Tag: European politics

Vienna seeks to calm Selmayr ‘blood money’ furor

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Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg signaled his government was de-escalating a row with the EU’s senior representative in the country, Martin Selmayr, who last week accused Vienna of paying “blood money” to Moscow by continuing to purchase large quantities of Russian gas.

“Everything has already been said about this,” Schallenberg said over the weekend in a written response to questions from POLITICO on the affair. “We are working hard to drastically reduce our energy dependency on Russia and we will continue to do so.”

Austrian officials insist that the country’s continued reliance on Russian gas is only temporary and that it will wean itself off by 2027 (over the past 18 months, the share of Russian gas in Austria has dropped from 80 percent to an average of 56 percent).

Some experts question the viability of that plan, considering that OMV, the country’s dominant oil and gas company, signed a long-term supply deal with Gazprom under former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz that company executives say is virtually impossible to withdraw from.

Those complications are likely one reason why Vienna — even as its officials point out that Austria is far from the only EU member to continue to rely on Russian gas — doesn’t want to dwell on the substance of Selmayr’s criticism.

“We should rather focus on maintaining our unity and cohesion within the European Union in dealing with Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine,” Schallenberg told POLITICO. “We can only overcome the challenges ahead of us in a united effort.”

Schallenberg’s remarks follow a decision by the European Commission on Friday to summon Selmayr to Brussels to answer for his actions. A spokesman for the EU executive on Friday characterized the envoy’s comments as “not only unnecessary, but also inappropriate.”

Given that the Austrian government is led by a center-right party, which is allied with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s European People’s Party bloc, the sharp reaction from Brussels is not surprising. An official close to the Austrian government said Vienna had not demanded Selmayr’s removal.

Selmayr made the “blood money” comment, by his own account, while defending the Commission chief. He told an Austrian newspaper that he made the remark during a public discussion in Vienna on Wednesday in response to an audience member who accused von der Leyen of “warmongering” in Ukraine and having “blood on her hands.”

“This surprises me, because blood money is sent to Russia every day with the gas bill,” Selmayr told the audience.

Selmayr expressed surprise that there wasn’t more public outcry in Austria over the country’s continued reliance on Russian natural gas, which has accounted for about 56 percent of its purchases so far this year. (A review of a transcript of the event by Austrian daily Die Presse found no mention of the comments Selmayr attributed to the audience member, however.)

Austria’s deep relationship to Russia, which has continued unabated since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, has prompted regular criticism from its European peers.

Even so, the EU envoy’s unvarnished assessment caused an immediate uproar in the neutral country, especially on the populist far right, whose leaders called for Selmayr’s immediate dismissal.

Europe Minister Karoline Edtstadler called the remarks “dubious and counterproductive” | Olivier Hoslet/EPA-EFE

Schallenberg’s ministry summoned Selmayr on Thursday to answer for his comments and the country’s Europe Minister, Karoline Edtstadler, called the remarks “dubious and counterproductive.” Some in Vienna also questioned whether Selmayr, who as a senior Commission official helped Germany navigate the shoals of EU bureaucracy to push through the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline — thus increasing Europe’s dependency on Russian gas — was really in a position to criticize Austria.

Nonetheless, Selmayr’s opinion carries considerable weight in Austria, given his history as the Commission’s most senior civil servant and right-hand man to former Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

Though Selmayr, who is German, has a record of living up to his country’s reputation for directness and sharp elbows, even his enemies consider him to be one of the EU’s best minds.

His rhetorical gifts have made him a considerable force in Austria, where he arrived in 2019 (after stepping down under a cloud in Brussels). He is a regular presence on television and in print media, weighing in on everything from the euro common currency to security policy.

After Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer recently pledged to anchor a right to pay with euro bills and coins in cash-crazed Austria’s constitution, for example, Selmayr reminded his host country that that right already existed under EU law. What’s more, he wrote, Austrians had agreed to hand control of the common currency to the EU when they voted to join the bloc in 1994.

A few weeks later, he interjected himself into the country’s security debate, arguing that “Europe’s army is NATO,” an unwelcome take in a country clinging on to its neutrality.

Though Selmayr’s interventions tend to rub Austria’s government the wrong way, they’ve generally hit the mark.

The latest controversy and Selmayr’s general approach to the job point to a fundamental divide in the EU over the role of the European Commission’s local representatives. Most governments want the envoys to serve like traditional ambassadors and to carry out their duties, as one Austria official put it to POLITICO recently, “without making noise.”

Yet Selmayr’s tenure suggests that the role is often most effective when structured as a corrective, or reality check, by viewing national political debates through the lens of the broader EU.  

In Austria, where the anti-EU Freedom Party is leading the polls by a comfortable margin ahead of next year’s general election, that perspective is arguably more necessary than ever.

Victor Jack contributed reporting.



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Spain election repeat more likely after expat vote count

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Spain’s already complicated electoral landscape just got a lot more complex.

On Saturday, the count of the 233,688 ballots deposited by Spaniards living abroad — which are tallied five days after the in-person vote is held — led to the redistribution of seats in the Spanish parliament. As a result, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Party lost one of the spots it was allocated in Madrid, which will now go to the center-right Popular Party.

The Popular Party is now set to have 137 MPs in the next legislature; together with the far-right Vox party’s 33 MPs and the single MP belonging to the affiliated Navarrese People’s Union (UPN), the right-wing bloc is set to control at least 171 seats — the same number as Sánchez and his preferred partners. Should the Canarian Coalition revise its stated position, which is against backing any government that includes Vox, the conservative bloc could add another seat to its tally.

Those numbers do not improve conservative leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s chances of becoming prime minister. Even with an additional seat under Popular Party control, he still does not have enough support to overcome the crucial simple majority vote that a candidate must win in parliament in order to form a government.

But with the technical tie created by the reallocation of seats, Prime Minister Sánchez’s already narrow path to victory has become much more precarious, making the possibility of new elections in Spain more likely.

Prior to the loss of the seat in Madrid, Sánchez’s options for remaining Spain’s head of government involved persuading nationalist and separatist MPs to back a left-wing coalition government formed by his Socialist Party and the left-wing Sumar group. The combined forces of those parties and the 153 Socialist and Sumar MPs would have enabled Sánchez to count on 172 favorable votes, slightly more than the 170 the right-wing bloc was projected to control. As long as he convinced the Catalan separatist Junts party to abstain, Sánchez would have had more yeas than nays and been able to form a new government.

But now, with only 171 votes in its favor, the left-wing bloc will be facing at least an equal number of right-wing MPs capable of rejecting Sánchez’s bid to remain Spain’s prime minister. Getting Junts to abstain is no longer enough — Sánchez will need one or potentially two of the separatist party’s MPs to vote in his favor.

A hard circle to square

If getting Junts to abstain was already unlikely, getting the party to explicitly back the Socialist candidate seems virtually unthinkable right now.

Since 2017 the party’s founder, former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, has been pursued by the Spain’s judiciary for his role in the Catalan independence referendum. As a member of the European Parliament, Puigdemont has been able to sidestep Madrid’s efforts to extradite him from Belgium, where he lives in self-imposed exile. But in June a top EU court stripped him of his immunity and just days ago Spanish prosecutors called for a new warrant to be issued for his arrest.

Earlier this week Junts said that it would only negotiate with Sánchez if he agrees to declare a blanket amnesty for everyone involved in the 2017 referendum and commits to holding a Catalan independence vote.

“The party that needs our support will have to be the one to make the effort,” said incumbent Junts MP Míriam Nogueras. “These negotiations need to be held from one nation to another … Things are not going to be as they have always been.”

Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister María Jesús Montero was quick to reject both demands, saying on Tuesday that the Socialist Party could only negotiate “within the margins of legality set out within the Spanish constitution.”

SPAIN NATIONAL PARLIAMENT ELECTION POLL OF POLLS

For more polling data from across Europe visit POLITICO Poll of Polls.

Holding new national elections would almost certainly hurt separatist parties. With the exception of Basque group EH Bildu, all of them lost seats in last Sunday’s vote, and they’re likely to lose even more support if they force electors to go back to the polls in December or January.

On Saturday, Raquel Sans, spokesperson for the Republican Left of Catalonia party, admitted that her group had begun to hold discreet talks with Junts with the goal of forging “strategic unity” among Catalan separatists and avoiding repeat elections that “are not in the interest of the public.”

The tie between the two blocs may allow conservative leader Feijóo to press Spain’s King Felipe VI to name him as his candidate to be the next prime minister when parliament is reconvened next month.

