Europe Is Threatened by Lagging Behind Its Rivals — the United States and China
Among the traditional geopolitical issues discussed by experts, the global issue of environmental protection is increasingly being raised. Recent natural disasters in Europe, which have resulted in human casualties, call for the EU’s overall responsibility for environmental protection. However, in European countries there are problems of a fundamental, primarily economic nature, which so far do not allow to achieve a consolidated position on such protection. And this — against the background of a fundamentally negative attitude to climate policy of the world’s largest economies — the United States and China, which are also the biggest polluters of the atmosphere.
The difference in the levels of economic development of the EU member states, their partly selfish economic positions and the attempt to get more preferences from the common EU budget, do not contribute to constructive approaches to overcoming such disputes or contradictions. As a result of such problems, EU countries run the risk of being dependent on the influence of stronger competitors. And the EU is losing the initiative and prospects, as evidenced by the approaches of Germany and France and the European Union in general to relations with Russia and the perception of lobbying policy on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s departure from policy this year and the consequences of her Realpolitik on doing business with Russia, the pro-Russian policy of a single nuclear power in the United Europe — France, and selfish international policies of Hungary and Poland contribute to European disintegration processes.
While Russia’s position, traditionally destructive for the EU, is an additional factor that complicates the situation and contributes to the fragmentation of Europe because of the national interests and pragmatic tasks of member states, destabilizes the already weakened EU. There are no ways to consolidate it based on the benefits of coexistence.
The article is available in Ukrainian
