Europe is experiencing a large-scale crisis of confidence, a wide partnership between Moscow and Paris, sharing special responsibility for maintaining peace as the permanent members of the UN Security Council, would help to improve the situation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
“The Euro-Atlantic has faced a large-scale crisis of confidence. A truly united Europe has not been built. The large-scale potential for interaction between Russia and the European Union, in fact, is idle. European, including French, business is experiencing losses”, – Lavrov said in an article for the French Revue Politique et Parlementaire Magazine on the occasion of the 130th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding French politician Charles de Gaulle.
He expressed confidence that the current scenario is far from what Charles de Gaulle had in mind, well aware of the futility of “Europe without Russia”.
“We are convinced that a widening partnership between Moscow and Paris, that share special responsibility for maintaining international peace, as permanent members of the UN Security Council, would contribute to the improvement of the situation on a European and indeed global scale”, – the Russian Foreign Minister emphasized.
The diplomat also noted that Moscow welcomes the initiative of the French President Emanuel Macron to create a European security system, not in opposition to Russia, but with common participation.
“The main thing is that the right words are embodied, finally, in practical steps, in the restructuring of political consciousness on the principles of international law and collegiality. Russia, for its part, is always ready for such an honest and equal interaction”, – the diplomat added.