Although there is no chance that Feijóo will be able to win the required support from fellow MPs, a failed bid in parliament will allow him to momentarily quiet the dissenters in his ranks who have been calling for him to step down in the aftermath of last Sunday’s result, in which the Popular Party won the most votes in the election but failed to secure the seats needed to form a government.

There is still the possibility, however, that enough party leaders will tell the king that they back Sánchez’s bid and that he has a viable path to form a coalition government. While the now-caretaker prime minister is keeping a low-profile this week, Socialist Party representatives are said to be hard at work, holding informal chats with partners with the objective of stitching up that support in the coming weeks.

Regardless of whether the candidate is Feijóo or Sánchez, the moment one of them fails their first investiture vote, a two-month deadline will begin counting down, at the end of which the Spanish constitution dictates that the king must dissolve parliament and call new elections. That new vote must be held 54 days after the legislature concludes, so if no deal is struck in the coming months, Spaniards would go to the polls again at the end of this year or, more likely, at the beginning of 2024.



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What is the EU’s Joint Climate-Security Nexus agenda all about?

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By Olivia Lazard, Fellow, Carnegie Europe

Climate security is key to understanding instability and fragility in and outside Europe, and this agenda should be treated as the lens through which to redefine the continent’s economic and political agency, Olivia Lazard writes.

A few weeks ago, the World Meteorological Organisation announced that the world stands a 66% chance to overshoot past the 1.5°C temperature threshold compared to the pre-industrial level for at least one year between 2023 and 2027. 

At the same time, emissions are still rising, and the planet has re-entered the El Niño cycle.

The latter is usually associated with record-breaking temperatures, breadbasket failures and disasters of extreme intensity that have direct impacts on inflationary pressures and fiscal hollowing the world over.

Simultaneously, the safe and just Earth system boundaries study, published in June 2023, tells us that the planet is being sent into ecological overshoot, tearing away at global economic, political, fiscal, financial and societal fabrics from the local to the international level.

The disintegration of the ecological bases upon which global political economies rely spells security troubles for systems rivalry, resource scrambling, livelihood destitution, macroeconomic policy, conflict and war.

Systemic fragility at the heart of collective security

Against this background, the European Commission has just published its first Joint Communication on the Climate-Security Nexus. 

In EU-speak, the communique holds no legislative or budget power. It is a narrative document created with the objective of establishing a set of working priorities around which various parts of the European Commission and the EEAS can rally and coordinate.

The good news is that the narrative is largely on point. It reflects the systemic fragility at the heart of collective security. 

The document enumerates the ways in which climate change is leading to greater shocks and scarcity of food and water; how it acts as an overwhelming force that drives human displacement, impacts infrastructure, dampens budgets, and empowers autocrats and predatory elites. 

It tacitly recognises that climate changes geography and natural resource distribution, opening up new frontiers for geopoliticised competition, such as the Arctic. 

Competition takes on new forms, too. It doesn’t just involve state actors but also organised crime elements who prey on biodiversity and natural resources, making more and more revenue as resources grow scarcer.

Failure to take geostrategic behaviour into account

The document is also unique on one specific point: it recognises that the EU needs to anticipate the deployment of new forms of geoengineering technologies such as solar radiation management. 

It’s a form of planetary management that entails intervening in the bio-physics of our planet with the aim manage the greenhouse gas effect (without actually doing anything to reduce emissions). 

Such technologies are not regulated. Their direct, second and thirdhand effects are poorly understood and pose risks to international security.

One analytical dimension is missing, though: the EU fails to account for the change of geostrategic behavioural patterns that already act on climate and transition instability. 

Russia, for example, already harvests climate fragility faultlines. The Kremlin does not shy away from weaponising fragility and violence in a resource accumulation pursuit for critical minerals, food and water at the expense of global security. 

This particular lack of geostrategic purview and an adequate task force to respond to the challenges at hand leave the EU vulnerable to gaping strategic and security risks.

A specific foreign policy and staff force are much needed

Short of this blindspot, what the joint communication tacitly expresses is that the world has irreversibly tipped into a new security regime because the climate regime has, too.

The not-so-good news is that while the EU frames the narrative relatively well, it is not actually gearing up for the world it depicts. 

The EU needs to have a foreign policy that reflects interconnected challenges and the necessary staff force to conceptualise the stakes coherently within and between each part of the European house. 

This is far from the case. Just to give an example: there are about two people who work on climate security as such standing within the EEAS’ integrated strategy unit. 

The work they focus on mostly directs efforts at contexts of pre-existing fragility related to conflict — not systemic fragility.

The lack of capacity and coordination for matters critical to the EU’s energy security is also concerning. 

While the EU recognises the need to connect the dots between climate stresses and critical mineral sourcing, for example, there is no coordinating mechanism between DG Grow, EEAS, INTPA and other relevant European Commission staff specifically seeking to address the ways in which geopolitical competition, industrial extraction and expansion, climate security risks, maladaptation and conflict risks intersect.

Since no extra budget is allocated to the joint communication for climate security, it means only one thing. 

The agenda can only be used in the next year as a launching pad for a complex multi-dimensional security assessment exercise that the next European Commission can pick up upon to hit the ground running.

Climate security is key to understanding instability

Different parts of the European Commission and the EEAS should come together with an analysis and a roadmap. 

These should address what the union is up against today in terms of the geo-strategic security environment and whether its resources and institutional set-up match the challenges facing the EU — from supply chain security sabotage to failure of stabilisation and policy dialogue efforts, and partnerships that don’t deliver on adaptation — and how to reshape the EU’s foreign policy in the next European Commission.

Climate security is key to understanding instability and fragility from geostrategic to local levels in and outside Europe. It encompasses political-economic, societal, institutional, and defence security today.

If that much is clear, then the EU cannot afford to make this agenda a beggar. It should be treated as the lens through which to redefine the continent’s economic and political agency instead.

Olivia Lazard is a fellow at Carnegie Europe and an environmental peacemaking and mediation practitioner and researcher with over twelve years of experience in the field.

At Euronews, we believe all views matter. Contact us at [email protected] to send pitches or submissions and be part of the conversation.

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The EU puts in place new measures to stop undue political influence

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The EU is making fresh efforts to increase transparency and its own credibility following the recent ‘Qatargate’ corruption scandal. On the Global Conversation, Euronews spoke with Vera Jourova, vice president of the European Commission, to talk about the institution’s new anti-corruption measures.

Euronews

Vera Jourova, thanks very much for being on Euronews. Six months have passed since the biggest since one of the biggest corruption scandals of the history of the European Union. And according to the latest polls the majority of the Europeans, in fact, 60% of them are unhappy about how the EU is dealing with corruption. Are you surprised? 

Věra Jourová

It does not surprise me, but at the same time, it gives me another impulse to do something about that. And it doesn’t matter where the scandal appeared. It was one of the institutions, probably the failure more of individual people than of the system. But what can the citizens think? Well-paid politicians, they have undeserved privileges. We don’t know which standards and whether there is some ethics. You know, too many questions and too little answers. So that’s why we came up with the anti-corruption package, which also covers EU institutions. And today I presented the first-ever European ethics body, which would cover all key EU institutions. 

Euronews

Let’s talk about this new ethics body because it will set future standards for all of the EU institutions. But NGOs and, MEPs are demanding that the control should be not connected to the European Union but should be independent. Why is it not happening? 

Věra Jourová

Well, the ethics body is filling in the gap because just imagine each of the institutions have some internal structure that should do the job. The ethics body should not replace these institutional arrangements. There are people who should go after disciplinary breaches and should sanction these cases. So the ethics body will fill in the gaps, the roof above all the institutions, and work on the unified standards will then reflect in the work of each institution. And why not be independent? Well, I think that it’s important that the ethics body will be composed of the people who know the work and the role of each institution. That’s why I proposed something which will be very practical. There will be ten people sitting around the table. I speak about the political level, the vice presidents of each institution or some other high-level official. And there will be five independent experts invited to work together with the representatives of the institutions. I want the ethics body to be meaningful, to be practical, and to be transparent so the standards which the ethics body will agree on will be known to the public. Referring to your first question, what people can think about us. I think that they should know the rules regarding trips, gifts, declarations of assets, and what the politicians do after the mandate. Well, I think that the people have the right to see clear standards.

Euronews

For example, these new standards will prevent in the future commission director general from taking free flights, free hotel rooms paid by foreign actors like Qatar.

Věra Jourová

Honestly, I don’t understand how this can be happening, because either I am on a business trip and then it has to be blessed by the institution and paid by the institution I work for. Or it is a private trip and then I pay it myself. I don’t see any space for anything else. And I think that this is exactly what the ethics body should clarify and we should agree on it. 

