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It took until midnight to untangle the knot. At the special EU summit, which in addition to the economy and digitization mainly revolved around foreign policy issues, Cyprus’ resistance was broken, either through pressure or promises, it was initially unclear.
Cyprus was the only country that blocked the sanctions against Belarus because it wanted to force the other member states to take a tougher stance against Turkey. In the end, after several interruptions, an agreement was reached. The EU therefore imposes sanctions on some 40 people in Belarus accused of participating in electoral fraud or violently suppressing peaceful protests. Head of State Alexander Lukashenko is not there; you want to leave the back door open to diplomatic solutions. At the same time, the EU renews the threats against Turkey and puts its rod in the window of its president Erdogan: “All available instruments” will be used if it unilaterally torpedoes efforts to find a fruitful solution again.
Clear message to Putin
The reply came by return mail from Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu. She criticized the EU’s agreement on a common line towards Turkey in the gas dispute. The statements made only served to further satisfy Greece, in Ankara’s view, Athens is holding the EU hostage. Finally, the summit also produced a clear, albeit clearly more diplomatic, message to Vladimir Putin. “The use of a chemical weapon represents a grave violation of international law,” the final statement reads quite cryptically.
Member states are still very poorly informed about the actual background of the attack, but they left no doubt that they do not consider the matter to be resolved: the Navalny case was put on the agenda of the next EU summit, which is already in two weeks occur.
Another important issue was postponed. Relations with China will be discussed at a separate China summit in Berlin in mid-November. A similar event in September, which Chinese President Xi should have attended, was canceled due to the pandemic.
The issue touches on another that has already been debated in Brussels: Europe’s “strategic autonomy”. In the future, the EU no longer wants to see itself in some areas (digital, medical or pharmaceutical) as dependent on other countries or great powers. It is also possible that the summit endorses a series of points that aim to strengthen the internal market. Among other things, it is about updating the competitive framework, which is increasingly perceived as an obstacle for “global players”.
Coordination when traveling
When Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz appeared in front of the press immediately after the summit, an issue finally dominated the conversations that, like the rule of law, was not on the summit’s agenda: Europe’s handling of the pandemic. . The chancellor stated dryly: “We and some others have called for the debate because all heads of state and government are currently spending 80 percent of their time dealing with the pandemic and the economic consequences.”
European coordination is especially important when it comes to travel, as is the case with measures such as the length of quarantine, which varies between seven and 14 days depending on the advisory staff. Kurz expressly thanked Ursula von der Leyen and the EU Commission, who did a good job sourcing and researching a vaccine.
Covid is the most important challenge in Europe for all important foreign policy issues. In short: “I am against having expectations of the European Union that cannot be met. The Member States are responsible for themselves, and the EU cannot and should not assume that.” Rather, it’s about coordinating everything: “It starts with vaccination, where it works best, and ends with travel and travel advisories, where things go worst.”
