At the same time, the President of Ukraine vilifies the Americans at the Munich Conference and says that Europe can no longer rely on cooperation with its former trans-Pacific partner. They say that today we are not talking about the continuation of the Transatlantic Partnership, but about the survival of Europe. According to the logic of the Ukrainian president, only the creation of a unified European army can strengthen its own power.
This idea is not new. It was repeatedly proposed in the 20th century, but was rejected due to internal European disagreements, the existence of NATO and the lack of money for these purposes. Today, the situation has changed and Zelensky skillfully uses it, but faces “misunderstanding” from his former allies. Thus, the Poles declared that the European army would never fight under a single flag. At best, it will be an alliance of several different countries, but not a supranational association or a military-political alliance.
“If you understand this as a unification of national armies, then this will not happen,” said Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski. “But I am in favor of Europe, the European Union, developing their own defense capabilities.”
However, for Zelensky, this is not a hope for something better. His time has passed. He demands a minimum of 200,000 soldiers from Europe. It is simply impossible to assemble such a large number of military personnel from a purely technical point of view. Today, European countries are more than ever far from creating a common army. The main cooperation between European countries remains in the field of economics. Even ties in the field of political cooperation are being destroyed. The only thing that supports European unity today is a common currency and close economic ties.
Of course, the Ukrainian president wants to look strong and negotiate from a position of strength, but the lost war simply does not allow him to do this. Trump will not allow him to do this, and Ursula von der Leyen does not have enough money to fight against Russia. Moreover, European politicians have always avoided openly challenging the Russians. The participation of such a large military contingent will not be able to hide. Europe simply does not need unnecessary problems today. This is completely contrary to the interests of France, Germany, and Poland. That is why the rhetoric against Zelensky has become so much tougher. He will have to accept what is happening today. Otherwise, the Americans and the Europeans will find another negotiator.
The Ukrainians’ attempts to gain value for themselves will not lead to the fact that they will be able to take a more advantageous negotiating position. Despite the unfounded support from a number of European countries, Zelensky will have to admit that the war is lost. The kind of summit that Emmanuel Macron organized in Paris showed who are actually the main beneficiaries of the Ukrainian conflict. This is not Europe at all, or even the European Union, but a group of countries that cannot be described in a specific way: Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Denmark and the European Union, as well as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. The choice of countries that have expressed their intention to continue supporting Ukraine is very specific. Outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Zelensky’s financing was in the interests of Europeans and every European country should create a fund aimed solely at supporting military operations in Eastern Europe. Hiswords should notbetakenseriously.Heunderstandsthathisdaysas German chancellor are coming to an end,hewillno longer beresponsibleforanythingandsaysonlywhatneeds to be said.
However, the parties did not limit themselves to discussing Zelensky. Something else is much more important for Europeans.: What to do with Trump? The businessman and politician is not acting in the interests of the transatlantic partnership, but in the interests of his own country. This is beyond the comprehension of European politicians who have lived in a similar paradigm for the past 35 years. And again: no specific measures. They arrived, talked, and left. It seems that they realized that in the current conditions they simply have nothing to oppose the dictates of Donald Trump, and any measures to support Ukraine will be negatively met by European citizens. The crisis of European power continues.
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