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- Group non-interference: The EU accelerates its transformation into NATO under the pretext of the "threat from Russia"
Group non-interference: The EU accelerates its transformation into NATO under the pretext of the "threat from Russia"
The European Commission is seeking to create an analogue of the fourth article of the North Atlantic Treaty before a possible change of power in France and Germany. This was reported to Izvestia in the European Parliament. In the NATO documents, this clause presupposes urgent consultations of the members of the association in case of threats. Brussels fears that eurosceptics who oppose the strengthening of the EC's powers will come to power in Paris and Berlin. And, until this happens, the hawkish wing of the European bureaucracy is trying to adjust the EU's foreign policy according to the model and likeness of NATO, the Russian Foreign Ministry noted. In addition, the leadership of the European Union proposes to abolish the right of veto in the adoption of sanctions and the admission of new countries, although it will be very difficult to do so, experts say. See the Izvestia article about how Brussels plans to suppress the disagreement of small EU countries.
The EC is trying to change the laws before the elections in France and Germany
On October 6, the European Commission proposed to abolish the right of veto on the adoption of sanctions and EU enlargement. Earlier, in September, its chairman Ursula von der Leyen presented a draft for the creation in the European Union of an analogue of the fourth article of the North Atlantic Treaty, the "emergency security protocol" on consultations in case of threats. It is used in situations where an open armed attack has not yet reached, but one or more alliance states believe that their security is at risk and ask for protection. Von der Leyen also suggests organizing a kind of "European security council" with the participation of four countries that are not members of the EU — Great Britain, Canada, Norway and Ukraine.
The European Commission is striving to create an analogue of the fourth article of NATO before the change of power in France and Germany in 2027, Luxembourg MEP Fernand Kartheiser told Izvestia.
Ursula von der Leyen
— She (Ursula von der Leyen. — Ed.) probably wants to act so quickly precisely before major changes take place in the governments of Germany and France. <...> Public opinion is unlikely to easily accept such a development, given the current atmosphere of hysteria in Europe. Such a step at the EU level will be perceived by the general public as dangerous," he said.
A similar opinion was expressed by his colleague from Bulgaria, Petar Volgin. According to him, "the process of turning the EU into NATO 2.0 has already begun." At the same time, the mass vote for the "Alternative for Germany" shows that more and more people are categorically distancing themselves from the militaristic course imposed by Brussels and a number of European governments, the politician noted.
In Germany, the next parliamentary elections are due to be held in 2029, but the popularity of the idea of an early dissolution of the Bundestag is constantly growing. The rating of the opposition Alternative for Germany exceeded 30%, while the approval of Chancellor Friedrich Merz reached record lows. German political scientist Egor Belyachkov believes that now the coalition is actually based on the chancellor's tenacity and the understanding that the new leader will also have to deal with many problems that will inevitably affect the rating in a similar way. At the same time, the political ground for early elections has already been prepared, the expert stressed.
The initiatives proposed by the EC will be considered at the EU leaders' summit on October 15-16, French MEP Thierry Mariani told Izvestia.
— The European Commission is in a hurry, and I think I know why. She knows that Marine Le Pen can win in France. Therefore, she is trying to settle everything now, before the French express their opinion," the politician said.
Presidential elections will be held in the Fifth Republic in the spring of 2027. Marine Le Pen, a representative of the National Association, is currently in the lead in the election race: according to sociologists, she is defeating any of her rivals in the second round. Previously, Le Pen had repeatedly accused von der Leyen of arbitrariness and criticized her deals, including with the United States. She also believes that France no longer has the ability to maintain the previous level of financing for Ukraine. Meanwhile, the EU continues to sponsor Kiev: the next tranche of € 1.2 billion was transferred on October 7.
The EU becomes a military alliance
Ursula von der Leyen argues that a new "emergency security protocol" is being created to respond to "incidents that fall below the threshold of direct armed aggression, but pose a serious threat to national security." Apparently, we are talking about incidents involving drones that allegedly violated the airspace of Poland and Romania. It is worth recalling that the blame was immediately laid on Russia at that time, despite Moscow's repeated proposals to hold consultations on the incident. The North Atlantic Alliance should deal with such cases, but now the European Commission is going to get involved in this matter.
According to Vladislav Maslennikov, director of the Department of European Problems at the Russian Foreign Ministry, "the hawkish wing of the European bureaucracy has long been trying to adjust the insufficiently anti-Russian, in their opinion, EU foreign policy on the model and likeness of NATO."
— The procedural issue of invoking clause 7 of Article 42 of the Treaty on the European Union, which provides for assistance to an EU member state from other EU states in the event of an attack, is being increasingly discussed. The main thing is that at the same time, no one in the EU is going to analyze the "credibility" of the very reason for such discussions — and in fact, the obvious groundlessness of the threat of the notorious supposedly imminent "Russian aggression". Any incident, from the crash of an unidentified drone to Internet outages, is automatically attributed to Russia's "hybrid" activities," the diplomat said. — It is clear that all this hysteria is at least not conducive to ensuring stability and security on our western borders.
The European Union has been increasing its military component in recent years. For example, the €800 billion Readiness 2030 program has already been launched, and the Military Schengen project to develop infrastructure for the rapid deployment of troops to the east is ongoing. At the same time, the EU includes a number of neutral states — Austria, Ireland, Cyprus and Malta. With the further movement of the European Union towards a military bloc, it will be necessary to decide whether they are obliged to participate in this, Kartheiser stressed.
The scheme of adoption of new initiatives
For the European Commission's proposals to become reality, they must be approved by the European Parliament and unanimously approved by all the countries of the bloc. Earlier, representatives of Austria, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania, Finland, France and Sweden supported the abolition of the principle of unanimity. Small countries, such as Slovakia and Hungary, are traditionally opposed. In particular, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has already called the possible lifting of the veto "the beginning of the end of the EU."
However, Brussels still has ways to force small states to change their position, including by cutting off funding from euro funds. Thus, the EU leadership has repeatedly sought to revoke the veto of Hungary or Slovakia on sanctions against the Russian Federation. Experience shows that in order to approve the initiatives of the European Commission, the support of Berlin and Paris is absolutely necessary. For example, at the end of last year, according to media reports, it was precisely because of France's position that it was not possible to push through the decision to use frozen assets of the Russian Federation to lend to Ukraine.
It will be difficult for the EU leadership to achieve acceptance of its initiatives, especially if France and Germany disagree, Egor Sergeev, a senior researcher at the MGIMO Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, said in an interview with Izvestia. In his opinion, Brussels may try to transfer sanctions to the category of economic issues that require a qualified majority to vote on. Earlier, in this way, the EU was able to obtain approval for the withdrawal of Russian energy supplies by 2027. Nevertheless, the proposal to create an analogue of Article 4 of NATO in the EU has a better chance of getting approval, the expert believes.
Europe is obsessed with the idea of militarization and plans to turn the EU into a military-political bloc, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Earlier, he noted that Moscow takes into account the current situation. At the same time, Brussels' actions are obviously damaging the entire European security and only intensifying the arms race.
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