Euronews

Do you think also the 700 MEPs are in line to push the standards higher?

Věra Jourová

If you ask all of them, they will tell you, yes. I spoke to many members of the Parliament. Of course the Parliament is a special institution: there are directly elected people. There is always a discussion about the freedom of the mandate or about their immunities. This is very fair to discuss all these things. But at the same time, there should be high enough equal standards for everyone in the Parliament. We see quite different opinions from different political clubs and I am ready to discuss with all. 

Euronews

And how about the investigations and the sanctions for these ethical rules? 

Věra Jourová

Well, it has to remain in the institutions which have a strong legal basis to do that. I know it sounds too legalistic, but I have to recall that this ethics body will be established on the basis of the agreement, and it’s not foreseen in the treaty, and it’s not going to be established on the basis of the law. Once you work for such a body established by the law, you are authorized to look into private documents and to different kinds of materials. You are authorized to inquire the people and you are authorized to sanction the people. And it really requires the strongest possible legal authorization. And this is why the ethics body will not have. 

Euronews

We are one year ahead of the next European Parliament elections. Are you afraid that foreign actors will try to influence the campaign and they might actually derail the campaign ahead of the parliament elections, for example, with fake news campaigns or disinformation?

Věra Jourová

I do believe they will not win because we do everything to protect the elections against hidden manipulation and against different kinds of interference. But that for sure, there will be a strong influence, and that it will be a big pressure from different hostile actors to interfere into the electoral processes. That’s why we are already alerting the member States, which have the obligation to organize the elections, to somehow fortify the systems also against cyber attacks, but also against coordinated campaigns using disinformation. 

Euronews

To fight foreign influence the European Commission is also proposing a new package called Defence of Democracy. But NGOs were protesting against this legislation, they said it’s very similar to the Russian Foreign Agents Act. So after this criticism, will you amend this legislation, to satisfy NGO’s? 

Věra Jourová

The criticism was based on the lack of information about what we plan, and I don’t criticize anyone. I think that it’s mainly on us to inform all who might feel affected by that what we plan. What we plan is for the high level of transparency about the financial flows into Europe. And I think that it’s far from Georgian law or even American law or Australian law, which is the criminal justice piece of law. No labeling, no foreign agents, no stigmatizing. We even want to embed into the law the safeguard against the possible abuse from the side of some member states: not to go beyond the requests or requirements of the law. But you asked about the process also. We admitted that we need more time for two things: For the intense consultations with all who raised voices and who expressed concerns, especially the NGOs, I will simplify that. But many, many others also from the member state official places we heard a lot of question marks. I will use this summer for consultations on the basis of the already very precise text so that we know what we speak about. The second thing, we need to do is to try to collect data, which will give us more certainty about how big the problem is. Collecting such data is not an easy thing because it’s mainly in the possession of the member states, secret services and security agencies. So we are now exploring the way how to get reliable data. So we will do two things over the summer and then in autumn, we will come back to that. Because I am convinced we need such a law. And if not, we will be the only democratic space that doesn’t have a law which at least wants to increase transparency and give us a chance to know who is paid by third countries’ governments. This is the last thing I want to say on the substance because also there was a criticism that all the money coming from abroad. No, it will be about the money paid by third countries’ governments and state organizations. 

Euronews

Do you think social media platforms, big social media platforms, are doing enough to fight disinformation because the current European system is on a voluntary basis and Twitter is leaving even that system?

Věra Jourová

Well, soon we will have the Digital Services Act in force and it will be a legally binding heavyweight legislation that seeks to increase the responsibility of the platforms. And it’s a reaction of something which we saw evolving over the years that the platforms are grabbing too much power and are reluctant to take relevant responsibility. Before that and parallel with that, we have the code of practice against disinformation, which indeed is a voluntary agreement. At this moment we have 44 signatories. We have all the big platforms except Twitter. We can do a lot with it, but of course, it has some gaps still. What I want to change: first of all, to address pro-Russia and pro-Kremlin disinformation, because this is a clear-cut case, the word propaganda has to be removed and we are in the information war and so there should be no compromise. Second, we want the platforms to consistently moderate and invest in fact-checking. It cannot be done only in English or German. It has to be done in all member states languages. And the tricky thing is that the more you go to the east of Europe, the bigger the pressure from Russian propaganda appears. So we want them to invest in fact, checking In these countries. We see big influence of Russian propaganda on Slovakia, on Bulgarian public opinion. We see increased pressures on German communities and especially using some domestic proxies. And this is a new thing when the Russian propaganda is being taken over by the extremist parties in the EU. This is a dangerous new stage. So better moderation. The third thing that we want from the platforms is to enable the researchers.to have better access to data. We need the researchers to analyze the situation. When I say we, we are the rules makers because I would like the internet and social media to remain the free zone for free speech. So also my concern is not to overshoot with the rules which we are taking but to come with proportionate, necessary measures. We need to know what’s happening and the researchers should help us with a serious sort of analysis. The first thing and this is a new agenda, and I asked on Monday the platforms to consider is the new development in generative artificial intelligence. And here again, the code can be a quick vehicle, a quick response.

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Ukraine is fighting for all our freedom, Polish Foreign Minister says

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Poland and Slovakia’s Foreign Affairs Ministers Zbigniew Rau and Miroslav Wlachovsky, alongside former Estonian president Kersti Kaljulaid, joined Euronews for a special conversation on global security from a Central and Eastern Europe perspective, at GLOBSEC in Bratislava.

Euronews

Mr Miroslav Wlachovsky, Foreign Affairs Minister of Slovakia. Then Mr Zbigniew Rau, Foreign Affairs Minister of Poland. Welcome. And Kersti Kaljulaid, who served as the president of Estonia from 2016 to 2021. There are talks, at least at media level, about the possibility of opening a discussion for at least reaching a kind of ceasefire, do you really think that these attempts are credible, or do you think that the peace finally or even a ceasefire, a stable ceasefire, say it will come only after a military failure of Russia in Ukraine, in Ukraine, with the territorial integrity of Ukraine?

Miroslav Wlachovsky

I would repeat myself, but, I said it several times. The easiest way how to reach peace in Ukraine is that Russia will withdraw its forces. I think what we need here, it’s not just peace, but just peace. It means that this will be the peace will which will recognise the aggressor and will punish the aggressor and will somehow help the victim. That’s what we should aim for. That’s how the international law should work and how the international relations should work.

Kersti Kaljulaid

Frankly speaking, all the talks which will say, let’s settle now for a ceasefire and then negotiate something back would not work. Imagine we had done the same when the aggression started. What was done in Tbilisi a week or two in this conflict? Where exactly would Russians be? 20 kilometres from Kyiv. Sorry, it has to be: first, Ukrainians clear their territory and then we can talk.

Zbigniew Rau

We are all for peace. We are all for ceasefire. This goes without saying. This is the case from Brazil, I suppose, to India, from France to Estonia or Slovakia or Poland. The issue is what kind of peace do you expect? And I can tell you very briefly what I think about it. The desired peace is a just peace that allows us to restore national independence of Ukraine, state sovereignty, territorial integrity, then reconstruction of Ukraine at the expense of Russia, above all, because Russia is guilty of the destruction of Ukraine and then bringing all those who are guilty of this aggression to justice. If you expect a just and lasting peace, it is to make Russia be not in a position to turn back to its imperial practices in foreign policy.

Euronews

Now we have established that Russia must withdraw and abide by international law. And as long as it won’t happen, there won’t be any possibility…

Kersti Kaljulaid

I just wanted to say that is a possibility. But it is for Ukrainians to decide. It is for them to decide if they feel that they are ready to sit and negotiate. If they feel confident they are negotiating from the point of strength, there is a chance. So, it’s not so bleak [a] picture, I would say. But we cannot decide. It’s only the Ukrainians who can decide. I want you to add that.

Euronews

We have seen recently the polemic within the European Union for the grain crisis, the grain import crisis. So, how long do you think your societies will be able to go on in such a kind of emergency situation?

Miroslav Wlachovsky

Well, first of all, it was not our choice. And yes, it is difficult for our countries. But we understand what would be an alternative. And the alternative is much, much bleaker. I mean, no one really wants to be a neighbour of some kind of Putin regime in Ukraine or Putin on our border instead of having as our neighbour, sovereign Ukraine. It’s very simple. And I think the price we are paying is high, but still much lower than the alternative.

Kersti Kaljulaid

I was asked this question from my West Berlin friends. Did they feel like living in a militarised country during the Cold War? No, they did not. I mean, being able to defend yourself adds to the security and the feeling of security of people. So, the more NATO presence in [the] eastern flank, the better.

