“The Ukrainian issue is, in fact, between Russia and the United States. “Europe has, to a very large extent, handed over the issue of European security to the United States,” said Evangelos Venizelos, a professor of public law at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, formerly Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, during an online event organized by Nomiki School of EKPA, on “The war in Ukraine, European institutions and human rights”.
“The solution will not come from the United States but from Europe,” said Dora Bakoyannis, a ND lawmaker, former foreign minister and vice-president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
“Europe seems to be reacting and this is only positive if it results in a single foreign and defense policy,” said Professor of Public Law, SYRIZA-PS Foreign Minister and former Foreign Minister George Katrougalos.
“The EU has suffered two shocks in recent years, which have mobilized it. One is the pandemic and the other is the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These extreme situations forced her to activate. The head of the cassid was prepared. She had prepared during the financial crisis, in the “laboratory of Greece” and had formed her ability, with many questions, to react to crises, because she thought that history was over and that everything would work under normal conditions of temperature and pressure. “Mr Venizelos added: ‘Europe has handed over, to a very large extent, the great issue of European security to the United States for a century. Today, the United States is President Putin’s key interlocutor, and the issue is in fact between Russia and the United States, and European leaders play a procedural mediating role. But President Putin’s decision to move the war machine, to actually declare war on Ukraine, mobilized the EU more and more deeply, and, paradoxically, not the always mobile France but Germany, which found a historic opportunity. to be able to overcome the deep guilt that it has in relation to Nazism, the Holocaust and its historical responsibilities for what happened in World War II. “
Then, Mr. Venizelos referred to the change of attitude of Germany:
“Soltz’s speech in the Federal Parliament, the 100 billion euros in a defense program, may be a new era for Europe but also for German-Russian relations in the field of economy, energy and in the field of foreign and defense policy. Europe shows reflexes. Europe alone cannot handle these issues, nor can the United States. The West is strategically reorganizing, and this is a very important acquis, which is largely due to President Putin’s choice to take things to the extreme. The debate has returned to the sources of the Cold War, to nuclear deterrence, and as a nuclear power the EU is very little. The nuclear power is the United Kingdom, which is now outside the EU, but the British nuclear power is within NATO design. The European nuclear pillar is France, which is out of NATO design.
The issues raised by the war in Ukraine cannot be answered by the EU. Because these issues are now linked to the nuclear balance of power and the halt and Europe is not in a position to offer itself and Ukraine a umbrella and restraint. “The United States is absolutely necessary, which is why President Putin’s interlocutor is Mr. Biden.”
Dora Bakoyannis: The solution will come from Europe
“Change in Germany is shocking and only someone who knows it well can understand the magnitude of the change. It was inconceivable to imagine that in just one week Germany would throw a 75-year-old dogma into the trash. “Germany becoming a military power again was the absolute taboo in my generation”, stressed Ms. Bakoyannis.
She added that “the way it was said about German-French cooperation in the defense sector is also important. Of course, some of us have believed for years that Europe needs a defense arm and that Europe, in order to stand serious and credible in the international arena, must stop depending on its security for the United States and its energy security with Russia. It is clear that such a Europe can not act, and that is what Putin believed. His first mistake was that he believed he had a disintegrated Europe ahead of him, and he was almost certain that Europe would not reach a unanimous decision. The second mistake he made was that he believed that the President of Ukraine was a jerk, who would leave as soon as possible by helicopter or plane, as his own man did when he fell from power. These two did not happen and today is a new reality, in which the worst is ahead, because the defense brings more stubbornness and I am afraid that we have to see very wild situations in Ukraine before we reach a moment of ceasefire and the search for longer-term solutions. ».
“I do not believe that the solution will come from the United States but from Europe and it must come from Europe. Europe knows its neighborhood well and with a European initiative there must be some form of solution to the Ukraine-Russia problem. But I do not have any illusions. We are entering a Cold War period again, with extreme logics and perhaps the only encouraging thing is that this general response to the logic of revisionism, put forward by Mr. Putin, is something important for Greece and which we have been waiting for many years to do. we hear unanimously from the EU “, concluded Ms. Bakoyannis.
George Katrougalos: We need a new EU that will have its own voice
“Europe today seems to be seeking, albeit palpably, a single representation, a new voice, in the fields of foreign policy and defense. We all agree that the invasion of Ukraine was a clear violation of international law. This is certainly not the first time we have encountered such violations. The invasion of Cyprus in 1974 is a classic case in point. In any case, these are not offset “, Mr. Katrougalos pointed out.
The SYRIZA Foreign Minister underlined that “Europe has failed not only in not waging war. Europe’s size of responsibility goes back a long way, and most of the responsibility goes back to the first decade of this century, when attempts to form a system of European security architecture, which would include Russia, were thwarted. Important discussions took place within the OSCE, we had the Charter of Istanbul, the Charter of Paris, which favored a system called indivisible security, which although it did not accept spheres of influence but accepted that one’s security should not affect security the other ‘s. This effort has unfortunately been abandoned because many Western countries have come to believe that Russia is now a second-class power that we do not need to take its concerns too seriously.
Contrary to most people’s predictions and mine, Russia has launched this illegal invasion. “Europe seems to be reacting,” Katrougalos said, adding that a change in Europe and Germany’s stance could be a “very positive development” only if it results in a common European defense policy with strategic autonomy towards NATO. If the question is for Europe to be the fourth pole on the international stage, what is the position of Greece? There is no doubt that Greece belongs to Western culture but the strategic interests of the USA and Europe are by no means identical. “Europe must become this fourth pole in order to play a balancing role on the international stage, so that a new Cold War is not inevitable.”
“It is obvious that the added value that Greece can bring to such a Europe is that it continues to play the role of a bridge between the EU and the other great powers, China, Russia and the rest of the world. The government’s choices seek to overthrow this firm foothold in our foreign policy not only by sending deadly munitions to Ukraine, but also by decisions such as sending troops to Saudi Arabia. He seeks to return to the role of the advanced outpost that was the choice of the Cold War. “It’s like reading the world today with the glasses of the Cold War.”
The discussion was moderated by the Dean of the Law School of EKPA Linos-Alexandros Sicilianos and the professor of Public International Law of the Law School of EKPA and President of the National Committee for Human Rights Maria Gavounelis.
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