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EU must develop 'appetite for power', Borrell says


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EU must develop 'appetite for power', Borrell says

 

2020-02-16T121350Z_1_LYNXMPEG1F07Q_RTROPTP_4_CLIMATE-EU-BORRELL.JPG

FILE PHOTO: Josep Borrell, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission arrives at a European Union foreign ministers emergency meeting to discuss ways to try to save the Iran nuclear deal, in Brussels, Belgium, January 10, 2020. REUTERS/Johanna Geron/File Photo

 

MUNICH (Reuters) - European Union governments need to be willing to intervene in international crises or risk prolonging paralysis in their foreign policy, the EU's top diplomat said on Sunday.

 

The EU is the world's largest trading bloc but it often fails to speak with one voice on foreign policy because its policy-making requires consensus among members. EU governments are divided on issues from Libya to Venezuela.

 

"Europe has to develop an appetite for power," the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told the Munich Security Conference, stressing that did not only mean military power.

 

"We should be able to act ... not everyday making comments, expressing concern," he told leaders, lawmakers and diplomats.

 

With its economic power, the bloc has been able to boast of a "soft power", but its influence in the world has waned, partly because U.S. President Donald Trump's "America First"' policies have undermined European priorities.

 

European Union governments need to be willing to intervene in international crises or risk prolonging paralysis in their foreign policy, the EU's top diplomat said on Sunday (February 16). Adam Reed reports.
 

 

Trump's decision to pull out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, as well as the Paris climate accord, his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital before a final peace settlement and his criticism of NATO are at odds with European positions.

 

With new leadership in Brussels, the EU has launched into a flurry of diplomacy since January, particularly on the Middle East.

 

But the bloc was still divided on how to react to Trump's peace proposal for the Palestinians and Israel. Efforts to revive a maritime mission off Libya to uphold a U.N. arms embargo have run into difficulties, diplomats say.

 

"When there is no unanimity (in the EU), the remaining majority have to act," Borrell said.

 

(Reporting by Robin Emmott; Editing by Frances Kerry)

 

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-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-02-17
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26 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I think the Europeans still hope that Trump will go away and things will get back to normal.

I wouldn't bet that will happen. I wouldn't even bet that the Americans will vote for anybody better in the future.

But I understand that the Europeans hope and wait a little longer. 

Is Bloomberg a "dark-horse" candidate?

Many think the economy just has to stay on track for Trump to win easily.

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1 hour ago, Laughing Gravy said:

The smell of an EU army is coming. the one that all those anti-Brits kept telling us is a lie.

 

https://www.politico.eu/article/angela-merkel-emmanuel-macron-eu-army-to-complement-nato/

 

The rest of the little minions in the pond will get eat up and do as they are told.

Not your problem any more.

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6 hours ago, JonnyF said:

The UK is still subject to most of the rules and regulations until December. Even if they weren't I can post in any thread I like, you don't get to decide that.

 

The majority of Brexit threads are full of bitter non-Brits (Aussies, Americans etc.) slagging off the UK. If you have an issue with people not in the EU posting in Brexit threads I suggest you take it up with them, not me ????.

UK still has to follow the rules of EU, but has no voice to say anything about those rules.

 

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4 hours ago, Rookiescot said:

Not your problem any more.

Learn your history because 3 times we have been dragged into Europe's empire building dictatorships. Schools should be forced to teach the eu's history from it's conception in 1944 and its then given name "The 4th Reich" . The French people should be very thankful of Brexit as it slowed the military side and end goal/game of the project as the denies of its military phase and lies, lies lies were screamed by Germany etc.... As in May 1940 Germany would have rolled into France again under the guise of helping France quell the Yellow vest movement (they were actually caught doing this but quickly painted out the EU insignia on the vehicles followed by a news blackout on the subject) as Petain welcomed Hitler Macron would have welcomed German's EU. 

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It would appear that the EUs chickens are coming home to roost.

 

The UK’s withdrawal from the European Union has left a huge €75bn (£62bn) hole in the bloc’s budget for the next seven years, 2021 to 2027. “And now we are fighting like ferrets in a sack,” said one EU diplomat with a sigh.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/16/stressed-heads-to-start-brussels-budget-talks-post-brexit

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3 minutes ago, donnacha said:


A trading block is what the British thought they were joining. It stopped being just that decades ago.

It never stopped being a trading block , Most things evolve, some walow in past glories.

Though I must admit wallowing does have a certain appeal.  

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4 minutes ago, sirineou said:

No Frankenstein is a fictional story by Mary Shelley.  

Yes, fictional charactors can still evolve.

 

The transition of “Frankenstein” from print to video, and the evolution of the story from the first video in 1910 to modern day, reveals as much about the story of Frankenstein as it does about modern society itself.

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3 minutes ago, vogie said:

Yes, fictional charactors can still evolve.

 

The transition of “Frankenstein” from print to video, and the evolution of the story from the first video in 1910 to modern day, reveals as much about the story of Frankenstein as it does about modern society itself.

Does that include modern British society and brexit?

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