The food crisis or the financial crisis are some of the most urgent issues that Europe must address, said Borrell
The head of community diplomacy, Josep Borrell, argued this Sunday that Europe needs to engage much more with the rest of the world despite the attention that the war in Ukraine is concentrating right now.
“The world asks for more Europe. There is a demand that we Europeans commit ourselves more, but not only in words, but also in deeds,” said Borrell during a meeting with Spanish journalists in New York, where will participate in the General Assembly of the UN.
According to Borrell, among the countries of the so-called “global south” there is fear that the war in Ukraine will distract Europe from the rest of the international agenda and that all resources are concentrated on that conflict at a particularly difficult time for many regions.
“We need to commit ourselves much more to the rest of the world,” stressed the Spanish diplomat, who emphasized the complex global situation due to issues such as the food crisis that threatens millions of people in dozens of countries or the financial crisis, which drowns developing nations with high inflation and a withdrawal of foreign capital.
To all this are added the lingering effects of covid-19the increasingly visible consequences of climate change or the energy crisis that is particularly affecting Europe.
“Beyond our concern about the difficult winter ahead, we have to engage more with global issues and propose multilateral solutions,” he said.
Borrell began his agenda in New York this Sunday with a meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, to whom he reiterated that the European Union (EU) is not putting any obstacles to the Russian fertilizer exports.
Russia has denounced that Western sanctions are limiting these sales, although both Europe and the United States have stressed on numerous occasions that their punishments do not affect that sector and have offered clarifications to companies.
Despite this, the UN itself admits that Russian exports are encountering problems -mainly because some market players prefer not to deal with the country or choose to avoid possible complications with sanctions- and is promoting negotiations to try to facilitate them.
In this sense, Borrell said that Brussels will continue to deal with the private sector to make it clear that, on the European side, it is not facing possible problems due to these exports and seeking “to prevent the lack of fertilizers this year from meaning more hunger next year”.