That is what Wopke Hoekstra, Minister of Foreign Affairs since this month, told Beau last night. According to Hoekstra, the European Union still has a lot of work to do in a geopolitical sense.
Watch the conversation here:
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Hoekstra also finds the continued dependence on Russian gas ‘bad to sell’. Europe has done too little about this in the past ten years, he believes. “You have to be honest about that. We wasted too much time on that.”
‘Als-dan-scenario’s’
Should Russia invade Ukraine and subsequently face sanctions, it is conceivable that the country turns off the gas tap for Europe. The EU must be prepared for this. When it comes to that, Hoekstra hopes for help from the United States, for example. He does put into perspective that this will only become an issue after a number of ‘if-then scenarios’.
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Last week Hoekstra said he had good consultations with colleagues in Brussels about how the EU should respond if Russia invaded Ukraine.
Strong sanction package
Among other things, there was talk of an ‘extremely strong’ sanctions package in the event of an invasion. Hoekstra hopes that the conflict can be resolved diplomatically. “But you have to be clear: if the aggression continues, it will have serious consequences.”
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