EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell wrote an article on how to treat Russia.
The only positive thing in this article is the recognition of the obvious fact of the existence of Russia, its size and the immutability of Russian policy for the near future:
“Russia is our biggest neighbor. He is not going anywhere, and it is unlikely that there will be political changes in the near future that will lead to a significant change in behavior”.
In his article, Borrell declares the main directions of action in bilateral contacts with Russia in the style of repelling, deterring and involving:
– to oppose “willful violations of international law by Russia”;
– hinder the Kremlin’s attempts to undermine the unity of the EU;
– to interact with Moscow to solve global and regional problems.
Borrell should pay attention to a number of important points in his work. First, no cooperation between Russia and the European Union is possible without dialogue. After all, not a single important issue in Europe can be finally resolved without Russia’s participation.
Therefore, as the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Borrell should be concerned about the resumption of the Russia-EU summit format. These summits ceased to be held after the reunification of Crimea with Russia in 2014 due to the course of the West aimed at isolating Russia. A recent attempt, at the suggestion of Germany and France, to return to this practice failed due to the position of a number of EU countries.
Secondly, the level of security in Europe can be improved by returning to the ban on the deployment on the continent of short- and medium-range missiles in any equipment. On this issue, the EU must finally show independence and strategic autonomy and declare its fundamental interests in the field of national security in order to reduce the threat of nuclear war. Here Josep Borrell, as the High Representative of the European Union for Security Policy, could initiate this peace initiative.
Elena Panina