April 10, 2024 (EIRNS)—The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is warning that it’s time for Europe to prepare for a potential war, as a full-scale conflict on the continent beyond Ukraine, saying “the possibility of a high intensity conventional war in Europe is no longer fantasy,” in an April 9 speech to the New Economy Forum’s Forum Europa. Speaking in Brussels, Borrell raved about hybrid attacks on EU member states, warning that “because war is certainly looming on the horizon.”
This is coherent with the argument from Western warmongers that if Russia wins in Ukraine, the rest of Europe is next. We imagined to be surrounded by a ring of friends after the fall of Berlin Wall. This world is being replaced by a ring of fire around us,” Borrell went on. There’s the Israel-Hamas war, and there’s instability in North Africa.
The solution? Major investment in Europe’s defense industries and military capabilities which have suffered from major underinvestment for years. There have been some efforts at reinvestment, but it’s inadequate. Europe’s security situation is in an “existential crisis,” Borrell bemoaned. Where will the money come from? “We have to create a new intergovernmental financing vehicle—let’s call it European Defence Mechanism—comparable to the one we created during the financial crisis to support some [EU] Member States suffering from it,” he suggests. There are fears that if Donald Trump is elected in November, the U.S. security umbrella will vanish. So, Borrell concedes, “we must admit that in an alliance the priorities of its members may change over time.”
