Despite expressing her admiration for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Busch had strong words of criticism for the EU institutions.
“The European Union was built for stability, not for speed,” she said. “We need to make sure that we are building strong democracies and not very large bureaucracies,” she added, because the latter are eroding the bloc’s public legitimacy.
“That’s why we lost our British friends, and that is why we’re also now seeing long-term support for the union being undermined in a lot of member states.”
Busch said member states need to take the initiative in certain areas, rather than Brussels. “Just look at the commitment of cutting our dependence on Russian gas, for example, after the full-scale invasion [of Ukraine]. It took until the Energy Council in Luxembourg last October before we made the final decisions. And then we’re still waiting a few more years [for them to be implemented].”
It’s a warning she’s repeated before: Following weeks of tension after President Donald Trump’s threat to annex Greenland from Denmark, Busch advised her EU counterparts to follow the lead of Nordic and Baltic states in boosting defense and energy security. As EU leaders meet today in Belgium to discuss the bloc’s future, it remains to be seen whether they will heed her advice.
Busch warned that Europe is at a “crossroads now, not only in words, but in action” as the war in Ukraine approaches its fourth anniversary. Asked why the Trump administration is sidelining Europe in the peace talks, Busch said: “This is the reason why Europe needs to be respected in its own strength and unity, because it’s very apparent that the Trump administration has become increasingly unpredictable and is not very impressed by our slow and steady institutions.”