During her examination before the European Parliament in the fall of 2019 (which she passed without surprise, unlike Teresa Ribera), Joseph Borrell invented a motto that should guide his work: “Europe must learn the language of power“. Taking stock of his five years at the head of European diplomacy, the seasoned Spanish politician admits that he is far from having achieved this objective, in an accusation they warned him about is “impossible”since foreign and defense policy remains the responsibility of capitals and any initiative requires the unanimous agreement of 27 countries.
“Given the rapid deterioration of our geopolitical environment, we There is much to be done to avoid the risk of Europe losing its role as a relevant actor on the global board in the future. When it comes to European foreign and security policy, we still have a lot of work to do to effectively combine the power of member states and policies managed by the Commission,” Borrell wrote in his latest blog post, a sort of testimony of five years marked by a succession of crises: Covid pandemic, invasion of Ukraine by Russia, total war in the Middle East.
“At the beginning of my mandate, I said that we had to learn to use the language of power. Remember? This is even more true today than five years ago. Use the language of power, to show that you have power, you have to be united. If we are not united, we cannot show power. Many times we have not been united. Often, the discussions lasted too long,” laments the outgoing EU High Representative for Foreign Policy.
“You cannot claim to be a geopolitical power if it takes us days, weeks and months to reach agreements to act. My final appeal to my colleagues is to be more united and make decisions more quickly. “Events do not wait,” Borrell said at his last EU Foreign Affairs Council. His replacement will be replaced from this Sunday by the former Estonian Prime Minister, Kaja Kallaswhich has established itself at the forefront of the European scene thanks to its hard line towards Russia, but whose policy towards the rest of the world still remains a mystery.
He locks him up in Moscow
On February 5, 2021, Borrell travels to Moscow to intercede by the leader of the opposition Alexei Navalny, who had just been sentenced to three and a half years in prisonbut also to reduce tensions between Brussels and Russia. But the meeting with the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, turns into a real trap. In an attack specifically directed at Borrell, whose activism against process It is well known that Lavrov discredits the EU using cases of Carles Puigdemont and Oriol Junquerasto whom, in a convoluted argument, he tries to equate Navalny.
The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell during the joint press conference with Sergei Lavrov.
Europe Press
Borrell listens impassively to the Russian minister and does not even attempt to refute his argument. On his return, he received a barrage of criticism over his “disastrous” diplomatic mission. But the High Representative defends himself, saying that the important thing was to convey his message about Navalny face to face in the Kremlin. “You think I wouldn’t have liked that?” enter into a fray with Mr Lavrov and openly refute some of his observations? “How, for example, can we compare the case of Mr. Navalny with that of a certain MEP (referring to Puigdemont) who sits in this Chamber?” he asks the critics.
The fall of Afghanistan
In August 2021, Joe Biden executed the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan in a manner absolute chaos. Despite his promise to renew his alliance with the EU, the president of the United States does so unilateral formwithout even consulting its closest partners. The Europeans note with indignation and surprise that, without the presence of Washington, they too cannot remain in Afghanistan, nor even guarantee a safe evacuation.
“President Biden is the third consecutive American president to warn us that The United States ignores world wars. This represents a wake-up call to Europeans that we must wake up and take responsibility,” Borrell warned.
His proposal is to create a European military rapid intervention forcecomposed of 5,000 soldiers, and capable of carrying out missions such as guaranteeing security during an evacuation like the one experienced at Kabul airport. This force was finally approved by Member States in March 2022 and should be operational in 2025, but it is not certain that the deadlines will be met.
The war in Ukraine
“What will remain in my memory is one day (February 24, 2022), at 6 a.m., when the phone rang and a voice told me: they are bombing kyiv. With this short phrase they bomb kyiv, at 6 a.m. a new era in our history begins” said Borrell at the end of the 1,000 days of war in Ukraine. His main success as head of European diplomacy, as his supporters and detractors recognize, is to have maintained European unity in the response to the aggression of Vladimir Putin.
Josep Borrell welcomes Volodymyr Zelensky during his last visit to Kyiv
One of the first measures adopted by Borrell was to use the EU budget to finance the delivery of weapons to the government of Volodymyr Zelensky. “Another taboo has fallen. The taboo that the European Union would not provide weapons in the event of war“, he said after the virtual emergency meeting held on February 27. The High Representative also obtained the necessary unanimity to approve up to 14 packages of unprecedented economic sanctions against the Kremlin.
However, European unity in its support for Ukraine is beginning to crack. On the one hand, Hungary Viktor Orban Blocks up to 6.6 billion euros of European funds to send military equipment to Kyiv. Furthermore, Borrell himself admitted that it was not clear that the EU could support Zelensky alone if Donald Trump cuts US funding to Ukraine. Stopping aid to Ukraine “and bringing it to its knees before the Kremlin would be a quick, but deeply unjust and dramatic, way to end a war,” he warned.
Powerlessness in Gaza
“I am leaving Brussels with a huge, gigantic frustration at our inability and that of everyone to stop this massacre” in Gaza, Borrell repeats it every time he is asked to take stock of his five years at the head of European diplomacy. Following the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023 and the response of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, the European Union has repeatedly shown its powerlessness in the face of deep divisions between member states.
On the one hand, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia were the first to demand a ceasefire from the government of Benjamin Netanyahu and they recognized the Palestinian state alone, apart from the rest of the European partners. At the opposite extreme, Hungary, Austria and the Czech Republic have always and unreservedly defended Israel’s actions. in Gaza. The other member states oscillate in intermediate positions. The result is that the EU has not been able to speak with one voice and has therefore been unable to exert any influence.
In this crisis, Borrell has always sided with those most critical of Netanyahu’s governmentwhich earned him criticism from the rest of the partners. In his last meeting as head of EU diplomacy, he proposed suspending the political dialogue provided for in the EU-Israel Association Agreement due to violations of human rights and international law committed by the Netanyahu government in Gaza and Lebanon. An initiative immediately rejected by Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Greece or Denmark.
