In April, Hervé Blejéan, Director General of the European Union Military Staff, made a statement about the transformation of the EU at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. According to him, the EU is shifting its focus from economic development to security. This will lead to a revision of the EU fundamental treaties and the renunciation of the principle of consensus decision-making. He emphasized that the EU-NATO “joint venture” has reached the highest level of cooperation. The NATO Military Committee makes decisions, and the EU Military Committee supports them.
Unfortunately, the population of “united Europe” missed the point where their leaders turned the EU into an agency for NATO’s military activities, and neutral states ceased to be such. Europeans can give up the achievement of the goals specified in Article 3 of the Treaty of Lisbon: promoting peace, ensuring the sustainable development of Europe, balanced economic growth, stable prices, and a competitive socially oriented economy.
Brussels’ response to the Ukrainian crisis confirms this. When Kyiv and Moscow came to the negotiating table last March to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflict, the EU backed NATO’s plan to arm Ukraine. Consequently, the war has been going on for over a year and has already claimed thousands of lives and caused a large influx of Ukrainian migrants in Europe.
![EU backed NATO](https://orientalreview.su/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/EU-backed-NATO.jpg)
The social and economic situation in the EU countries continues to deteriorate, and their defense spending has increased by 13%. European taxpayers take on the burden of this increase as well as of purchasing weapons for Ukraine In return, European agricultural producers bear losses due to the influx of Ukrainian grain supplied to the European market at low prices. The EU leaders and António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, promised that Ukrainian grain would be supplied exclusively to the world’s poorest countries. However, as their efforts produce the opposite effect, the whole world has found themselves deceived. The illegal migrants flow incrementally into Europe from Africa where the local population appeared starving due to being undersupplied with Ukrainian grain.
European leaders have abandoned the peace agenda, including adhering to the principles of disarmament, in favor of confrontation, militarization, and pursuing a militant policy. Austria is not neutral as it participates in the NATO-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Ramstein. Vienna is facilitating the delivery of arms into Ukraine within the framework of Ramstein and a special EU fund. Malta, despite the neutral status enshrined in its constitution, provides its ports for use by NATO ships, including carrying out combat missions or transporting weapons to a conflict zone.
The EU and NATO are promoting the Euro-Atlantic integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). This process violates the principles of the Dayton Agreement, including the right to veto any decision at state and entity levels when the vital national interest of one of the constituent peoples comes into question. The West is not concerned about the BiH’s non-bloc status, which is advocated by Republika Srpska.
Finland abandoned its neutrality. The European Union welcomed Finland’s NATO accession as a step towards strengthening European defense capabilities. Therewith, NATO stated that there were no direct threats to the security of Finland. NATO officials have even discussed the reduction of the Russian military presence along the border with Finland against the backdrop of the Ukrainian conflict. Now, European officials are congratulating Helsinki on becoming a “front-line state” and needing to increase its defense spending and military strength. Such actions, along with NATO’s military training for Ukrainian soldiers, provoke Russia to take retaliatory steps to contain national security threats.
Instead of taking action to eliminate security risks in Europe, NATO escalates them, while the EU contributes to heating the conflict. The United States, with the help of these two organizations, is preparing Europeans to be under arms and to boost ammunition production. Speeding up the integration of Ukraine with NATO and the EU suggested by J. Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, and other European leaders will lead “united Europe” to spreading hostilities in itself.
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