Euronews

Poland, according to what has been said, is called to become a kind of fortress in Europe. The military spending, for instance, of Poland is growing and it’s playing a relevant political role now.

Zbigniew Rau 

First of all, even referring to yourself, I can say that the Polish Society considers the defence of Ukraine something not only politically correct but something absolutely crucial, even something that we can describe as our existential choice. You see, in the 19th century, when we were deprived of our independence, you couldn’t find Poland on the map of Europe, Polish Patriots came up with this kind of motto for your freedom and ours, so, we were well-known freedom fighters in Europe. The point was in the 19th century, and especially also in the 20th century, that we were ready to fight for freedom of others and for others were not very often ready to fight for our freedom. And now what we experience in this war is that there is a country, namely Ukraine, that in fact is fighting for our freedom, whether it’s [the] freedom of Slovakia, Estonia and Poland. When you are asking about the role that Poland is playing now on the eastern flank, certainly we believe as a NATO ally that the level of military spending in the alliance should be at 2% of GDP. Let me put it this way, [it should be] the floor, rather than the ceiling. And this is for this is the reason why we believe it’s correct to spend right now slightly more than 4% of our GDP this year. But nevertheless, when more than three 3% because I suppose that the very notion of an effective alliance is to consider ourselves. And I think that this is also the case, it should be the case with any other country, a NATO member, [we should] consider ourselves not only as a recipient of security but also as providers of security, that’s the reason. That it is the way we decide to spend this much, because the philosophy behind it is that I am going to help you. First of all, you have to be in a position to help yourself, defend yourself first and then defend others, your neighbours too.

Euronews

Do you think that you have enough understanding and support from the other European partners when it comes to the European Union and also many of them are also NATO partners … Do you think they understand you completely and do you feel that they are supporting you or there is always some ambiguity or something that is not clear when it comes to European Councils or a Council of ministers or NATO meetings and so on, so forth.

Kersti Kaljulaid

You know, I am a market economist. The ‘market’s always right’. And if I look at how reluctantly the industry is investing against the bet that there will be long-term need for ammunition, cannons, tanks, etc. I initially thought that the industry has gone lazy, just looking for guarantees everywhere and so on. But in the year which has passed, the more I talk to them, their prediction is that the willingness to spend more on military equipment is short-lived and it might be over as soon as the war is over or soon after that.

Euronews

Minister [Rau] .

Zbigniew Rau

Well, I suppose that you are raising the fundamental issue here because within the NATO alliance, we always talk about unity…

Kersti Kaljulaid

United in weakness, you mean?

Zbigniew Rau 

No, it’s not a matter of weakness. It’s more a matter of not doing anything. We on the eastern flank think about it in a different way. We have to meet the challenge. And those of us who [are] most sensitive to this challenge, given our geopolitical situation, given our historical experience and so on. We feel obliged to set the agenda, to make this unity simply dynamic, to make it meet with the challenges Just take, for example, that we can manage to build a tank coalition. We decided to send first the fighter jets and so on and so on. Yes. It’s a matter of showing the goal to which we should all go in order to in order to achieve it. So, this is a dynamic kind of unity within NATO, really, and also the European Union needs.

Euronews

Thank you. Mr Wlachovsky, I would like also to say one thing. This is true for the Baltic countries and for Poland. For Slovakia, the situation is a little bit different considering the figures.

Miroslav Wlachovsky

When we are talking about numbers and about the people, I think there is an important word which is called leadership. And the leadership means that you lead despite the numbers and you have to find a way how to convince people that’s really important. But here in this country, the government took important decisions because they thought and I agree with them, it was the right thing to do. Basically, that was it. And it was in the interest of not only Slovakia, but the whole region.

Euronews

Not really popular decision according to the figures.

Miroslav Wlachovsky

Well, there are many unpopular decisions which must be made, you know, and this might be one of them. But I am proud that we were able to do them. And I think it’s not difficult to make a tough decision when everybody agrees. It’s difficult when a lot of people disagree to make a right decision.

Euronews

The title of this debate is “Leading from the Centre”, but don’t you think that this leadership from the centre is a kind of ‘lame duck’, because, for instance, there are some black holes. Let’s talk about a very important absence here. Hungary, for instance. That should be a masterpiece of the (construction).

Kersti Kaljulaid

Maybe indeed, we should always take this kind of lowest common denominator and say we have actually disintegrated from the European Union because there was Brexit. I mean, this is exactly the argument you are making, just the fact that one of the Central and Eastern European countries is playing a different game, showing us how the world would look like if there were no kind of rules-based but interest-based, world view only, not even order. I mean, it’s not fair to us, because we are leading by example. We are spending. We are trying to defend ourselves as much as possible. We are speaking politely, but honestly where we are. We also, I mean sharing honestly and openly our worries that we are not all on the same page and we are having success.

Euronews

And…because in the European Union, anyway, Hungary when it comes to other issues that are not related to security, is a kind of good support for the position of Poland when it comes to the civil rights and rule of law in this kind of issues.

Zbigniew Rau

Are we going to lead in the same way Germany wants to lead Europe? Certainly not, especially not us in Poland, because we believe, in something very fundamental that all EU member states are free and equal in the same way, and the interests of each of us should be represented in the same way.

Euronews

Well, I was about to take a question from Slido now. It’s about, It was about the 2% of spending. The question was about the fact that is it illogical to speak to talk about the strategic autonomy of a European Union when a lot of countries are not reaching the 2% of their spending (on military)? So, the military issue is not a priority for them.

Miroslav Wlachovsky

For me, it’s not about the structures. For me, it’s about the capabilities and the capabilities to act when it’s needed. And I must say that I am a big supporter of the transatlantic link and of NATO as a defense alliance. But I fully understand the wish of our American allies and our American friends. “Please, Europeans be able to deal with these issues on your own when it’s necessary. And for that, we need those capabilities.

Kersti Kaljulaid

In order to project, project power, in order to have influence in the neighbourhood, one needs capabilities, by citation from the High Representative (Borrell). So, the West and East know. But of course, there is a slight discrepancy in that some are talking about strategic autonomy and some are spending and they are not necessarily the same people.

Euronews

Well, the spending is the question coming from slide two. But I guess that the idea was anyway strategic autonomy from NATO and from the United States. I guess that for your countries, this is not the real-life insurance.

Kersti Kaljulaid

But I have never heard it this way. Spoken also by those who invented the term in terminology I’ve never heard, let’s say Nathalie Tocci, or Emmanuel Macron, or Federica Mogherini to say this is what we are doing in order to be not more independent from the US. They’ve always said we are doing this to be able to support US’s global ambition, to defend the free world. But we have to be able to do something ourselves. And there have been lots of misunderstandings. Some words will turn into rude words. It’s not our fault, but the concept is materially right.

Zbigniew Rau

If the European Union believes that it is a global player, responsible for a big geopolitical situation in the world, and if it considers itself a defender of values of the free world, it cannot stay indifferent to the situation in its backyard.

Euronews

Do you think that the most practical way to reconstruct Ukraine, would it be a Ukraine on the waiting list to join the European Union or to start the reconstruction with a Ukraine within the European Union as a member? From a purely, say, practical point of view. And if it’s politically viable or economically viable, what do you think? This is the question for the three of you.

Kersti Kaljulaid

The fact is that for Ukraine to join the European Union, the leaders of the European Union have to be able to tell to their companies and businesses, invest there like you would invest in your own country. The economic environment is the same. Your investment is protected the same way. The rule of law is established the same way. This has not been the case in Ukraine before the war, and I hope they can quickly overcome the difficulties which they had before. And then, of course, they can join, because the EU is an economic union. And we have also this aspect that we cannot just politically decide: “come inside, we will reform afterwards, because we have to give this message to our business skills and invest there”.

Miroslav Wlachovsky

I really strongly hope that we will start with reconstruction of the Ukraine before they join the European Union, because I want to start the reconstruction of Ukraine really quickly. The precondition for that is the war will end. And in the meantime, we have to prepare and we have to find a way how to find the best way, how to help them to reconstruct their country.

Zbigniew Rau

Quite frankly, I suppose the best way to proceed is to launch these two processes in a parallel way.

Euronews

Double track?

Zbigniew Rau

Double track. Indeed.

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EU’s green transition is ‘a marathon’, says Environment Commissioner

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In this latest episode of the Global Conversation, we speak to Virginijus Sinkevičius about Europe’s waning enthusiasm for greener policies.

Green Week is the European Union’s annual opportunity to take stock of its climate policy. 

This year, the week of meetings and debates is taking place in an atmosphere where environmental objectives are being called into question. 

