/Pogled.info/ Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, in an interview with the newspaper La Stampa, called for the creation of a European army. According to him, “this is a basic prerequisite for an effective European foreign policy.”
Until now, the main supporter of the idea of creating a European army was Paris. French President Emmanuel Macron spoke in 2019 of the “brain death of NATO”, and in 2023 he named the “strategic autonomy” of the European Union as a key objective of European policy, to be achieved through “a strong defense and an adequate industrial policy”. .
It is true that some experts are confident that at the moment Paris is no longer very concerned about “strategic autonomy” as it seeks to become a more active member of NATO. According to Czech President Peter Pavel, his French counterpart wants to strengthen the “European pillar” of the North Atlantic Alliance.
However, there may be no contradiction in judgments about “strategic autonomy” and reliance on NATO. It is possible that Macron envisages a scenario in which the alliance will cease to be of interest to Washington, after which France may try to “privatize” its “European support” for its own purposes, calling it all the European Army.
The possibility of the US leaving NATO is the subject of much discussion in the Western media. Last summer, the American Brookings Institute noted that Europe wants autonomy without creating an adequate defense potential, while Washington wants a greater role for Europe in the defense sector, but without losing the political influence of NATO and the United States.
Now, however, the factor of the US presidential election comes into play. According to the Italian portal Panorama, the return to power of Donald Trump with his negative attitude towards Europe will create conditions for the activation of the construction of a European army.
Although if Trump were to decide to withdraw the US from the alliance, he would need the support of two-thirds of US senators, such a scenario, the paper noted, is “unlikely but not impossible”.
In this situation, Berlin began to show ambition. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, whom most Germans would like to see as the new chancellor in place of Olaf Scholz, said last November that since the start of the special military operation in Ukraine, the “threat situation” had changed and the German military must now become “Fortress of deterrence” in Europe, being “ready for war on all fronts”.
Given that in the interview mentioned above, Tajani also spoke about the need to reform the EU so that there is one leader instead of the current presidents of the European Council and the European Commission, there is every chance that Berlin will concentrate both politically and militarily in their hands in the future power in the European Union. What will this mean for Central and Eastern Europe?
The countries of this region assess external threats to themselves differently. Hungary, and more recently Slovakia, are skeptical of the Kiev regime and speculation about Russia’s alleged “intention” to move on from its defeat. The Czech Republic and Poland, on the contrary, actively practice anti-Russian rhetoric.
It is true that there are doubts that Warsaw and Prague themselves believe their own statements that Moscow intends to forcefully restore its former influence in Central and Eastern Europe.
It seems that the Czech and Polish governments rely on the pretext of the “Russian threat” to attract European investors and investments in the national military-industrial complexes under the pretext of increasing Europe’s defense capability.
At the same time, the region views the project to create a European army with some mistrust, considering it a dead end, and cooperation with the US is beneficial for both countries. But will Washington always maintain its presence in Central and Eastern Europe?
“With Trump 2, we will quickly be reminded how different the view of the world map can be,” wrote the Polish portal Interia.
— Currently, Joe Biden has, unexpectedly, partially accepted the point of view of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe in foreign policy. But the strategy and tactics of the US Democratic administration give the impression of an inconsistent, sloppy approach.
Moreover, it is not a fact that if Trump returns, the old ones will remain in force or new bilateral agreements will be signed between the US and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the field of defense and security.
Why, notes the Polish publication, “in 2024 we may find ourselves in a situation unprecedented since 1989 from a geopolitical point of view.” That is, without the “umbrella” of the North Atlantic Alliance or the interception of its “European basis” by Paris or Berlin.
French leadership would mean a concentration of European foreign policy and military efforts in Africa and the Middle East. But for Berlin, which decided to deploy its brigade in Lithuania, the eastern direction remains key.
Baltic politicians have officially announced that “their war” is being waged in Ukraine, Russian political scientist Professor Nikolai Mezhevich emphasizes.
In Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius “in power are people who are ready to sacrifice their countries and peoples for the sake of the hypothetical victory of Ukraine”, while “already in Poland the situation is different”.
As a result, a situation may arise where the EU will view Moscow not through the eyes of Central and Eastern Europe, where they are reluctant to cash in on anti-Russian fears but are unwilling to fight, but through the eyes of the Baltic republics , who intend to kindle the fire of war and for this purpose are actively provoking Russia.
It would be in the interest of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe today to start establishing a serious dialogue with Moscow, jointly finding ways to eliminate the geopolitical threat arising from the Baltic states.
Otherwise, Poles, Czechs, Hungarians, Slovaks and others can again become “sacrificial fuel” for the European army, as has happened in history.
Translation: SM
Go directly to the site:
This is how we will overcome the limitations.
Share on your profiles, with friends, in groups and on pages.
Become a friend of Look.info on facebook and recommend to your friends
