Borrell has set out for Ukraine, a good example of the importance and concern generated in Brussels by the situation of the eastern border of the EU. The main objective is to claim a relevant role in the design of the European security architecture with which the US and Russia work and from which Brussels has been excluded.
For months Moscow has accumulated thousands of troops on the border with Ukraine. This has been interpreted as a new security threat in the region. According to these analyzes, it would be the continuation of a sequence that began with the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the outbreak of the war in Donbas. This action is seen as the preamble to a new interference in the Ukrainian territory by Moscow, which would confirm the theory of the self-fulfilling prophecy that Putin’s ambitions would not stop in Crimea, but would go further, and would confirm the hypothesis from new cold war.
NATO needs to vindicate itself, and Putin needs to strengthen himself (more) internally and vindicate himself externally. Perhaps it is a naive thought, but perhaps all this responds more to a strategy game and deterrence, to a show of force, than to a real threat.
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The question is whether in this context EU is able to play an active role and how. For this, it would be essential to have a strong and unitary position non-existent and Putin knows it (so does Biden). Know what Germany and their new chancellor are not clear whether to subordinate their gas supply to that unit of action, they know that France It is mired in a complicated semester with the presidential elections on the horizon and the extreme right rising like foam, and it knows that, as much as Borrell insists on the existence of strategic autonomy, for the moment, it has not materialized.
Supporting the Ukrainian government and territorial integrity is a strategic move, but probably one of doubtful effectiveness. We will have to be attentive to events.
Reference-www.elperiodico.com