To discuss these challenges, Euronews met with the European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius.

Grégoire Lory, Euronews: The environmental priority seems to have taken a backseat when we hear the French president or the Belgian prime minister talking about a regulatory pause.

Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for the Environment: “I think the French president, if you listen for the whole speech, that was a very good, good speech, and that was not really meant to, you know, go against any of the current proposals that are already put forward. 

“It’s more of keeping a balanced approach and ensuring that we have the competitiveness of our businesses as the priority. And I can only reconfirm that was the Commission’s position from the very beginning, that the Green Deal is not possible without having everyone on board. But we should not forget that there is not going to be a peace treaty as regards [to] climate change or biodiversity loss. And these crises and their consequences are already putting a huge toll on our life as regards [to] food insecurity, as regards [to] floods or droughts, which not only costs a living for European citizens but also human lives. And of course, we need to prevent such disasters of scaling up across Europe.”

Grégoire Lory, Euronews: Isn’t this pause what people want to hear because they don’t see in their daily lives the effects of these green policies and they have other concerns?

Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for the Environment: “It’s always easier to spot the immediate crisis. Such as a war which now [is] ongoing in Ukraine for more than a year. You have a clear image. With, for example, the degradation of our soil, it’s much more difficult to see it. Most likely the first ones to see, to understand are our farmers that have to deal with soil every day and who depend on soil fertility directly. But still, we as politicians, if we are responsible, we have to take future-oriented decisions. We cannot be jumping only on those topics that society is at this moment voicing up.

“If you return to 2019, across all political parties, everyone was in the race for the Green Deal. Who is even more ambitious? Today, this voice is diminishing. But the climate crisis or biodiversity loss or pollution pressures, they didn’t go anywhere. Such policies and a change that we are now doing as regards our economy, as regards our energy transition, transport and so on, this is a marathon, despite the pressures from outside.”

Grégoire Lory, Euronews: Are the Member states still involved? And what about the Parliament? Because the centre-right is asking for a moratorium (on several important texts of the Green Deal). Is there still a majority in favour of environmental policy?

Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for the Environment: “So of course, first of all, member states, of course, are fully involved. Same I see with the parliament. Yes, you always have voices, that’s the beauty of democracy and the Parliament. But overall, you have to look if the work is going forward, then I can see that the work is going forward. I always wanted to go faster ahead. So we need to ensure that we are ready, that we are fit for tomorrow that looks gloomy. 

“And first of all, it looks gloomy to those economic actors that are directly dependent on ecosystems: our farmers, our fishers, our foresters. 50% of the world’s GDP is actually connected to ecosystems. I know it’s something that we take for granted, but at some point, if we lose it, there is not going to be a technology that can successfully replace it.”

Grégoire Lory, Euronews: Is the ongoing war in Ukraine putting pressure on the ambition and investment in favour of green policies?

Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for the Environment: “I would say you have to probably split it into two parts. On the one hand, it had a very positive effect on our energy policies. So all our goals on renewable energy, our work as regards the package of REpowerEU, of developing renewable projects as being adopted with astonishing speed. And it really showed that this uncertainty and increased energy prices, they pushed us to look for alternatives that would allow us not [to] be dependent on uncertain, undemocratic regimes. 

“Now, when it comes to biodiversity policies, I can only reassure you that we don’t want foresters out of the forest or we don’t want fishers off the sea or farmers not working the land. On the contrary, we want them to do it for many, many years to come in a way that it’s rewarding for them, that it’s profitable in a way that is not damaging to the ecosystem. So that we ensure long-term sustainability.”

Grégoire Lory, Euronews: Will all the text be concluded before the end of the mandate?

Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for the Environment: “If you look at the files that I’m in charge of: [the] circular economy, environmental files, I am optimistic that we are moving ahead swiftly and I hope that we can successfully conclude. As I said, we need it. We need [it] to maintain our leadership position globally. We need it because we were the leading force behind the global agreements and we need it to secure a deliverable future for the generations to come.

Grégoire Lory, Euronews: In this difficult context, what are the achievements that are set in stone and that will affect the citizens?

Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for the Environment: “I think, first of all, you know, we’ve done a tremendous work as regards [to] the climate package and “Fit for 55” package, which is almost done. And that’s a great achievement. We have put forward already all the policies that are key policies as regards the circular economy and really moving from the linear model to a more circular model. And I’m very happy that co-legislators are very supportive. 

“And if you look at the product policy after this mandate, it will be unrecognisable, on all the changes that we have put forward. And I’m very proud of it. I’m happy that we managed early on to conclude our file on the batteries. We see that battery production by 2030 will increase 14-fold. So there are a number of great achievements. But as [I] said, when we talk about the Green Deal, it’s a complex horizontal change. It’s not one single initiative that can be called a Green Deal. And we still have a lot of work ahead of us.”

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Moldova ramps up EU membership push amid fears of Russia-backed coup

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CHIȘINĂU, Moldova — Tens of thousands of Moldovans descended on the central square of the capital on Sunday, waving flags and homemade placards in support of the country’s push to join the EU and make a historic break with Moscow.

With Russia’s war raging just across the border in Ukraine, the government of this tiny Eastern European nation called the rally in an effort to overcome internal divisions and put pressure on Brussels to begin accession talks, almost a year after Moldova was granted EU candidate status.

“Joining the EU is the best way to protect our democracy and our institutions,” Moldova’s President Maia Sandu told POLITICO at Chișinău’s presidential palace, as a column of her supporters marched past outside. “I call on the EU to take a decision on beginning accession negotiations by the end of the year. We think we have enough support to move forward.”

Speaking alongside Sandu at what was billed as a “national assembly,” European Parliament President Roberta Metsola declared that “Europe is Moldova. Moldova is Europe!” The crowd, many holding Ukrainian flags and the gold-and-blue starred banner of the EU, let out a cheer. An orchestra on stage played the bloc’s anthem, Ode to Joy.

“In recent years, you have taken decisive steps and now you have the responsibility to see it through, even with this war on your border,” Metsola said. “The Republic of Moldova is ready for integration into the single European market.”

However, the jubilant rally comes amid warnings that Moscow is doing everything it can to keep the former Soviet republic within its self-declared sphere of influence.

In February, the president of neighboring Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, warned that his country’s security forces had disrupted a plot to overthrow Moldova’s pro-Western government. Officials in Chișinău later said the Russian-backed effort could have involved sabotage, attacks on government buildings and hostage-taking. Moscow officially denies the claims.

“Despite previous efforts to stay neutral, Moldova is finding itself in the Kremlin’s crosshairs — whether they want to be or not, they’re party of this broader conflict in Ukraine,” said Arnold Dupuy, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington.

“There’s an effort by the Kremlin to turn the country into a ‘southern Kaliningrad,’ putting in place a friendly regime that allows them to attack the Ukrainians’ flanks,” Dupuy said. “But this hasn’t been as effective as the Kremlin hoped and they’ve actually strengthened the government’s hand to look to the EU and NATO for protection.”

Responding to the alleged coup attempt, Brussels last month announced it would deploy a civilian mission to Moldova to combat growing threats from Russia. According to Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, the deployment under the terms of the Common Security and Defense Policy, will provide “support to Moldova [to] protect its security, territorial integrity and sovereignty.”

Bumps on the road to Brussels

Last week, Sandu again called on Brussels to begin accession talks “as soon as possible” in order to protect Moldova from what she said were growing threats from Russia. “Nothing compares to what is happening in Ukraine, but we see the risks and we do believe that we can save our democracy only as part of the EU,” she said. A group of influential MEPs from across all of the main parties in the European Parliament have tabled a motion calling for the European Commission to start the negotiations by the end of the year.

But, after decades as one of Russia’s closest allies, Moldova knows its path to EU membership isn’t without obstacles.

“The challenge is huge,” said Tom de Waal, a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe. “They will need to overcome this oligarchic culture that has operated for 30 years where everything is informal, institutions are very weak and large parts of the bureaucracy are made viable by vested interests.”

At the same time, a frozen conflict over the breakaway region of Transnistria, in the east of Moldova, could complicate matters still further. The stretch of land along the border with Ukraine, home to almost half a million people, has been governed since the fall of the Soviet Union by pro-Moscow separatists, and around 1,500 Russian troops are stationed there despite Chișinău demanding they leave. It’s also home to one of the Continent’s largest weapons stockpiles, with a reported 20,000 tons of Soviet-era ammunition.

“Moldova cannot become a member of the EU with Russian troops on its territory against the will of the Republic of Moldova itself, so we will need to solve this before membership,” Romanian MEP Siegfried Mureșan, chair of the European Parliament’s delegation to the country, told POLITICO.

