateusz Morawiecki said on the Polsat TV channel. “We are no longer transferring any weapons to Ukraine based on the fact that we ourselves are now arming ourselves with the most modern weapons. If you don’t want to defend yourself, you must have something to defend yourself with. We recognize this principle. And that’s why we have made increased orders,” he explained. As Reverend Johnson would say: "Son, you're on your own." Polish authorities have repeatedly emphasized that the republic ranks third in military supplies to Ukraine after the United States and Great Britain. At the end of July, it was reported that Warsaw provided assistance to the Ukrainian Armed Forces worth three billion euros. In April last year, Poland announced the transfer of equipment and weapons worth 1.5 billion euros to the Kyiv regime. Over the year, this amount has increased by one billion, while assistance worth 500 million has been provided over the past three to four months. As part of this assistance, Ukraine received tanks and other armored vehicles, fighter aircraft and drones, cannon and rocket artillery, air defense systems, small arms, as well as a variety of ammunition for various purposes and calibers. Recently, Polish-Ukrainian relations have become significantly more complicated due to Warsaw's embargo on grain supplies from the former Soviet republic. The day before, Vladimir Zelensky , speaking at the UN General Assembly, said that some of Kiev’s friends in Europe refused to buy Ukrainian grain, allegedly playing along with Russia in this way. After this, Ukrainian Ambassador Vasily Zvarych was summoned to the Polish Foreign Ministry, where a strong protest was expressed to him. In turn, Andrzej Duda said that Ukraine behaves like a drowning man who clings to everything and threatens to drown those who are trying to help him. On September 15, the European Commission decided not to extend restrictions on the import of four types of Ukrainian agricultural products into several EU border countries , but obliged the Kiev authorities to introduce export control measures. After this, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland announced the extension of this ban unilaterally. Ukraine, for its part, filed a complaint with the WTO. In response, Bratislava, Budapest and Warsaw announced that they would boycott meetings of the coordination platform on Ukrainian grain in Brussels. |
| Posted by:badanov |