Speaking at the Munich security conference Feb. 19, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen not only accused Russia of planning an invasion of Ukraine, but flipped the script on the Russia-China alliance, accusing the two countries of exactly what the EU and NATO are doing: building aggressive alliances.
“We are facing a blatant attempt to rewrite the rules of our international system,” she said. “One only has to read the recent communiqué issued by Russian and Chinese leaders. They seek a ‘new era', as they say, to replace the existing international order. They prefer the rule of the strongest to the rule of law, intimidation instead of self-determination, coercion instead of cooperation.”
She then called for tough sanctions against Russia. However, the EU is split like never before on this issue. Even Italy’s Mario Draghi broke ranks with his supranational co-thinkers and opposed energy sanctions.
Talking to journalists, he said that he made Italy’s allies clear that sanctions should be “proportional” and that Italy is against sanctions on energy. Draghi said that he will soon meet Putin and that the proposal to meet came from the Russian side. It would be good if one succeeded in having Putin and Zelensky meet, he said.