“We do not know now what a solution could look like, but the fact that we do not have an answer to this very specific element should not prevent us from advancing Moldova’s European integration in all other areas where we can,” Mureșan said.

While she denied that Brussels had sent any official signals that Moldova’s accession would depend on Russian troops leaving the country, Sandu said that “we do believe that in the next months and years there may be a geopolitical opportunity to resolve this conflict.”

Ties that bind

Even outside of Transnistria, Moscow maintains significant influence in Moldova. While Romanian is the country’s official language, Russian is widely used in daily life while the Kremlin’s state media helps shape public opinion — and in recent months has turned up the dial on its attacks on Sandu’s government.

A study by Chișinău-based pollster CBS Research in February found that while almost 54 percent of Moldovans say they would vote in favor of EU membership, close to a quarter say they would prefer closer alignment with Russia. Meanwhile, citizens were split on who to blame for the war in Ukraine, with 25 percent naming Russian President Vladimir Putin and 18 percent saying the U.S.

“Putin is not a fool,” said one elderly man who declined to give his name, shouting at passersby on the streets of the capital. “I hate Ukrainians.”

Outside of the capital, the pro-Russian ȘOR Party has held counter-protests in several regional cities.

Almost entirely dependent on Moscow for its energy needs, Moldova has seen Russia send the cost of gas skyrocketing in what many see as an attempt at blackmail. Along with an influx of Ukrainian refugees, the World Bank reported that Moldova’s GDP “contracted by 5.9 percent and inflation reached an average of 28.7 percent in 2022.”

“We will buy energy sources from democratic countries, and we will not support Russian aggression in exchange for cheap gas,” Sandu told POLITICO.

The Moldovan president, a former World Bank economist who was elected in 2020 on a wave of anti-corruption sentiment, faces a potentially contentious election battle next year. With the process of EU membership set to take years, or even decades, it remains to be seen whether the country will stay the course in the face of pressure from the Kremlin.

For Aurelia, a 40-year-old Moldovan who tied blue and yellow ribbons into her hair for Sunday’s rally, the choice is obvious. “We’ve been a part of the Russian world my whole life. Now we want to live well, and we want to live free.”



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EU Home Affairs Commissioner calls for safer migrant pathways

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The European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, discusses a new pact to better manage migrant and refugee applications to the EU and if it will repair fraught relations between some Member States.

Euronews

So, it’s a dire situation in the Mediterranean. 700 people already died this year. The United Nations Migration Agency director, António Vitorino, is insisting that state initiatives are lacking when it comes to rescue efforts at sea. Will there be a new joint EU mission?   

Ylva Johansson

I must say that what we see now from the Italian Coast Guard is really impressive. They have rescued, I think, already more than 30,000 people this year. And we also have the NGOs, but to a much lesser extent, of course. The state initiatives are the big ones when it comes to search and rescue. But we have to prevent these dangerous departures in the first place because there is always a risk that somebody will go missing or lose their life if they depart on these dangerous journeys. That’s why it’s so important with prevention – fighting the smugglers, but also offering legal pathways, safe pathways to the European Union.  

Euronews

We see that, in the end, Italy is the main arrival point, it is at the forefront. The government just declared a state of emergency for six months. And we also saw the Interior Minister of France criticising the [Italian] government, saying it’s not able to manage migration. What would you say to this? 

Ylva Johansson

I think that Italy is under huge pressure, and I think they are managing it pretty well. The state of emergency in Italy is, of course, a national decision. But, as I understand, this helps Italy to cope with a quicker reception, improving the reception capacities in a quicker way. And that’s absolutely necessary due to the huge number of arrivals. But it is important to say that Italy should not be alone. We have to support Italy here. 

Euronews

Tunisia is currently a major departure point for migrants and refugees, for both nationals and citizens from other African countries. You recently visited Tunisia and discussed this with the government. What measures will be put in place to, somehow, steam this flow? 

Ylva Johansson

We have now reached a very good agreement with the Tunisian Government and authorities to deepen our cooperation, i.e. to step up our support for the protection of their borders, both with the Coast Guard and on their southern borders. This also includes helping them to build capacities for the registration and reception of migrants, but also to cooperate when it comes to police investigations, to go after the smugglers. We have also agreed on a legal pathway, called the ‘Talent Partnership’ so that there will be possibilities for Tunisians to legally come to the European Union. 

Euronews 

So, let’s talk about the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, which is the instrument to promote greater solidarity, including relocation. There are ongoing negotiations on legislation that must be reformed. How confident are you that more countries will want to welcome refugees and migrants? And can some of these relocations, resettlements and other measures be binding so that not every Member State is allowed to opt out? 

 Ylva Johansson

We’re working together to counter the high numbers [of deaths] in the Central Mediterranean Sea. So, we are working together to deal with emergency situations, but we are also working together to find a long-term legislative solution to create a stable way to manage migration, in an orderly way. And so far, we have made enormous progress when it comes to the negotiations. Of course, [let’s keep our] fingers crossed. Still, there are some steps to go, but I’m very confident, actually, that we will be able to reach a compromise before the end of this legislative term. 

Euronews

So, in spite of all those efforts for a common approach, we see that, for instance, the Council of Europe recently warned the EU against practices that push back migrants and refugees without processing their requests. This is, of course, illegal under international law. But Lithuania recently adopted a law that is looking to use this instrument in emergency situations. What do you think of this decision?  

Ylva Johansson

I’m in close contact with Lithuania. I was in Vilnius, in February, to discuss directly with the minister [of the Interior, Agnė Bilotaitė] and she is very open to, together with my services, looking into this legislation and seeing what kind of changes would be necessary to comply with the EU acquis. And we are in that process right now. 

Euronews

At the same time, we see that there’s a lot of talent, that a lot of people could be useful within the labour force, here in Europe, be it in Germany, or in Spain. I understand that they [these countries] are interested in some pilot projects with Tunisia, Morocco and other [countries]. How would this work? 

Ylva Johansson

It works, and it will work very well. We have a labour shortage in almost all Member States, in almost all sectors, I should say. And this is really a golden opportunity to find new relationships with many of our partner countries, investing in legal pathways. What we are offering from the European Commission side is the ‘Talent Partnership’, where we also can support, for example, the building of vocational training and language courses, before people leave to work in the European Union. And that could be a ‘win-win’ situation. For example, investing in training in Tunisia for example, that would benefit those who would like to stay in Tunisia, but also those that will come for a few years, or one year, to work in a Member State, and then maybe go back. 

 Euronews

The other side of the coin is, of course, sending back people that are not entitled to international protection as refugees, but also those who have not applied for a contract to work in Europe in a regular way. Do you agree with the strategies by European Union governments of kind of threatening to withhold trade access, visa agreements, or even development aid to countries that refuse to cooperate with these returns? 

Ylva Johansson

People could not be returned to countries where they are not safe. That is one thing, but a lot of people could be returned to their country of origin in a safe way. So that’s why we are actually using Article 25 of the Visa Code, a mechanism for when a partner country is not cooperating well on readmission and returns. Then, from the Commission’s side, we are proposing some visa measures for that country, and now we can see many of those [countries] are starting to totally change their attitude and are cooperating much better on readmission and returns. And that in turn will open up more legal pathways. 

Euronews

Thank you very much, Madame Commissioner, for being with Euronews.

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EU’s foreign minister says Beijing needs to push Putin to stop war

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Speaking in Florence at the annual State of the Union conference, EU Foreign Affairs chief Josep Borrell gave his thoughts on the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis and Europe’s place on the world stage.

Euronews
Mr. Borrell. It’s been one year since we sat here together on the same stage in Florence. The world’s perhaps no safer than it was this time last year. How has the year been for the European Union, and how has the year been for you?

Josep Borrell

Well, this has been a difficult year, certainly, mark a new war. Suddenly the war is at our borders and we have a been very busy trying to support Ukraine. But at the same time this year, we have seen the emergence of China as a big power, an assertive power, and we have seen the fragmentation of the world. And other countries, big countries, populated, growing quickly and not willing to take sides on the Ukrainian war. Yes, voting in the United Nations against the invasion, but politically sending a message that shows that there is a feeling of, well, this is not our war. It is going to be very bad for us. On directly high prices of electricity, high prices of energy and food. So I think that for us Europeans this year has been the year of taking stock of a much complex reality, a fragmented world with a big clash between the two superpowers, the US and China. And once again, the real dramatic reality of a war in our borders that cost a lot in terms of money to us and to the Ukrainians in terms of lives.

