{"id":423806,"date":"2025-09-14T13:43:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T13:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/423806\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T13:43:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T13:43:12","slug":"opinion-from-security-to-the-economy-and-autonomy-europe-is-at-a-crossroads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/423806\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion | From security to the economy and autonomy, Europe is at a crossroads"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">In 1966, French president Charles de Gaulle withdrew France from the integrated military command of Nato, on the grounds that the United States\u2019 dominance of the transatlantic security alliance undermined not only French sovereignty but that of other European members.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">He later signed a cooperation agreement with the Soviet Union, showing by example what autonomous foreign policies could look like for a Europe of sovereign states.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">With the fall of the Berlin Wall, many European states opted for a path of integration and centralisation that the French statesman would have eschewed. Their leaders saw much value in pursuing trade, infrastructural and sociocultural integration across the continent.<\/p>\n<p>Today, the EU is facing the most severe territorial transgression on its doorstep since the second world war. Russian President Vladimir Putin, buoyed by his recent <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/diplomacy\/article\/3323934\/xi-putin-and-modi-are-grinning-and-smiling-whom?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"noopener\">diplomatic victories<\/a> with Beijing and New Delhi, is adamant that his war on Ukraine must go on \u2013 even if it ends in a pyrrhic victory.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Three and a half years into the invasion, the European Union must recognise that the following three goals cannot be easily accomplished concurrently.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The first is upholding Ukrainian territorial integrity and Europe\u2019s collective security. While pro-Russian voices make the case that Ukraine must remain a neutral buffer between \u201cthe West\u201d and \u201cRussia\u201d, the argument cuts both ways. If Ukraine cedes much of its eastern regions to Russia, it will be deprived of its industrial heartlands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 1966, French president Charles de Gaulle withdrew France from the integrated military command of Nato, on the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[39016,20788,3801,31499,802,11330,1395,144781,32,34,2000,299,5187,144782,2821,657,1220,333],"class_list":{"0":"post-423806","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-asean","9":"tag-association-of-southeast-asian-nations","10":"tag-beijing","11":"tag-berlin-wall","12":"tag-brexit","13":"tag-brussels","14":"tag-china","15":"tag-cluster17","16":"tag-donald-trump","17":"tag-emmanuel-macron","18":"tag-eu","19":"tag-europe","20":"tag-european","21":"tag-global-gateway-initiative","22":"tag-nato","23":"tag-ukraine","24":"tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","25":"tag-vladimir-putin"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115202949487113348","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}