With friends like these, who needs enemies? “There is a chance that the U.S. will betray Ukraine on territory without clarity on security guarantees,” French President Emmanuel Macron warned Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz during a conference call, according to Der Spiegel. Macron warned of “a big danger” as the Trump administration continues its mission to bring the war to an end and negotiate concessions between Russia and Ukraine.
European leaders should make sure they are without sin before casting such heavy stones. How does Macron explain, for example, France’s ranking as the third largest buyer of Russian energy in Europe? That’s not pre-2022 or pre-2014, when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his illegal invasions of Ukraine. That’s as of August.
This is a Europe-wide problem. Leaders offer up their “unwavering commitment and solidarity with Ukraine.” In theory. In practice, the continent often cannot agree, let alone act, to make the choices and sacrifices required to help its neighbor.
Both Merz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pleaded Friday with Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever not to block the E.U.’s plans to use frozen Russian assets to help fund Ukraine’s war effort next year. De Wever is worried the bloc is “downplaying” his concerns over how seizing approximately €140 billion worth of assets would affect peace talks.
Speaking to the Belgian newspaper La Libre, De Wever said: “Moscow has made it clear to us that if his assets are seized, Belgium and I will feel the consequences for eternity.” He added: “Who really believes that Russia will lose to Ukraine? It is a fable, a total illusion. It is not even desirable that it loses and that instability takes hold in the country that has nuclear weapons.” Even compared to every eyebrow-raising thing President Donald Trump has ever said about Putin, that’s still a remarkably cynical view.
If the war expands, it’s Europe that will be in Moscow’s crosshairs. This makes its leaders’ attempts to moralize about America’s actions even stranger. The E.U. is only just now gearing up to agree to a bloc-wide ban on imported Russian gas – starting in 2027. Meanwhile, European countries had been turning to India for their energy supply, glossing over the inconvenient truth that Russian crude oil flowed through many of its refineries. In the first three quarters of 2024, imports from these refineries grew by 20 percent.
The U.S. president has a bad habit of treating allies less kindly than adversaries, but he also understands the brutal reality of how power is exercised. Talk is cheap, and Europeans are wealthy. They can do better.
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