He believes that a world war could still be avoided and that the rules-based order is in danger if the law of the strongest prevails.
The former High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, has warned that the Twenty-Seven must be prepared to respond to Russia’s “neo-imperialism” but also to that of the United States, while stressing the importance of not flinching in the face of “the threats” from Donald Trump when the moment comes.
He stated this during a doctoral lecture after being awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by the Pontifical University of Comillas, an event in which he argued that the world “wants to avoid a Sino-American duality” and does not want to embark on a “new Cold War,” and that the EU “can be that great stabilizing element” there.
“We would have to be prepared to react to the neo-imperial tendencies of Russia, but also to those of the United States, and to do so in line with our values and with our internal legal order, which is perfectly described in the treaties,” defended the former Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Borrell has anticipated that in the coming days “the capacity to respond of Brussels will be tested,” because it will finally be known whether the new American administration intends to resolve the problems in Ukraine or in the Middle East, or if it wants to “drag us into a trade war from which we will all come out losers.”
In this sense, he did not dare to predict what response the European Union plans to take against Trump, but he did assure that it should not cower “before the threats of the loudest” and mobilize “the enormous intellectual, political and economic resources that Europe has, because it still has them.”
THE EU MIGHT NO LONGER BE ABLE TO AVOID A THIRD WORLD WAR
Borrell asserted that the European Union was created with the objective of avoiding the Third World War and that, so far, that objective has been fulfilled after 70 years of peace. “Never before had the lands of Europe experienced such a peaceful situation,” he stated.
Taking advantage of being among the students at the Pontifical University Comillas, he asserted that in today’s European Union it is unimaginable that students are sent to a trench “to kill the person who was their Erasmus partner last summer.”
But although since the 1940s conflicts have been avoided at a global level, the former High Representative warned that it is not certain that a Third World War can continue to be avoided if we are not able to come together more and commit to a world based on rules.
In this vein, he warned that today “the law fights for survival because the law of the strongest prevails” and he warned once again of the importance of continuing to support Ukraine against Russia. “If Putin wins, who will be next? Putin doesn’t need to win, just not lose, but Ukraine needs to win and cannot win alone. And it will only endure if Europeans help it and if the Americans do as well,” he stated.
“If the world is not governed by rules, it will be governed by force,” he insisted, underscoring that “there are no alternatives, one thing or the other.” Borrell lamented that today “the law is cracking” and “is increasingly less respected.”
We are no longer the strongest and that’s why we have a strong interest in preventing the strongest from imposing their law on us,” he said, after citing as an example the Donald Trump administration’s plans to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC).
THE EU MUST REMAIN UNITED
Thus, he argued that in this situation the EU must remain united. “Each one of us, even the largest, the strongest, Germany, 80 million inhabitants, what do you think weighs in a world of giants?” he underscored, with countries such as China and India having more than 1,000 million inhabitants, and “at a moment when technological transformation has placed us in a position, at least, uncomfortable.”
“Where can our strength come from if not from the Union? How can our voice be heard if we are a discordant choir, unable to speak—not with the same voice, but to say the same thing?” he warned.
The former minister stressed that “in Europe there are small countries and countries that still do not know that they are small, but they are, and they will learn dramatically when confronted with the reality of the world to come.” “Better that we learn from past experience and pool our forces to face anyone who intends to build an order that is not based on rules,” he concluded.
