Participants:
Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019
Dr Vaira Vīķe- Freiberga, President of the Republic of Latvia from 1999 to 2007
Marian Majer, the State Secretary (Deputy Minister) of Defence of the Slovak Republic
Mark Leonard, Director of the European Council on Foreign Relations
Moderator: Daunis Auers, Prof of EU Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Latvia
The discussion begins with a prompt on how the (European Union) EU is perceived as not reaching its full potential. The first discussant responds by disagreeing with the prompt. Looking to the future – nothing holds Europe from becoming a global player. The issue is in the attitude of Europe to underestimate its own power and weight across globe. For example, if the EU External Actions Service (EEAS) were taken away much of the existing system of international collaboration channels would collapse. There is area for improvement, but the EU is plating its role – representing member interests. With new strategic direction the EY should strengthen its foreign policy focus, but it is undoubted by the rest of the world that the EU is a global player.
The next discussant also shared that here has been a tremendous growth from twenty years ago in the global role of the EU. They noted, however, that the EEAS is only ten years old. The broader issue is currently lack of awareness to belonging to an EU community. EU citizens and government should recall that there is no contradiction between a member state and EU country patriot – similarly, strengthening NATO is also strengthening the EU. Thus, the EU is a patchwork of strength an achievement. To look back to when France and Netherlands did not agree to an EU constitution, and that the EEAS had no offices and staff a few years ago – the EU has made a tremendous leap. A discussant noted that the EU is not a completed project – Schuman and Monnet approached it cautiously with concrete steps. The subsequent steps of integrating the post-soviet bloc itself was a monumental success. The challenge remains for EU citizens to espouse and celebrate a hierarchy of identities.
A discussant brought up the point that the EU is not yet a superpower. It is a matter of perception and expectation. If too much is expected from the EU, which is not a unanimous actor, then expectations will be disappointed. There is also no reason to expect more cohesion at the moment when countries need to figure out stances on new fundamental issues. Within the framework possible the EU is doing what makes sense. On the other hand, there is a lack of political will in certain areas, like any defense and security cooperation. The discussant continued by outlining that though the EU is not a totally global actor yet – it can be. It depends on the EU’s own appetite, and the discussant did not see an appetite for something much stronger than what we have in Europe. Especially when we are still surrounded by strong sentiments from certain countries in favor of leaving the EU.
The next speaker disagrees, highlighting that though Europe is a successful incrementalist, not everything is successful we are trying to pretend that everything is good, and gaps persist. When it comes to the world – the EU aims to build itself by creating interconnectedness among other nations. Yet the world is veering away from multilateralism, and adversaries like Russia and China are weaponizing the trade, infrastructure, and other interdependencies. These interdependencies, in turn, are making the EU feel vulnerable, and leading to an issue of constant tension. The EU has not been changing quickly enough, there is not yet a habit of thinking strategically, especially in terms of servicing a real concept of strategic autonomy. For example, the Euro is still too weak and EU institutions are fragmented as if there is a curtain between the economy and geopolitics. Discussants proposed that perhaps the major goal for the EU is to survive the century as a Kantian society and preserve its values. That’s a project of EU exceptionalism rather than universalism. In that case, strategic autonomy is more a matter of not being able to convert other countries to the EU basket of values.
Discussants agree that geopolitics will be about weaponizing globalization. There is a need to think about how people may use interdependence to manipulate Europe. The Euro needs to be developed and there needs to be more investment in Europe’s defense. Expectations need to be more realistic about what can be done and needs to be done in order to contribute to stop the weaponization of globalization and decrease tensions and avoid conflict. Concurrently, an inwards focus should be spent to prevent the growth of extreme positions that undermine democratic order, especially so they do not get exploited via hybrid warfare. This translates into taking care of “electronic echo chambers.” It is thus all of Europe’s responsibility to keep pro-European parties in government to ensure that the core EU values do not faulter. Going forward, the EU Strategic compass should be mobilized to react to these new threats and the new reality.