Germany Wants to Control Europs Again
The EU has been sleepwalking into state of war. Germany and France accept a lot to answer for
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ByAnnika Hedberg
While in hindsight, the EU collectively failed to take the necessary measures to contain the Kremlin'southward growing aggression, it is the self-alleged leaders of the EU, Germany and France, who carry a particular responsibility in undermining the spousal relationship and playing into Vladimir Putin'due south hand.
All EU countries need to have a long, hard look at their past mistakes - but it is Berlin and Paris in particular that need some serious self-reflection should they ever aspire to be taken seriously once again as the de facto leaders of Europe. And as Russia continues to wage war in Europe, Germany and France, together with the rest of the European union, volition not merely be judged for their past failures, just also on what they do next to stop Putin.
To be clear, the Kremlin started the war in Ukraine. Putin should be tried and punished for the state of war crimes he has committed. However, his growing sense of ability and dispensation has been enabled by weak, naïve and short-sighted Western leaders, whose actions have been guided by complacency, ignorance and greed.
The US, under both the Obama and Trump administrations; the UK with its catering to oligarchs; and EU member states from Finland to Hungary and from Italy to Malta, have let Russian federation play them. But the main culprit in the Eu for letting Moscow rule and divide and enabling the war in Ukraine is Germany, supported by a naïve and hapless France.
For years, the Eu has been undermining its economic and political power from within. Its member states have let a state highly dependent on exports to the EU, with a GDP the size of Italy, define the rules of the game. Despite all the warnings – the 2006 and 2009 gas crises, the 2008 invasion of Georgia, Russian bombs in Syria, the annexation of Crimea, or the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 killing 298 people in 2014 – the Eu, under the leadership of Deutschland and French republic, continued to push for diplomatic niceties with Russia, prioritised their commercial links and at best, managed to utter soft condemnations of some sort or impose sanctions without whatsoever real impact.
Sleepwalking
It is at present blatantly evident that the European union has been sleepwalking for more than a decade. Information technology has enabled Russian aggression and, ultimately, the unjustified war against Ukraine. The Union's actions – and inaction – guided by Germany and France take endangered the future of the entire European continent. The level of incompetence, curt-sightedness, greed and corruption that has driven them, and other European union fellow member states, is flabbergasting.
For years, the Baltic states, Poland and others have sounded the warning bong most Putin'southward Russia, only to be labelled revanchist and paranoid by the French and Germans. Ukraine'southward cries for help have fallen on deaf ears. Driven past airs and amazing naivety, they ignored those that knew better, those that had actually been in the room with the Russians, as partners of the Soviet Union or members of the Warsaw Pact, for more than four decades.
The French and the Germans ignored the voices of those who better understood the motives and delusions of the Russian establishment – and how to manage them, be it via the Eu'due south foreign policy or energy transition.
While Germany and France have not been the just ones enabling Putin'southward growing aggression, they concord a special responsibleness for having failed to have measures that would accept been expected from 'leaders' in the Eu. In this light, the function of politicians from the German and French institution – from former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to one-time French Prime Government minister Francois Fillon – every bit strong advocates of Russian interests should not get unnoticed.
Moreover, we should not forget France'due south and Germany's keenness to earn revenue by selling military machine technologies to Russia rather than think through the strategic – and tragic – consequences of their sales.
Discussions around energy security provide a sad demonstration of how big speeches in the EU have led to very little action under German and French "leadership". Back in 2014, following the Russian invasion of Crimea, there was no shortage of talk in the union on what should exist done to reduce the member states' energy dependency on Russia.
It was crystal articulate that the EU and its members could not continue to rely on Russia for free energy and that they had to increase their energy security, non only by diversifying sources and routes for gas, just especially past improving energy efficiency and the uptake of renewables.
The opposite happened. The EU's share of imports of gas and coal from Russia increased_v2.png), and the state has also remained an important source of oil. Federal republic of germany'southward thirst for Russian hydrocarbons, driven by the Energiewende and manifested in its forceful push for the Nord Stream2 gas pipeline - which raised serious geopolitical, political, climate and energy security concerns beyond the EU since it was launched – undermined not only Germany's just the whole of the European union'southward (energy) security.
And while Germany spearheaded the exercise, French gas utility company Engie was a partner in Nord Stream2 and Paris repeatedly declared it did not desire to "meddle in German language choices". This contributed to the Wedlock's failure to implement agreed measures to amend its energy security, reduce its vulnerability towards Russia and use its economic ability to pressure level Moscow.
This gap between member states' rhetoric statements and actions has undermined the Union for decades. EU countries – led by Germany and France – have tended to implement common goals and agreements selectively, when it has suited their national interests. The marriage's failure to act as one and to implement agreed measures has now culminated in what the European union was created to avert: another war in Europe. The price is now being paid by Europe every bit a whole.
Darkest hour
Fast-forward to final week, to the darkest 60 minutes the European continent has witnessed in 75 years. Deutschland and France, supported by Italia, initially lost their moral compass. When a fellow European democracy was attacked past a lunatic autocrat, Deutschland initially not only failed to provide assistance in the class of armed forces equipment; it actively prevented other Eu member states from doing so.
And when the majuscule of Kyiv was bombarded and encircled, France and Frg, over again supported by Italy, were advocating a step-wise approach to the application of sanctions, dictated by the commercial interests of a few enterprises. Later on decades of rhetoric on European values and principles, when push came to shove, for these self-proclaimed leaders of the Eu, they seemed to count for nothing.
The corrective activeness taken by the EU27 in the few last days shows that the European union, Germany and France have learned their lesson the hard way. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has united the EU27 like never before. The fellow member states are realising that they are stronger when they human activity together. The last week has seen one impossible feat later on another get possible, from tough sanctions to the European union ownership weapons and cutting Russia off from SWIFT.
But for Ukrainians, this realisation comes tragically tardily. They and the rest of Europe are at present paying the price for Western complacency, applied in particular past Germany and France for years. Disquisitional time was lost, avoidable human suffering not avoided. In view of Russia'due south reliance on European fossil fuel imports for its economic system, information technology is the member states' thirst for Russian gas, oil and coal that has enabled and financed the Russian military machine and the state of war in Ukraine.
The EU, led past Germany and France, will not merely be judged for not taking the necessary measures to counter Putin's growing aggression in the last decade but besides on the steps they take next. They should practise the obvious: stop sponsoring the Russian armed services. The sanctions and military assistance to Ukraine today will be of fiddling comfort if the EU member states simultaneously continue to finance the Russian war motorcar with their fossil fuel imports. This must stop with immediate effect.
The next days, weeks and months will be a true exam for the Eu as a whole, including for Germany and France. Leadership comes with responsibleness. The European union needs leadership that volition really lead and does what information technology takes to stop Putin'southward assailment, ensure solidarity beyond the European union amidst sanctions and flows of refugees, and convince Europeans to have that infrequent times telephone call for exceptional measures.
Annika Hedberg is head of the sustainable prosperity for Europe programme at the European Policy Middle.
Source: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/03/04/the-eu-has-been-sleepwalking-into-war-germany-and-france-have-a-lot-to-answer-for
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