Dmitry Drize: EU leaders have decided to militarize, so what now?

Dmitry Drize: EU leaders have decided to militarize, so what now?

Dmitry Drize

The EU does not intend to die for the Donbass. This was stated by its foreign policy commissioner Josep Borrell last week. The leaders of the countries of the Western European bloc will discuss increasing defense spending and decide on the fate of frozen Russian assets at their next summit.

Borrell urged his colleagues not to inflame the situation and frighten ordinary people for nothing. The senior official was referring to recent comments made by French President Emmanuel Macron, who has spoken of possibly sending troops into Ukraine.

From the Kremlin’s standpoint, the behavior of Western leaders so far seems indecisive, but serious changes could be afoot.

The next EU summit could be described as historic. The main issue is not even the fate of Russia's frozen assets, but the fact that, perhaps for the first time, the bloc is discussing the transition to a military economy. 

As European Council President Charles Michel put it, the time has come to change the paradigm of defense and security relations. The essence of this is that Western Europe was totally unprepared for war. Nobody expected it, and nobody even thought it was possible.

What were their priorities? Climate - they wrote guidelines for farmers on how much carbon monoxide their cows should emit so that they don’t spoil the environment. 

What else? Gender neutrality, multiculturalism, gender equality - against such a happy, rosy background, they forgot about the military threat. Now they have to catch up. They will have to trade in not only their economic but also their political yardsticks so that the electorate really and seriously believes in a Russian threat.

That, too, will require considerable investment.

There are no details yet, but the extreme poles have been outlined. The tone has been set by Macron. The French president has not ruled out sending troops to Ukraine.

Some of his allies have expressed alarm at this and are denying the possibility in every possible way. However, the reality is that nothing can be ruled out, including this scenario, especially if the Ukrainian front line falls.