Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg compares Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine to an earthquake whose tectonic effects will last for a long time. At the international conference “Time to Decide Europe Summit” in Vienna, however, he was confident that Europe would emerge even stronger from this crisis. The minister even concluded that the West could be “in a sense grateful” to Vladimir Putin.
“He took us out of our daydreams and pushed us back into history. At the same time, he stimulated us, he forced us to see world affairs differently,” said Schallenberg. After the Russian attack on Ukraine, there was no going back to the “status quo ante”. But: “The lights did not go out in Europe ”, the ÖVP politician pointed out the resilience of the EU.
“We must learn the language of power”
Schallenberg quoted EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell as saying that unity is not enough, “we must learn the language of power”. The EU’s “most important homework” is to “anchor the neighbourhood”. According to Schallenberg, this applies to the Western Balkans, but also to Ukraine and Moldova. “The Western Balkans is not our backyard, it’s our center court,” he said, using the term for the main court of a tennis tournament. Nor is enlargement a legalistic approach, but “our most important geostrategic tool”. For Schallenberg, enlargement of the EU to the Western Balkans is “the litmus test”. If the EU fails here, it will lose credibility.
At the same time, Schallenberg warned Europeans not to be too self-centered. The story that the war in Ukraine is about a struggle between liberal democracies against autocracy or between good and evil is not shared by many countries in the South. According to the conference host, black and white thinking and “moral clues” would only support the Russian narrative of European imperialism.
For the second time this year, the conference “Time to Decide Europe Summit” will take place in Vienna. The first conference took place in 2022 in light of the Russian attack on Ukraine. It is organized by the ERSTE Foundation and the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM).
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