Euronews
And do you feel like you’ve become somewhat a war diplomat? Do you feel like you’re prioritizing Ukraine a lot and sometimes perhaps you might not have time for other issues?

Josep Borrell

Well, more than diplomacy, we are doing diplomacy. But in Ukraine, unhappily, unhappily, this is not the moment for diplomatic conversations about peace, is the moment of supporting me to militarily the war. So I feel as a diplomat, but I feel also as a kind of defense minister of the European Union, because I spent quite an important part of my time talking about arms, ammunitions. I never thought that I was going to spend so much time thinking about how many artillery shells we Europeans can provide to the Ukrainians, for example?

Euronews
Indeed, this time last year we spoke a lot about sanctions. The focus of the EU was sanctions and more sanctions. Now, as you say, it’s more focused on defense. Do you feel when you’re meeting behind closed doors with ministers, do you feel like the EU is in, is in war mode?

Josep Borrell
Well, the war has united us. There is nothing that can unite you more than an enemy, a threat, and the feeling of facing a threat, a real existential threat has united us more than any, any speech, any theoretical approach about the need of integration. And it has united also the West. The transatlantic relationship has never been stronger like today.

Euronews
Really?

Josep Borrell
 Yes. Well, with President Biden, maybe with President Trump, things would have been different. But today, yes, in front of the war in Ukraine, the West, meaning by the West, the trans-Atlantic people, Canada, United Kingdom, US, Europeans have shown a remarkable unity. And I think that one of the mistakes of Putin was to think that the Europeans would not be united because of the energy dependency, for example, and that the public opinion in Europe would get tired of supporting Ukrainians and that the US and Europe would have a quarreling about who does what and which share the burden. This is not the case.

Euronews
And we saw this week President Zelensky of Ukraine traveling to Finland. He was also in the Netherlands, he was in The Hague. Do you think that Europeans are still concerned about the war in Ukraine? Do you think it’s still on their minds?

Josep Borrell
Look, it’s not the same thing in Florence, as in Vilnius…is not the same thing in the south of Europe, than in the Baltics. The Baltics are in the front line. And they have a sincere feeling that if Ukraine falls, they will be the next. For them, it’s an existential threat. If you live in Sevilla, you live in the other border, the other end of Europe, you don’t have the same perception. But if you look at the polls, the great majority of Europeans agree on supporting Ukraine.

Euronews
Just before the big news, in Brussels, there was the €500 million Ammunition Production Act just announced by the European Commission, also known as ASAP. How big a deal is this? Do you think it could be a game changer? This plan?

Josep Borrell
To the scale of the problem, it’s not going to be a game changer, but it’s a signal that Europe has to increase its defense capabilities. And the defense capabilities starts by the industrial capabilities. Our industry is at very, very low level from the point of view of the capacity of production. For a peace situation that’s okay. But for a war, no. So we have to ramp up. We have to increase this capacity.

Euronews
Do you think people are on board with supporting this investment in arms and they wouldn’t worry that we’re funding a war instead of a recovery?

Josep Borrell
You know, everybody prefers but to the guns, me the first. But I think that people, the people who are in charge – parliamentarians, high level politicians at the national level of European level – have to send a message. We didn’t want this war. We were not looking for it. But the war is a reality and you have to face it. And everybody wants peace, yes, but for the time being, unhappily, Putin is continuing the war and Ukraine has to defend. And if we don’t support Ukraine, Ukraine will fall, in a matter of days. So, yes, I would prefer to spend this money increasing the, the well-being of the people, hospitals, schools, the cities, as the mayor is asking for. But we don’t have the choice.

Euronews
What would be your message to Vladimir Putin?

**Josep Borrell
**

Well, the only message that the international community and certainly the Europeans are sending is ‘Stop this war. Stop this war. And stop bombing Ukraine, withdraw your troops’. I know he’s not going to do it, but every time I listen to some world leader saying I want peace. Yes, OK, if you want peace, push Russia to withdraw. Push Russia to stop the war. Don’t tell me ‘Stop supporting Ukraine’. Because if I stop supporting Ukraine, certainly the war will finish soon. But how? How the war will finish. It doesn’t matter? Yes, it matters. It is the most important thing. The war cannot just finish because Ukraine is unable to defend itself and it has to surrender. And the Russian troops will be in the Polish border and Ukraine will become a second Belarus. Do you want this kind of ending for the war? No.

Euronews
Well, as we’re sitting here in Florence, the situation on the ground does not look good. Do you see any workable peace plan on the table to stop the war?

Josep Borrell
The only thing that could be called a Peace plan is Zelensky’s proposal because the Chinese peace plan, while it’s not a peace plan, it is a set of wishful consideration, wishful thinking, but is not a peace plan. The only one is the one that has been proposed by the Ukrainians, but certainly will not be accepted by the Russians. But let’s face the reality. Like it or not, the reality is Putin continues saying, I have military objectives and as far as I don’t get these military objectives, I will continue fighting. So the peace plans are good, but you need someone that wants to talk about peace. Really. If you do find someone who says ‘I have military objectives and I will continue bombing, I will continue fighting until I get them’. Well, what kind of a peace talks that you want to do?

Euronews
But I just want to ask you, do you think the focus is more on defense now because there’s a feeling that the sanctions were not as effective as they could have been or they didn’t work as fast perhaps, as they could have?

Josep Borrell
Three days ago, it was in Latin America and I was talking with a president of a great Latin American country. And he told me, look, you are doing with Russia, with your sanctions, the same thing that the allies in 1919 did with Germany. And I told him ‘look, I don’t understand, what is the comparison?’ Germany had to face war reparations that certainly were disproportionate and pushed the Second World War. But our sanctions to Russia has nothing to do with that. We call sanctions, and in fact, the word sanctions does not exist on the European treaty. If you go to a European treaty and you look for sanctions, the word sanctions doesn’t exist. It’s only the restrictive measures, which are the restrictive measures. I don’t…

Euronews
So do they work? Restrictive measures?

Josep Borrell
Yes, they work. Certainly they work, but they are not instantaneous. It’s like a diet? Do you want to go on a diet? You’re not going to lose 30 kilos in one week.

Euronews
And nobody’s going on a diet in Florence. Josep Borrell one more question. What about the Chinese head of State Xi? He had a phone call with President Zelenskyy. Did you find that phone call reassuring? Do you think they can play a role as a peacemaker?

Josep Borrell
Since the beginning, I said China has a role to play. And then I was strongly criticized because certainly China is on the side of Russia. But even if it is on the side of Russia, I think China has a role to play. China is a permanent member of the Security Council. China is the one who has the biggest influence in Russia. China has not provided arms to Russia until now. The US was considering this possibility, this has not happened until now, and the fact that President Xi talked with President Zelensky well, even if he didn’t mention war, but they talk. It’s a good thing. And certainly we have a…we are very much interested in not pushing Russia on the side of China too much.

Euronews
And on China, you had a visit planned to Beijing recently, but you caught COVID.

Josep Borrell
Yes, I got COVID. And maybe it was not so bad because Beijing was crowded with Europeans. There were so many that maybe it was not a good moment to go. I will go.

Euronews
It was a blessing in disguise, perhaps. Indeed it was, it was an interesting time because Emmanuel Macron, the French president, was there. He brought along the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. What would your stance be vis a vis China? How can you find a stance regarding China that pleases everyone?

Josep Borrell
On the EU, U.S., China triangle – we are closer to Washington, certainly, but we have to have our own way and we are working on that. One of the most important things I am doing now is to prepare a report for the next European Union Council to present our view on China, because China certainly is a partner How not? Is a competitor? Yes, it’s a competitor, but the U.S. is also a competitor, economically speaking, and is a rival. But what kind of a rival? Is China, a threat to the national security of the Europeans, like Russia? In Versailles the head of state said Russia is a threat to our national security. We have never said that about China. And I think we don’t, we should not be against the rise of China. China will become a great power, like it or not. The important thing is how China will manage its power.

Euronews
And what about Europe? Because this event, of course, it’s all about Europe. It’s all about the European Union as a potential power. And the language of power is your signature phrase. How are we doing? I mean, are we taken seriously on the world stage?

Josep Borrell
Europeans have to learn to use the language of power. But there are many kinds of power. Power is not just military power and not just sending troops and occupying territories. But look, now, at that moment in Bur Sudan, in the south of Sudan, there are European war ships taking out of Sudan, about 200 European citizens. This is a way of showing power.

Euronews
And on Sudan, what more can the EU do on the international community to stop the conflict?

