The article also discusses Greek and Finnish rapprochement with Apartheid Israel. This really is a story about European disunity, but the BBC editors chose a headline that makes it about China.
For the EU to have a common foreign policy, it has to take into account all states’ needs. Greece a d Cyprus cannot be asked to sacrifice their national security any less than Finland or Poland. And the Germans, French and Dutch don’t get to finger wag and lecture and fuck over the PIIGS when it suits them and then bitch about bespoke economic solutions afterwards.
So pick: do Northerners feel like they have a patriotic stake in the Aegean or Nicosia? Do Southerners feel like they have a stake in German auto factories? Do Westerners feel like they have a stake in keeping chinese drones away from Polish towns? Do Easterners feel like they have a stake in social safety nets in Portuguese villages? Do all of them care about rule of law, the European Convention on Human Rights, and the treaties and conventions that we have all signed on as Europeans? If so, European solutions become possible. If not, let’s just go back to the EEC and stop pretending this Europe thing ever actually meant anything.
The article also discusses Greek and Finnish rapprochement with Apartheid Israel. This really is a story about European disunity, but the BBC editors chose a headline that makes it about China.
For the EU to have a common foreign policy, it has to take into account all states’ needs. Greece a d Cyprus cannot be asked to sacrifice their national security any less than Finland or Poland. And the Germans, French and Dutch don’t get to finger wag and lecture and fuck over the PIIGS when it suits them and then bitch about bespoke economic solutions afterwards.
So pick: do Northerners feel like they have a patriotic stake in the Aegean or Nicosia? Do Southerners feel like they have a stake in German auto factories? Do Westerners feel like they have a stake in keeping chinese drones away from Polish towns? Do Easterners feel like they have a stake in social safety nets in Portuguese villages? Do all of them care about rule of law, the European Convention on Human Rights, and the treaties and conventions that we have all signed on as Europeans? If so, European solutions become possible. If not, let’s just go back to the EEC and stop pretending this Europe thing ever actually meant anything.