For Josep Borrell, Vladimir Putin threatens half-word “to use nuclear weapons”

Published on : 02/25/2022 – 15:54

Josep Borrell returns to Vladimir Putin’s announcement, after long discussions with other European leaders: “We feared him, but Putin had always said that he was never going to invade Ukraine in his life”, he laments. he.

To deal with it, the head of European diplomacy details the sanctions decided by the 27: “Obviously these sanctions will not stop Mr. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine tomorrow, but it will hurt the Russian economy very badly. The effects will be felt in the short term. The European Union uses the means it has, which are economic, financial, diplomatic and political means. We are not a military union.”

“Everything is on the table,” responds Josep Borrell when asked about a potential ban on Russia’s access to the Swift interbank system. “We are in a gradual approach. The European Union is working unanimously. […] But everything is on the table, in particular the list of sanctions,” he explains.

On the migration issue, the senior official assures that the EU is aware of the stakes of such a conflict: “There will be Ukrainians who will leave and we will do our best to welcome them”.

“War is once again at Europe’s doorstep”

“All of these geopolitical tensions are driving up the prices of energy commodities. These are integrated, global, global markets. These tensions are driving up the prices of oil and gas. But prices are one thing, quantity is another,” he recalls. “To pay more is not to not have the product. For now, we have taken steps to find other sources of supply to deal with possible cuts in Russian supply. But we don’t know. don’t wait for it.”

For Josep Borrel, the situation is worrying: “War is once again at the gates of Europe, we thought it was a time past and gone,” laments the head of European diplomacy. “Here is a State with a strong military power invading its neighbor, which is defending itself with great courage. This State is threatening to use nuclear weapons, it does not formally mention it but everyone understands it. […] Yes, it is a page in the history of Europe, which is unfortunately going through a dangerous stage.”

Vladimir Putin is “trying to reconstitute” the USSR

But European democracies are ready to face up, according to him: “Democracies are always in the era of facing up to a conflict, they have very different decision-making procedures from those of authoritarian regimes where it is the will to a man in a vertical power structure who decides, without asking what people think”. And Josep Borrell added: “Fortunately, democracies take into account public opinion, the will of the people. The leaders do not have all the powers and the decision-making processes are longer and more complex. Is this Does that make us weak? No, that makes us democrats.”

Finally, the head of European diplomacy comes back to Vladimir Putin’s objective: “In 2007, at the Munich conference, he already said clearly what he thought of doing. He always considered that the collapse of the USSR is the biggest tragedy for Russia. And somehow he is trying to piece that together.”

Program prepared by Sophie Samaille, Isabelle Romero, Yi Song and Perrine Desplats.