On May 9, 1950, Robert Schuman, then French Foreign Minister, announced his famous Declaration. It became the first step towards the unification of Europe, which just 5 years earlier had emerged from World War II with enormous physical destruction and moral trauma. Today, May 9 is the official Europe Day. Sometimes, one idea of one person at the right moment is able to redirect the course of history for many years to come.
Today, the unification of Europe is once again at the center of public debates on the old continent. The election of Donald Trump as US President dealt a deadly blow to Euro-Atlanticism. Every day and every action of the new American administration echoes like a funeral bell for the so-called Euro-Atlantic values and a notice of retirement for their heralds. The panic among the Euro-elite from Brussels to Sofia is increasing and taking on various manifestations.
The first possible reaction was “Let's lower ourselves until the storm passes“. This tactic a la Todor Zhivkov is particularly characteristic of our Balkan customs. Vice President Vance's speech in Munich made lowering ourselves impossible, at least for the high echelons of power.
A mixture of fear and anger brought together leading European “leaders“ in Paris at the invitation of French President Macron. A way to continue the disastrous Euro-Atlantic policy without Atlanticism is being sought more and more feverishly.
What does this mean for Europeans? First of all, the continuation of the total confrontation with Russia, in which Europe remains alone on the front line, while Moscow and Washington break the ice between them. This follows a sharp increase in military spending to unaffordable levels for European economies. They have to cope with them at energy costs many times higher than their American and Chinese competitors and with an ever-deepening technological lag. The end result is the impoverishment of the European population and the exacerbation of social contradictions, which are already quite acute.
How did it get to this point?
The great leaders who took over from Robert Schuman have long been beautiful tombstones. They were replaced by people with enormous claims and a thirst for power at the expense of responsibility to their own nation and a vision for the future. The light of the lighthouse Europe, which pointed the direction of the peoples of other continents, dimmed in the fog of selfishness, greed and disregard for the own interests of European countries. The weaknesses of European rulers were skillfully used by previous American administrations, which dragged us into the Ukrainian adventure. The war in the East deprived European industry of cheap Russian energy sources under long-term contracts that kept it competitive. Sanctions cut off the path of European goods to Russian markets, from which the main loser was again European business. Today, the short-sighted leaders of the European Union complain loudly that Europe is being seduced and abandoned, but until yesterday every reasonable voice that predicted that this would happen was suppressed and branded as Putin propaganda.
At the beginning of his first term, Donald Trump showed that he understood better than all American professional politicians where the greatest threat to US power came from. That is why he placed countering Chinese expansion in the world at the center of his policy. At the beginning of his second term, China has already transformed from a catching-up player into an equal competitor. This is especially evident in the technological race, which is increasingly being fought shoulder to shoulder.
Trump's sharp turn is not dictated by any particular sympathy for Russia and its president. There are two reasons. The first is to remove the millstone Ukraine from his neck and throw it at Europe. The second, leading reason, is to mobilize America's resources in the confrontation with China and drive a wedge into the clearly formed strategic alliance between Moscow and Beijing. At the same time, the new management team in the White House realizes that, although weakened, a united Europe can still be a serious competitor to American industry in many areas. Therefore, its destruction remains an important side task for American leaders towards the goal of "Making America Great Again."
What should we, the Europeans, do?
The most logical rescue move for European countries and their union is exactly the opposite of what Brussels continues to urge us to do. We must take from Trump the halo of the sole bearer of peace and enter into dialogue with Moscow not with a white flag in hand, but with a readiness for mutual forgiveness of sins, as befits true Christians. Moreover, we must remember that Russia is an integral part of European civilization.
If the conversation about values seems longer and more difficult, then the voice of money is clear. The combination of European technologies, albeit a little more decadent, and Russian natural resources has proven to be profitable. The lifting of the sanctions most harmful to Europe would be the first step in the right direction. It will surely receive the right response from the other side. The Russian soul is indeed vast, but when it comes to profitable business, it is quite predictable. Then Mario Draghi's plan to return Europe's lost positions on the world economic stage will not seem like a dream, but will receive a very strong boost.
Standing closely behind the future defendant Zelensky is the stupidest thing that European countries, led by their irresponsible and incompetent politicians, can do. It will not only lead to an even greater depletion of Europe's resources, but will also leave the threat of a hot conflict constantly hanging over our heads. Europe must indeed become the guarantor of Ukraine, but of a peaceful, neutral Ukraine that has cleansed itself of the demons of the past and their carriers, who brought it to the brink of the abyss. By the way, it is not military contingents on the front line, but the restoration of trade flows between European countries and Russia, including through Ukraine, that is the surest guarantee of peace and the borders of what will be the future Ukrainian state.
Why is this possible?
In the first two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the cherished dream of the new Russian elite was to be co-opted by its older Western brother. The entire development of the Russian economy and politics was directed towards the West. Anglo-Saxon arrogance and greed cut off the Western direction of Russia's development. Putin's oft-quoted speech in Munich in 2007 showed the disappointment of the Moscow elite and its readiness to manage the world on its own. It took years for Western capitals to understand that the transition from a unipolar to a multipolar world is not a threat, but a reality.
The division today between the EU and NATO member states and Russia is very deep. In economic terms, it is even deeper than during the Cold War, when the military-political confrontation between the West and the former socialist camp did not stop the mutually beneficial economic ties between them. Their restoration is not a task for one day, but it is not that complicated either. If there is a political will to lift the barriers, business will quickly find the previous trade routes. The common economic space from Amsterdam to Vladivostok seems to be one of the most logical configurations on the world map. A united Europe in close partnership with Russia is the only real chance for a third pole in the global technological and economic race, in which the USA and China are increasingly pulling ahead.
The surest lever for such a change is the change of the ruling elites in individual countries and in Brussels. However, events are developing at a dizzying speed and we do not have time to wait for the mandates of all the Ursulas, Markovites and Emanuels to expire. The wind of change must come from society and force the rulers to turn the sails as soon as possible.
Bulgaria is one of the big losers from the current policy of confrontation and should not lower itself any further. Our country did not dare to seize the chance to become a mediator between Russia and Ukraine, which suited it as an Orthodox, Slavic state. Now we have a second chance - to become one of the first strong voices for a radical change in Europe's policy towards Russia and Ukraine.
Valentin Saykov,
Chairman of the “Civil Initiative Bulgaria 2050“