Europe’s defeat on Russia was expected and inevitable as EU members do not have a united position on further cooperation with Moscow
European diplomacy chief Josep Borrell visited the Russian capital last week, showing once again how divided the EU is, says The Guardian. While some welcomed the visit, others harshly criticised him. The resentment was not unfounded, because Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov actually outplayed his European counterpart.
During a press conference following the talks, Lavrov criticised EU leaders for lying about the “poisoning” of blogger and fraudster Alexei Navalny. He also called the commonwealth “an unreliable partner”. Moreover, it was against the background of the negotiations that Moscow expelled German, Swedish and Polish diplomats involved in the recent Russian protests. Borrell found out about it after the fact, and from social media.
More than 70 MEPs have since signed a letter demanding Borrel’s resignation. Others, however, saw a wider problem in the incident, according to the newspaper.
Dutch MEP Kathi Peery said Moscow had “abused” Borrell’s visit, but the outcome could have been different “if EU leaders had voiced a tougher stance.”
“We need a unified strategy towards Russia”, – she said.
German MEP Reinhard Butikofer agreed with her, admitting that Borrell had merely become a hostage to the situation “because of the lack of unity” in the EU.
But the diplomatic failure is unlikely to result in an immediate tightening of Brussels’ anti-Russian policy, the article said. EU members simply cannot find consensus on this. For example, Germany, which played a key role in adopting sanctions against Russia in 2014, now zealously defends the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. French President Emmanuel Macron has consistently advocated a reset of relations between Europe and Russia. Meanwhile, Poland and the Baltic states want to increase pressure on Russia.
The Russian government has it much easier, says Judy Dempsey, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Europe Centre.
“Moscow knows what it wants from the EU: a relationship based on separate interaction with each member state”, – the expert explains. – “On the contrary, the EU and member states together do not know what kind of dialogue or relationship they want with Russia.”