Last week, the foreign minister George Gerapetritis participated in a disappointing EU Foreign Affairs Council. One of the main topics on the agenda of the meeting was the war in Ukraine. The day before, the American president joe biden“freed” Kiev to use long-range missiles to bomb Russian territory, and the next day Ukraine was hit by US and British missiles.
THE Vladimir Putin responded by launching a new type of ballistic missile, threatened global conflict and the use of nukes. What did Europe have to say about these critical developments, on the completion of 1,000 days since the start of the war in Ukraine? Absolutely nothing.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister also participated in the Foreign Affairs Council Andrei Shubinawho informed the foreign ministers of the “27” about the situation on the ground via teleconference. The picture of the developments that the ministers had was clear, but they themselves were not able to draw a common line.
The Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Sciarto blocked – because unanimity is required for such decisions – even the proposal of the EU’s high representative for foreign policy matters Joseph Borel for voluntary aid to Ukraine. That is, that each state can choose for itself how to act on the specific issue. This was Borel’s last council before his successor took over Kaya Kalasso his room for maneuver was limited, even though he emphasized that Russia’s aggressive war is the biggest threat to European security since World War II.
France and Germany
But France stood by Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles only within its borders, despite saying it would follow Washington. Germany has absolutely no line due to the government crisis and the announcement of early elections. The chancellor Olaf Solz does not change its refusal to send Taurus missiles to Kiev and, furthermore, its Foreign Ministry Analena Burbok came under fire from her Baltic counterparts, who are pushing for more effective support for Ukraine, over Solz’s phone call to Putin, which yielded nothing. The German chancellor proposed a withdrawal of troops and a “just peace” and the Russian president replied that his condition for negotiations was to take into account the new territorial reality. “Phone calls do not strengthen our position” it is reported that they told the German minister.
The responsibility Biden and the alibi to Putin
With France undecided and Germany uninfluenced, Europe will hardly be a strong player in the next day’s game when the US takes over the presidency. Donald Trumpwho has promised to end the war on terms that everyone fears will not be favorable to Ukraine. Europeans cannot even agree on whether Biden’s decision was right or wrong, although most believe that he hastily assumed a great responsibility. And this for two reasons.
First, because he wants to get ahead of Trump and write in his own term the end of the war in Ukraine, for the sake of hindsight, although in previous years he did not do much in this direction. Second, to strengthen Ukraine’s negotiating position when it sits at the negotiating table. It does, however, thereby provide an ostensibly legitimate alibi for Putin to make his own moves for the same reason, for his power at the negotiating table, in which it is estimated that he will not want to be isolated, going to extremes actions such as the use of nuclear weapons.
Despite the EU’s structural inability to act as a single entity, EU foreign ministers discussed further support for Ukraine in the wake of North Korea’s deployment of troops to Russia, China’s potential deployment of a new generation of drones and its increasingly defense cooperation between Russia and Iran. They also managed to agree on one issue, not to allow the bilateral relations of the member states with either the USA or Russia, regardless of the stance each country has on the Ukrainian issue.
The above discussion took place at a particularly critical time, as Trump’s re-election may bring about changes in US foreign policy towards Ukraine. Many observe with interest Trump’s and his speechlessness Marco Rubio on Biden’s decision to allow Kiev to use ATACMS missiles. The next American president has no reason to complicate the situation and take a position on the issue before taking office, but his attitude has also been perceived as an element of seriousness, if not by him, at least by those around him who seem to restrain him from misguided actions.
However things develop in the coming months, Crimea is considered a lost cause for Ukraine and what seems most likely to be discussed at the negotiating table is the granting of semi-autonomy to Ukraine’s eastern regions, although there is a strong possibility that they may secede through referendums in the future and join in Russia. The situation has not yet reached that point, the climate remains unpredictable and particularly tense. Athens is closely monitoring the developments at various levels. Our country’s position has been balanced from the beginning, supporting Ukraine’s defense capability, but not an aggressive war, although what is an aggressive war has become vague and relative.
Her support Athens in Kyiv
On Monday, G. Gerapetritis reaffirmed Greece’s full support to Ukraine in the war started by Russia in violation of every concept of international law. He also underlined that Greece will soon be a member of the United Nations Security Council and will therefore have an important role to play, based on the principle of the peaceful resolution of all disputes. Our country has every reason to insist on observing international law and to take a tough stance against any revisionism for understandable reasons related to our close neighborhood.
As pointed out by Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Bloomberg, peace negotiations cannot be the result of a capitulation of Ukraine, because it will not be peace, but will look like imposing conditions on a defeated country. “When a country is attacked, we must provide it with the means to defend itself” he stated. It is recalled that the Prime Minister recently signed an agreement on security cooperation with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
The exercise of foreign policy based on principles and not on the transactional concept is considered by the government to have contributed to Greece navigating safely between two wars in its neighborhood (Ukraine, Gaza). On the contrary, government sources comment, other countries such as England, France, Germany, face the risk of terrorism, reactions from their public opinion and in some cases they have been forced to put the army on the streets. This is also a consolation, in a setting of failure of the global security architecture.
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