Following the President of the European Commission and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs on Monday (see EUROPE 13824/19), European Council President António Costa in turn unveiled his vision of European foreign policy, a policy which he wants to be “multidimensional”, with a Union that speaks with one voice.
“We must pursue a multidimensional foreign policy, actively engaging with the international community to uphold the principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter and international law”, he told EU ambassadors.
According to Mr Costa, it is in Europe’s interest to ensure that international relations remain based on rules and cooperation, and to avoid further global fragmentation. “The international system is changing dramatically. A world in which power politics are back in play. The European Union is responding to these changes by becoming more autonomous and more resilient”, he said.
According to the President of the European Council, today’s multipolar world requires multilateral solutions, “not spheres of influence where power politics replace international law”. The EU must defend the rules-based international order and strengthen multilateral cooperation.
“The United Nations must be reformed, but it cannot be replaced. It must remain the cornerstone of the multilateral system. The only forum with universal legitimacy and the power capable to sustain effective multilateral cooperation”, said Mr Costa, at a time when US President Donald Trump has set up a ‘Board of Peace’ to restore peace in Gaza (see EUROPE 13816/3).
Mr Costa also called for the network of EU partners to be developed further. “The European Union offers partnerships; instead of spheres of influence we are building spheres of shared prosperity”, he stressed in a thinly veiled criticism of Donald Trump. Adding that: “Only a solid network of partners enhances our global influence and helps stabilise the international rules-based order”.
The Portuguese Socialist pointed out that the EU had established the “world’s most extensive” network of trade agreements, covering 80 partners, and that negotiations or ratifications of agreements were underway with 27 other countries.
Mr Costa also said that the EU must prepare for the next enlargement, “the best geostrategic investment we can make for our future”.
Russia, the only winner in the war in the Middle East. Returning to the situation in Iran, Mr Costa explained that freedom and human rights could only be guaranteed by international law, and not obtained by force of arms.
He also felt that to date, the war in the Middle East had only one winner: Russia. “It gains new resources to finance its war against Ukraine as energy prices rise. It profits from the diversion of military capabilities that could otherwise have been sent to support Ukraine. And it benefits from the reduced attention to the Ukrainian front”, he warned. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)