Borrell: Russia's war in Ukraine is most important existential threat to EU

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said this in a keynote speech at the Schumann Security and Defense Forum 2024 in Brussels, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"For us, certainly, the war in Ukraine is the most important existential threat, and the war in Gaza is the biggest ethical question for us. A Russian victory in Ukraine would put the European Union in enormous danger. But the [Russian] aggression against Ukraine is not only a European problem. I think that a victory of the aggressor – Putin's Russia - would demonstrate that a military aggression pays off. And every country would be in danger if this becomes the norm. [...] It has been the rule in the past. […] But today, I think that we have to engage [in] rejecting that the use of force becomes the norm," Borrell said.

He noted that humanity had returned to a classical high-intensity war with tanks, trenches, planes, explosions, and not only in Ukraine and Gaza. "There are many wars in Africa, a lot of – not wars – but instability in Latin America. We see not a war but war games in the Indo-Pacific," he said.

In addition to classic military threats, countries around the world face hybrid threats arising from disinformation and information manipulation, cyber attacks on key infrastructure facilities, and attempts to turn migration and migrants into weapons against neighboring countries.

"It is clear that power politics is back. All forms of interdependence are becoming an arm. 'I am dependent on you. You will use my dependence on you as a weapon against [me]'. Dependencies were considered as the right thing to do in order to build a common set of interests and mutual exchanges. Now, interdependencies become dependencies and dependencies are being used as a weapon," Borrell said.