‘If we don’t support Ukraine, it will fall in a matter of days,’ warns Josep Borrell
By Euronews Brussels bureau
Don’t tell Josep Borrell to stop supporting Ukraine. Seriously, don’t.
“Unhappily, this is not the moment for diplomatic conversations about peace. It’s the moment of supporting the war militarily,” Borrell told our reporter Méabh McMahon at the State of the Union, the annual event hosted by the European University Institute in Florence.
“If you want peace, push Russia to withdraw. Push Russia to stop the war. Don’t tell me to stop supporting Ukraine, because if I stop supporting Ukraine, certainly the war will finish soon,” he went on.
“We cannot just finish because (if we do) Ukraine is unable to defend itself and it has to surrender. And the Russian troops will be on the Polish border and Ukraine will become a second Belarus. Do you want this kind of ending the war? No.”
For the EU’s foreign policy chief, the 10-point proposal promoted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is “the only thing that could be called a peace plan” as opposed to China’s 12-point document, which Borrell dismissed as “wishful thinking.”
“Even if they are on the side of Russia, I think China has a role to play. China is a permanent member of the (UN) Security Council. China is the one who has the biggest influence in Russia,” he added.
“Let’s face the reality. Like it or not, the reality is Putin continues saying: ‘I have military objectives and as (long) as I don't get these military objectives, I will continue fighting.’ So the peace plans are good but you need someone that wants to talk about peace.”
During the conversation, Borrell reflected on the transformational changes that have swept Europe since the Kremlin decided to launch the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, upending international law, food supply chains and energy prices.
Although technically the bloc’s top diplomat, Borrell admitted he nowadays feels more like a “defence minister” because of the growing focus on supplying ammunition to Ukraine: the EU is rushing to deliver one million artillery shells over the next 12 months, a highly ambitious timeline.
“I spend quite an important part of my time talking about arms and ammunition,” he said. “I never thought that we were going to need to spend so much time thinking about how many shots of artillery we can provide.”
Asked about the EU’s new €500-million plan to ramp up the production of artillery shells, which includes a clause that will allow member states to divert some cohesion and COVID-19 recovery funds towards the arms industry, Borrell stood firm by the idea.
“We didn’t want this war. We were not looking for it. But the war is a reality and you have to face it. And everybody wants peace. Yes, but for the time being, unhappily, Putin is continuing the war and Ukraine has to defend (itself),” he said.
“If we don’t support Ukraine, Ukraine will fall in a matter of days. So, yes, I would prefer to spend this money increasing the well-being of the people, hospitals, schools, cities, etc. But we don’t have a choice.”
The industrial plan is the latest addition to an extensive list of taboo-breaking decisions the bloc has taken in the past 15 months, many of which only came to fruition after protracted, tortuous and sometimes divisive negotiations between member states. Despite the internal back and forth, Borrell is convinced the 27 will continue to close ranks.
“The war has united us. There is nothing that can unite you more than an enemy, a threat, and the feeling of facing a threat. A real existential threat has united us more than any speech, any theoretical approach about the need for integration,” Borrell said.
“One of the mistakes of Putin was to think that the Europeans would not be united because of the energy dependency, and that the public opinion in Europe would get tired of supporting Ukrainians and that the US and Europe would quarrel about who does what and which shares the burden. This is not the case.”
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