**Josep Borrell
**There’s very little of what we can do in Sudan. It’s a civil war between the two, two generals with two armies. Nobody will intervene militarily in Sudan. In Sudan, the only way of acting is trying to get a cease fire, among them through international pressure and Europeans, who are one among others. We don’t have a surplus of power, but we have certain powers. And the more united we are, the bigger this power will be. And this is, for me, the lesson learned in front of a war, in front of the electricity prices going up. We need more unity in the world in which we live. We Europeans, we are too small. If we want to survive, we have to be more united. We have to abandon the unanimity vote on foreign policy.

Euronews
Well, that was my next question, because nine countries also agree with you, including France and Germany. A letter was sent this week on this very point, putting an en unanimity. Will that ever fly?

Josep Borrell
Well, the problem with abandoning unanimity is that it requires unanimity. You need unanimity to abandon unanimity.

Euronews
And hence my question, will it ever fly? I mean…

Josep Borrell
Well, I know it’s difficult because everybody wants to keep their veto right, Because unanimity means each one has the veto, right. Unanimity means that if I don’t like it, I block it until I get something else. Well, this is not the way we could work in a world that runs very quickly where there are big states, China is a state. The U.S. is a state. India is a state, too. We are not a state. We are a club of states. And we have to have rules that make us able to decide quicker.

Euronews
You have one year left. Of course, here we’re all talking about the European elections next May or June. We’re still waiting for the date to be confirmed. What would you like to achieve in that last year?

Josep Borrell
A just peace in Ukraine. It’s the most difficult endeavor, but certainly, and this is the thing that matters more today for us, a just peace in Ukraine. And if I could say a second one is a better understanding with the rest, because there is the West and the rest. A better understanding with them to try to prove that they really matters for us, that we are not only engaged with Ukraine, that we are able to face their complaints, their resentment, and to make them understand that Europe is no longer an imperial or colonial power. It belongs to the past, but it is clear force of peace in order to face the global challenges. And the global challenges is not only climate, it is the debt and development to work more with them because we still have a too much Eurocentric approach to the rest of the world.

Euronews
Josep Borrell Thank you so much for speaking to us here at the State of the Union.

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Scandals have ‘shattering effect’ on belief in EU, says Ombudsman

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In this latest episode of the Global Conversation, Euronews speaks with EU Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, about corruption, transparency, and trust in European institutions.

As the European Union looks to restore trust in its institutions after last year’s shocking corruption scandals, Euronews sat down with European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, who overviews transparency and ethics issues related to the EU, to discuss transparency, intelligence and what it all means for how we perceive Europe.

Sándor Zsiros, Euronews: Emily O’Reilly Thanks for being with us. Lately, we saw the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the European Union, MEPs and assistants were caught running with big money bags. Have you been surprised by this scandal?

Emily O’Reilly, EU Ombudsman: “Yes and no. I mean, the scandal itself is quite shocking and it is being played out in the Belgian courts, and all of that, we need to be mindful of that. But I suppose anybody watching it would have been quite shocked by it because the graphics were quite dramatic. We saw literally euro notes, we saw suitcases. So everybody [saw that] a sort of cartoon-like idea of corruption was served up to them. So that was quite dramatic. But I suppose when you look at the Parliament in the way that a lot of the rules and codes, that are supposed to protect parliament against corruption, even though there are a lot of them, they’re not really enforced and monitored. So I suppose in a way this was a sort of a scandal or an accident waiting to happen.”

Sándor Zsiros, Euronews: This organisation or this network has been running in the parliament for a quite long time. How is it possible that inside the EU, they have been not detected, but they have been detected only by the Belgian police?

Emily O’Reilly, EU Ombudsman: “My understanding is it was the intelligence services of another country that gave the information to the Belgian authorities. So that’s what happened there. One of the European Union’s anti-fraud agencies, which is called OLAF (European Anti-Fraud Office), they’ve always had a problem using their powers in relation to the Parliament. So for example, if OLAF suspects that something wrong is being done by somebody in another institution, in another EU agency, they have the right to go into those institutions, to go into people’s offices, to look at their computers, to do everything. Almost like police people. But the Parliament has always refused what OLAF sees as its legal right to do that. So the question is, if OLAF had had the right to go in and search MEPs offices if there was a suspicion that something wrong was been doing, might the scandal have been detected before it was detected by the Belgian authorities? But we don’t know. It’s just speculation.”

Sándor Zsiros, Euronews: Now, the European Parliament is trying to get things right to wrap up this scandal. Do you think they are doing enough?

Emily O’Reilly, EU Ombudsman: “I was observing what was happening in December in the parliament when the scandal broke and everybody was saying the right things. Everybody was saying, this is terrible. We have to fix it. We have to fix it. But now we’re a few months on and we’re still waiting to see precisely what fixing it means.”

Sándor Zsiros: Let’s talk about the big picture, what this corruption scandal means for the whole of the European Union, because this is obviously eroding the trust towards the institutions. What do you think about the effect in the long run?

Emily O’Reilly, EU Ombudsman: “Well, I think that you’re right. I mean, trust is very important. And, you know, it is said that you cannot have political legitimacy without moral authority. You can’t have political legitimacy either unless the people trust in you. 

“And of course, as you know, we’re now in Brussels. Brussels, for most people, is an idea. And it’s an idea that is very far away. So they don’t understand it in the same way as they would their own member state governments, administrations and so on. And therefore, they’re almost predestined to distrust it because they don’t understand it. So, therefore, it’s quite fragile, the trust that there is, that can be there between the European Union and its citizens. And therefore, when the administration does things, when the EU does things which damage that trust, it can have, you know, almost a shattering effect on people’s belief in the EU. 

“You have to draw the dots between the small little incidents that you might not think are particularly important and the bigger picture, the way that they lead to or can lead to distrust by the citizens on the entire European Union project. And also it’s used by people who are sceptical of the EU and people who are hostile to the EU. So it’s very important that the EU acts to the highest possible ethical standards in order to protect its political legitimacy.”

Sándor Zsiros, Euronews: There was another scandal when the former transport chief of the European Commission flew nine times to Qatar. And these trips have been paid for by the Qatari government. At the time when, you know, the European Union was negotiating with Qatar about the airline industry, was this a transparency issue for you or a lobbying issue? Any wrongdoings here?

Emily O’Reilly, EU Ombudsman: “You know, it was extraordinary because it wasn’t just the European Union that was developing this open skies policy, which was going to benefit directly Qatar Air, the people who were giving this gentleman the free flights to Qatar, but it was his department, his directorate general, that was devising the regulations. So there was a clear conflict of interest. But when the commission spokesperson was asked who decided whether there was a conflict of interest or not, it was revealed that he did. So he asked himself if there was a conflict of interest, and obviously he said no, or whatever he said and he went off and flew to Qatar.”

Sándor Zsiros, Euronews: Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, also dealt in private text messages with the CEO of Pfizer about the vaccine procurement. And those text messages were not archived, were not published. So how do you see these issues in the future, the issue of dealing differently with those kind of messages?

Emily O’Reilly, EU Ombudsman: “We’re all now so used to using these WhatsApps and Snapchats and everything else to send our messages. And while that creates a lot of efficiencies and so on, the transparency and accountability trail when public administrations are using these methods of communicating and politicians indeed, that’s problematic. So the question is, how do we capture that?”

Sándor Zsiros, Euronews: Let’s talk about money because hundreds of billions of taxpayers’ money are flowing towards the recovery and resilience facilities. Also, the European Union is supporting the defence of Ukraine by billions. Are the European taxpayers in a position to, you know, follow up on where this money is flowing?

Emily O’Reilly, EU Ombudsman: “Well, I think they should be. I don’t think they are completely yet. I mean, we’ve done quite a lot of work on the funds that were the post-covid funds of 700 billion, whatever the figure was. And all we are saying is that, look, this money is being distributed around the Member States. Obviously, whenever there’s money of that amount circling around the place, there are possibilities of corruption. There are possibilities that it’s not going to be well used and so on. So let the citizens also be the watchdogs of this money.”

Sándor Zsiros, Euronews: Your organisation just published the annual report for last year. When you add up all of these developments, you know, transparency, lobbying, ethical problems, Qatargate. Do you think it was a turning point in how we see the European Union?

Emily O’Reilly, EU Ombudsman: “In relation to Qatargate, it’s an interesting story because it was very easy to understand and, you know, it was dramatic and all of that and we had the pictures of the money in the suitcases. But at the same time, I think it also recognises the growing importance of the European Union. And certainly when you have the polarisation of the United States, then you have Brexit and what’s happening in the UK, you have Russia, you have China, you have whatever, there’s never been a greater need for Europe to assert itself globally. But to do that, it has to have a moral authority. And I suppose that feeds into a lot of the issues that you’ve just been discussing.”

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