Europe should maintain its partnership with the U.S. despite the unpredictability of Donald Trump’s policy, but at the same time take on greater responsibility for its own security and strategic independence.
This opinion was expressed by former Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko in a comment to Ukrinform.
“It would be absolute stupidity to shift relations between Europe and the U.S. into a plane of confrontation. After Trump, there will be other presidents, and of course, America will remain a democratic, normal country. Therefore, to suggest that we will now break with the U.S. would, in my opinion, be short-sighted,” Ohryzko noted.
At the same time, according to the expert, objectively Europe should take on more responsibility, and it has all the opportunities to do so.
“The only question is how much the Europe-USA axis will be preserved,” the diplomat noted.
In this context, he noted that Europe and Ukraine have normal relations with Japan, South Korea, Australia, which are located far from us, but are democratic.
“That is, we should not assume that the democratic world will disappear. On the contrary, we must consolidate it. The axis of evil has formed, which means that there must be some kind of coalition of democratic nations that will oppose this axis of evil and, in fact, destroy it. Therefore, strategically, Europe and America must be partners. How intense this partnership will be is another question,” the former minister believes.
In his opinion, Ukraine should thank Trump for “waking up” the Europeans when he publicly stated that Europe should take care of itself.
“Therefore, there is a dialectic here: yes, to a certain extent we are now ‘divorcing’ from the U.S., but at the same time we, Europeans, are gaining more actorship, and this is a big advantage,” Ohryzko is convinced.
He also noted that when relations between states or allies turn into a squabble, it turns bad for both sides, “because emotions, not common sense, start to work there.”
“Therefore, in the place of the EU leadership, I would say with dignity, calmly, but clearly that we are not a territory that can be managed, we have our own plans and our own goals. That is, I would not make a political squabble out of this, but build relations on normal pragmatic principles,” the former minister explained.
Ohryzko also dismissed as premature the idea expressed by Josep Borrell of transforming the Group of Seven into the Group of Six, that is, without the U.S.
“The key actors must stand together because, I repeat, after Trump, someone else will come” the diplomat concluded.
As reported, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (2019-2024) Josep Borrell gave Europe four pieces of advice on how to proceed in order to become independent from the United States.
According to Borrell, Europe must respond resolutely to Trump’s trade war, gain strategic sovereignty in the field of defense and high technology, unite with other countries that have suffered from Trump’s aggressive policies (Japan, South Korea, Canada, and Australia), and turn to the countries of the Global South to reduce pressure from Trump and Putin and preserve the multilateral system.
