Borrell's 4 crises facing EU diplomacy: from Putin's siege in Moscow to impotence in Gaza

“Despite the rapid deterioration of the geopolitical situation queda mucho por hacer to avoid the risk of Europe ceasing to be a relevant actor en el tablero global en el futuro. En cuanto a la poliítica exterior y de seguridad Europe, aún nos queda mucho trabajo por hacer effectively combined the power of Member States and the policies managed by the Commission,” Borrell writes in a recent entry on his blog. de testamento de cinco años is marked by a crisis sequence: Covid pandemic, invasion of Ukraine by part of Russia, total war in the Middle East.

“At the beginning of my mandate, I said that we must learn to use the language of power. Do you remember? This is truer today than five years ago. To use the language of power, to demonstrate that you have power, you must be unidos. Many things cannot be combined. The EU High Representative for Foreign Policy said with regret.

“No one can claim that geopolitics has no potential. Mi ultimo llamamiento a mis colleges es que estén más unidos y tomen decesiones más rápido. “Los acontecimientos no esperan,” Borrell said in a recent EU foreign affairs speech. Kaja KallasHe jumped to the forefront of the European stage with his tough position against Russia, but his policy regarding the rest of the world is still unknown.

In Moscow

On February 5, 2021, Borrell traveled to Moscow to intercede por el líder opposition Alexei Navalny, que acababa de ser condenado a tres años y medio de cárcelbut also to reduce tensions between Brussels and Russia. However, the meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov turned into a real siege. An attack specifically directed at Borrell, against whose activism Process es bien conocidoLavrov uses the cases to discredit the EU Carles Puigdemont and Oriol Junquerasa los que en una revesada argumentanción trata de equiparar a Navalny.

Borrell escucha impávido al ministro ruso y ni intenda rebatir su argumentación. A su regreso, recibe en la Eurocámara un Alluvión de críticas for su “disaster” diplomatic mission. But the High Representative defended himself and said that the important thing is to convey his message about Navalny to the Kremlin. “I have no taste I met Mr. Lavrov Revise the observations? As an example, how do you compare the work of Mr. Navalny with the work of some MEP sitting in this House (referring to Puigdemont)?”, les espeta a los críticos.

The fall of Afghanistan

In August 2021, Joe Biden implements the withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan at the UN. absolute chaos. Despite his promise to renew his alliance with the EU, the US president is doing just that One-sided formguilt consultant siquiera consus partners más estrechos. Los Europeans comprueban con inignación y sorpresa que, sin la presenza de Washington, allos tampo pueden quedarse en Afghanistan, It doesn't even guarantee a safe evacuation.

“El President Biden is the most consistent North American president.” EEUU is not desentiende according to world standards. “It is a country that represents Europeans, which does not bear its responsibility,” Borrell notes.

This offer es crear una fuerza militar europea de intervention rapidaConsisting of 5,000 soldiers, it can perform tasks to ensure safety during evacuations, such as the one at Kabul airport. The force was finally approved by member states in March 2022 and is due to become operational in 2025, but it is unclear whether those deadlines will be met.

War in Ukraine

“One day that remains in my memory (February 24, 2022) at 6 o'clock in the morning, the phone rang and a voice told me: They are bombing Kiev. Con esta breve frase, están bombardando Kiev, a las 6 de la mañana, se abrió una una era de nuestra history“, relató Borrell al cumplirse los 1,000 días de la guerra en Ukraina. Su principal éxito como jefe de la diplomacyta europea, según le recognía partizans y detractores, es mantenido la unidad reuropea de la la la awesome europea.

One of the first measures taken by Borrell was to use the EU budget to finance the supply of weapons to the government of Vladimir Zelensky. “Otro tabú ha caído. The taboo that the European Union will not give weapons in war“, he said after an emergency virtual meeting on February 27. The High Representative also achieved the unanimity needed to approve an unprecedented package of up to 14 economic sanctions against the Kremlin.

Sin embargo, la unidad avropea a la hora de apoyar and Ukrainian empieza and resquebrajarse. Hungría de lado is not Viktor Orban bloquea hasta 6,600 million euros from the European fund to send military material to Kiev. In addition, Borrell himself admitted that it is not clear that the EU can support Zelensky alone Donald Trump He cut off US funding in Ukraine. Dejar de Ayudar of Ukraine “and bringing him to his knees before the Kremlin would be a quick but extremely unfair and dramatic way to end the war.” yes aviation

Impotence in Gaza

“Yo me voy de Bruselas con una enorme, gigantesca.” Disappointment after the carnage in Gaza Repeat every time Borrell is asked to balance his five years in front of European diplomacy. After the terrorist attacks by Hamas on October 7, 2023 and the response of Benjamin Netanyahu's government, the European Union has repeatedly demonstrated its impotence due to deep divisions among its member states.

Por un lado, España, Irlanda o Slovenia fueron los primeros en reclamar un alto el fuego al Gobierno de Benjamin Netanyahu y han known en solitario, al margen del resto de socios europeos al Estado Palestino. On the contrary, Hungary, Austria or the Czech Republic have always and unconditionally defended Israel's actions. In Gaza. Members of Los demás Estados secure the positions of ido oscilando and intermedias. The result is that the EU could not speak with one voice, so it could not have any influence.

In this crisis, Borrell has always sided with the biggest critics of the Netanyahu governmentlo que le ha granjeado las críticas del resto de partners. In his last meeting as head of European diplomacy, he proposed the suspension of political dialogue under the Association Agreement between the EU and Israel due to violations of human rights and international law by the Netanyahu government in Gaza and Lebanon. It is an immediate initiative for Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Greece or Denmark.