Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1509678
I don't know about you: but I'm beginning to detect a certain pattern in the way that Europe- an politicians tend to respond to international events, as they unfold. To be perfectly honest, I have Roberta Metsola in mind, spe- cifically – even if she is very far from being the only example - so I may as carry on with her, for now. Consider, for a moment, how the President of the European Parliament responded to both the major global crises, which erupted during her brief tenure of office so far (in chronologi- cal order: Russia's invasion of Ukraine; and the Israel-Hamas conflagration). In both instances, Roberta Metsola's reaction was to sim- ply reach into a magical 'hat- on-a-stand', and pull out what she evidently thought was the most appropriate 'sound-bite', for the occasion. Nothing intrinsically wrong with that, you might be think- ing: after all, isn't it exactly what all other world leaders do, all the time? (including the likes of US President Joe Biden, and even Pope Francis)? The problem, however, is that – unlike those other examples I just mentioned – Roberta Met- sola never seems to take stock of her own actual position, on the world stage, before utter- ing any of those 'grand declara- tions'. Nor does she even pause, it seems, to consider what the rest of the European Un- ion might actually have to say, about the matter…. before com- mitting the entire bloc to adopt- ing certain positions that it may well later come to 'regret' (if not 'sheepishly retract, altogether'.) Examples, I hear you ask? Let's start with her initial reaction to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, back in March 2022. In a speech to the EP, Metsola defiantly proclaimed: "This must be our 'Whatev- er-it-Takes' moment" […] "We have declared that Russian air- craft and oligarchs' private jets are no longer welcome in our open skies. We have moved for Russia to be disconnected from the SWIFT system. We have banned Kremlin propaganda tools" […] "Europe has to re- double efforts to diversify ener- gy systems that are not reliant on Kremlin gas, and […] move towards a real security and de- fence Union…." Etc. etc. In other words: a) She unilaterally 'de- clared war on Russia': without bothering to check if any form of consensus actually existed, to that effect, among the EU's 27 member states (SPOILER ALERT! It didn't… and still doesn't, to this day); b) she committed the rest of the EU to a policy of 'unwa- vering support for Ukraine, no matter what'… which, unsur- prisingly, Vladimir Zelenskyy interpreted to mean: 'The EU will provide Ukraine with a lim- itless supply of weapons, and logistical support… FOREVER!' (And oh, look: he's still trying to hold the EU to that 'promise', all this time later), and; c) She tried (unsuc- cessfully, in the end) forcing member states to 'diversify' their supply of gas away from Russia… once again, without pausing to ask herself if certain countries (like Germany, for in- stance) would even agree, to a policy which only cause instant instability for themselves; or even whether it was logistically POSSIBLE, in the first place, for those states to simply 'reinvent' their entire energy infrastruc- tural model, from one day to the next… The upshot? Almost two years later, there is still no consen- sus among European members, to provide Zelenskyy with the promised 'unwavering support' (so much so, that countries like Poland are now starting trade-wars of their own, with Ukraine)… Already, then, the pattern I mentioned earlier should be vaguely discernible. Metsola's reaction, to any given crisis, is not entirely unlike that of John Wayne (and later, Clint East- wood) in any classic Hollywood Western: 'Shoot first, ask questions lat- er…' … with the predictable pitfall, that: well… some of those 'un- asked questions' were actually rather important, you know (and I have a nasty feeling that ALL of them will return to 'bite the EU on the bottom', sooner or later.) To be fair, however: while Roberta Metsola may have lacked any support from the rest of the EU, when she made such (hopelessly miscalculated) dec- larations about the Ukrainian war… she DID, at least, have the full backing of European public opinion: which, as confirmed by the latest Eurobarometer sur- vey, remains highly supportive maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 OCTOBER 2023 10 OPINION It's not 'whataboutism', to recognise that there are two sides to any conflict Raphael Vassallo