The Vice-President of the European Commission for Promoting of Our European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas, said this Thursday at the Forum Europa in Brussels that the European Union "is not yet capable of becoming a significant diplomatic force in foreign policy".
During a meeting organised by the New Economy Forum in the EU capital, Margaritis Schinas responded to a question on the decision by Spain, Norway and Ireland to recognise the State of Palestine.
Schinas argued that this is an example of how Europe, which has managed to jointly buy vaccines and approve ‘Next Generation’ funds, "is yet not able to become a significant diplomatic force in foreign policy". "It is sad", he said.
As an example, he recalled that after the Hamas attacks on 7 October last year, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Parliament's President Roberta Metsola visited Israel "and Ursula wanted to share the pain of the Israeli people and express an opinion on foreign policy". The consequence was that Von der Leyen "was tortured" for expressing her opinion.
Subsequently, he explained, a Foreign Affairs Council was held in Luxembourg, and those who "called for Europe's monopoly on diplomacy" after ten hours of discussions did not make a decision.
"If you claim responsibility for a diplomatic Europe, you should be able to exert it", But if it doesn't, Schinas said, it confirms that “the most important moment in geopolitical Europe was when we exercised community instruments.”
In this regard, he recalled when Ursula Von der Leyen visited the White House during the Belarus crisis and told airlines transporting migrants to Belarus would be excluded from the single market. “That was a great geopolitical moment because we stopped the flights in this way,” he concluded.
