The European Union cannot undertake ongoing reforms to become an effective global player without Germany to take the lead. Finally, after months of hesitation and problems within the grand coalition, the German chancellor began to show signs of commitment. … willing to put his country’s weight on a critically important European issue, helping Ukraine resist pressure from the United States. If he does not move forward, Merz runs the risk of becoming more and more like his predecessor Olaf Scholz, on whom many hopes were placed, to which he responded with insipid and vague management.
Donald Trump’s envoys to negotiate a ceasefire are inclined to reward Russia and deny Ukraine sufficient security guarantees. They also want to manage the frozen assets of the Central Bank of Russia deposited in Europe, an additional way of putting pressure on Volodymyr Zelensky (perhaps Emmanuel Macron would use the verb “betray”).
Some European leaders, on the contrary, have been trying for months to take advantage of these important funds to approve a “reparations loan” for kyiv’s war effort (and, in doing so, contribute less national capital to their ally). The idea was born from a small group of British and American economists and lawyers, who were able to place it at the center of the European agenda.
Belgium and Hungary are resisting the community project, for different reasons (legal risk versus proximity to Putin) and Merz has undertaken to convince the Prime Minister. Bart Dewever that the operation is safe. For its part, the Commission would be willing to use a legal basis in the EU treaties used only for emergency situations, such as Covid, in which the Council decides by qualified majority.
This is one of those moments in European construction where legal and financial innovation is necessary to deal with an exceptional situation. Without hard power (military and economic), the EU will not be able to survive in the new era of great power rivalries.
Session limit reached
- Access to Premium content is open thanks to the establishment you are in, but there are currently too many users connected at the same time. Please try again after a few minutes.
try again
You have exceeded the session limit
- You can only start three sessions at a time. We have closed the oldest session so you can continue browsing the rest without limits.
Continue browsing
Article reserved for subscribers
Report a bug