Costa That said, our partners including the US must know that the EU will always defend its sovereignty, its citizens, its companies, and its values. Diplomacy should never be mistaken for complacency. (note: I'm afraid that's exactly what's happened)
EU cliché bingo enthusiasts alert, at the end Costa reached for the dreaded trope "Geopolitical naiveté is over!"
Here's the whole thing www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/pre...
It's just a few days, by the way, since the commission press team tried to convince us that Weyand absolutely did not say anything like this, and that we just didn't understand the context bsky.app/profile/fber...
Completing (?) a not-so-great day for EU comms, German defence min Pistorius has lashed out at VDL for telling the FT what's going on in Ukraine talks: "These are things that are not to be discussed before sitting down at the negotiating table with many parties who have something to say"
The EU had “no competence whatsoever” to station troops, Pistorius said during a visit to a defence manufacturer near Cologne, according to German media reports. "I think it is totally wrong to discuss this publicly at this stage." www.euractiv.com/section/poli...
Germany needs to take a deep breath and try to find their own glockenspiel back. In the aftermath of the Balkan wars German troops were one of the strongholds delivering credible deterrence. In Ukraine they’re acting like they have the military might of Malta
Here's the full Pistorius quote, via dpa: "Apart from the fact the EU has no jurisdiction or competence whatsoever when it comes to deployment of troops - regardless of for whom or what - I would be very cautious about confirming or commenting on such considerations in any way"
Politico reporting now that the Socialists in European Parliament are ready to vote this deal down: “We firmly oppose the agreement,” said Iratxe García Pérez, president of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D). “Trump will exploit any sign of weakness to escalate the trade war"
"Her group is the second-biggest in the European Parliament, and its opposition could spell the end of the EU’s gambit to keep American duties on EU goods at 15 percent in exchange for steep concessions to Trump’s demands" Antonio Costa from this political family though I doubt there's coordination
The punchline! 💥 🥊
It would have been extremely geopolitically naive to go hard against Trump & hurt his ego. Lashing out would've meant no military aid, maybe easing of sanctions etc. and ultimately weakened Ukrainian position, i.e. gains for Russia and their crime partner China. EU played the cards they had well.
That is indeed exactly what happened. I am not a 100% comfortable with it nor am I a 100% confident that the EU is doing everything it can to defend its citizens' interests. The EU has so much potential but somehow its efforts always fall a little short. Perceived strength matters too.