Walter Baier, an Austrian communist, is the President of the Party of the European Left (of which Democratic Left Scotland is pleased to be a partner organisation). He looks ahead to the challenges of 2025 ...
Donald Trump's election as the 47th President of the United States was bad news and remains so. For the leaders of the EU, however, it is an opportunity to open a serious debate on the much-mentioned issue of European autonomy. But by appointing a Commissioner for Defence and prioritizing rearmament and militarization, the leading political forces in the European Commission and the European Parliament have shown that they lack the courage and political intelligence to abandon the well-trodden paths of militaristic thinking.
The fall of Assad in Syria, Israel's genocidal war in Palestine, its military aggression in Lebanon and Syria, Turkey's war against the Kurdish people and the ongoing war in Ukraine demonstrate that war has become a near-universal phenomenon in today’s world. Its fronts are multiplying, from Africa and Iran to the Taiwan Strait and the two Koreas. Despite all national and regional peculiarities, it is the rivalry between global political powers, their drive for supremacy, that looms in the background.
At this dangerous moment for the peoples of Europe, the EU must choose whether it wants to be part of the solution or part of the problem. With the confirmation of Ursula von der Leyen's proposal of the most right-wing EU Commission in history, a majority of the European Parliament has resolutely decided in favor of the latter.
Tauris missiles for Ukraine?
This is also reflected in a sequence of political resolutions adopted by the European Parliament (EP) at its sessions in October and November. The resolutions are not relevant per se, as the EP has no say in foreign and military policies; however, they are indicative of the views and the strategies of the parties that support them. This applies to the resolutions on Moldova, Georgia (see 1,2)and Taiwan as well as the resolution about further military support for Ukraine which by the end of November had been adopted by a large majority of the EP, the European People’s Party (EPP), the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), Renew Europe (Renew), Greens/EFA (Greens) and three parties of the left (RGA-Denmark, Swedish Left Party, Left Alliance of Finland). In the resolution, the EP once again rejects any political efforts to achieve a ceasefire and the start of negotiations, going as far as denouncing the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his telephone call with Russian President Putin. Instead, MEPs are intervening directly in the German election campaign and, blind to the risk of escalation, call on the German government to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles, including Tauruscruise missiles. Refer to the full text of this horrible resolution and the votes.
Europe cannot achieve control over its own security by this approach: it will only ever lead back to NATO and subordination to the USA. Ukraine is the test case.If European leaders had sufficient political intelligence and courage, they would not helplessly wait for a deal between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin;they would take the initiative to bring about a ceasefire. This is necessary as a first step, although it would not in itself bring a lasting solution to the conflict; this can only be found within the framework of a new security order encompassing the entire European continent. The 50th anniversary of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in Helsinki is a good occasion to recall that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is the appropriate pan-European and international framework to settle European disputes peacefully. It should and could play a key role in the endeavour to end the war in Ukraine - and to establish peace in Europe on a system of collective security, in which the security of each state is the condition for the security of all.
This piece appears in the December 2024 newsletter of the European Left. If you would like to receive the newsletter directly when published, you can subscribe by clicking through here.