“If you are not an actor, others act for you.” The high representative, Josep Borrell, joins the voices that urge the EU to strengthen its capabilities “at home” to face the possible consequences of Donald Trump’s return to the White House. And the head of European diplomacy places emphasis on Ukraine, given fears that the populist leader will turn off the aid tap and promote an end to the war that basically means the surrender of kyiv to Vladimir Putin.
“If you are not at the geopolitical game table, you will be on the menu. “Ukraine has to be on the table, not on the menu,” said Borrell upon his arrival at the informal meeting of EU leaders held in Budapest and in which they are analyzing the recipes proposed to them by the former Italian prime minister. Mario Draghi to strengthen competitiveness. The former president of the European Central Bank has assured that his recommendations “have become even more urgent after the elections in the US.” “There is no doubt that Trump’s presidency will make a big difference in relations between the US and Europe,” Draghi warned, conceding that it does not necessarily have to be a “negative” impact.
But what the entire European leadership agrees on is that the old continent must be prepared and depend on itself. “The only recipe for survival is to be more united and build a stronger, more sovereign Europe, capable of facing the challenges of the world without outsourcing our security to anyone else,” said Borrell.
“Europeans have to be more united. Each one of us alone does not count in the world, in a world of giants,” continued Borrell, who pointed out the need to strengthen security and technology capacity. And for that, the Catalan politician has warned, it does not matter what happens in “other houses”: “What matters is what happens in our house.”
Despite the concern that Trump’s new mandate in the EU represents due to the uncertainty caused by its lack of predictability and the possible economic consequences of a worsening of the trade war, the message that the leaders of the 27 are trying to send is one of tranquility. and confidence in their own abilities.
“Our economies are strong, our countries have sophisticated defense systems and we represent something (…). If we decide to be aware of what we represent geopolitically and commercially, it is an incredible power. There is no other market of 700 million people as united by the history of interests and values as the one that brings us together around this table,” Frenchman Emmanuel Macron encouraged this Thursday his counterparts sitting in the European Political Community, which brings together the EU countries and their eastern neighbors and the United Kingdom.
“We have to be more masters of our destiny, not because of Kamala Harris or Trump, but because of our children,” said the president of the European Council, Charles Michel. “Europe cannot change the world, but it can change itself to cope with a changing world,” said Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mytsotakis. “Europe is ready to take care of itself, also from a security point of view,” said Belgian Alexander de Croo before an appointment that became a kind of group therapy.
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