The High Representative of the EU for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrellhas called this Wednesday for a collective effort to the citizens of Europe to turn down the heat in their homes and cut economic ties with Russia in retaliation for the military offensive against Ukraine.
“The Europeans they need the noise of the bombs at 5 in the morning when falling on Kiev wake them up from their sleep of well-being and allows them to face the challenges that the world projects on us”, assured the head of community diplomacy in a debate on the situation in Ukraine in the European Parliament.
In this sense, he has asked to draw lessons from the coronavirus crisis and bet on collective efforts at European level in the “political crusade” against Russia, starting with limit energy dependence as much as possible. “Cut off the gas in your homes, reduce the dependency of those who attack Ukraine and let’s commit ourselves more to a collective defense,” he summed up.
Thus, Borrell has directly called lower the heating in the houses, comparing this step with the use of the face mask during the pandemic. “What we have done during the coronavirus must be done with Ukraine. A collective commitment to a historic task. We started late, but better late than never,” she pointed out.
The Russian invasion of the neighboring country opens, according to Borrell, a new historical era that will mark European policies the next few decades. In this sense, he has warned that the cascade of European sanctions will have to be strengthened and maintained over time, after indicating that the initial response against Moscow is not enough.
Regarding the reinforcement of the military dimension, the High Representative has been blunt in pointing out that the EU must rethink “what it wants to be” and how uphold your values and principles of the “circle of fire” in which he is surrounded.
According to Borrell, the EU must advance the work to build collective security and defense and in this sense, he has called on the member states to increase military spending, pointing to the step taken by Germany in the midst of the war in Ukraine. “We all prefer butter to cannons,” he said, referring to how difficult it is to announce more investment in defense, but he insisted that in the current context it would be “denying reality.”