Despite the fact that the latest Eurobarometer survey shows that European citizens are far more concerned about the steep rise in the costs of living due to high inflation than anything else, the European Commission has not only announced the €800 bn ReArm Europe package / Readiness 2030 plan, but has also made recommendations on how EU countries should increase their preparedness for a possible armed conflict. One of the recommendations is to have an emergency kit in each household. In addition to the Commission’s proposals, a new group of largely Western European countries, the so-called Coalition of the Willing, is playing a major role in stirring up war psychosis in Europe.
Some politicians are ready to do anything for one minute of fame, as we all know. Today, however, a much darker picture is unfolding: some top politicians in Western Europe facing a daily struggle to sustain their political power in their own countries, seem to have no fear of dragging the whole of Europe into war, just to portray themselves as key players on the global stage. The same European leaders, are openly seeking recognition not only at the national level, but also at the EU level, when announcing new military aid packages for Ukraine. The same applies to the President of the European Commission, who, in the new era of EU-US relations, seems to have been degraded to the level of a minor player facing closed doors in Washington.
As U.S. President Donald Trump on April 2 announced a 20% tariff on EU on all imports into the country, the President of the European Commission suggested to sit back to the negotiating table. This seems to be not only naive but also a late idea. It should also be added that, in light of von der Leyen’s other statements, this suggestion seems even hypocritical. We explain why.
With regard to the fourth summit of the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ in Paris, held on 27 March, Ursula von der Leyen said that one of the key takeaways of the meeting was the broad discussion on how to step up the support for Ukraine in the short term, both financially and in military terms. ’Ukraine’s military needs have to be fulfilled, but also the financial needs. And here I can say that we will frontload the EU part of the G7 loans for Ukraine.’, she said.
Von der Leyen’s latest survival strategy seems to be limited to announcing new high-value common defence programmes and granting new loans to Ukraine, while in fact she is doing nothing to enhance EU security and achieve a lasting peace in Ukraine. Looking at the results of the meetings of the ’Coalition of the Willing’ so far, exactly the same can be stated: things are happening solely in the social media, nothing is real, the measures are only distant plans, while in reality the US is just imposing unprecedented tariffs on European goods, the Russia-Ukraine war is still going on and thousands of people die every day in a senseless war in the East of Europe.
However, even if the leading politicians of the ’Coalition of the Willing’, such as French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer – in full alignment with von der Leyen -, believe that both the problem of decreasing living standards in Europe and their deceitful political goals remain hidden from the European citizens, they are wrong. They wrongly believe that their impressive rhetoric can mask the serious economic and social problems which are increasingly visible in European countries.
This assessment is clearly confirmed by the results of the latest Eurobarometer survey which shows that the impacts of inflation and rising cost of living are a major concern among EU citizens, with significant shares of EU citizens expecting their living standards to decrease in the coming years.
’Eroding expectations’ is one of the key findings of the survey as 33% of the respondents expect their standard of living to decrease over the next five years which is seven points more than right after the latest European elections (26%). As for France and Germany – the two traditionally strong political and economic centres of the EU –, on national level, 53% of French respondents and 47% of Germans expect their standard of living to decrease in the next five years. These are expectations of the citizens of two EU Member States which used to be Europes’s top powers…
In another key finding of the survey simply called ’valuing peace’, the poll says that although political priorities change, values are stable in the EU which means that peace is on the first place among values (45%). Given such a strong desire for peace among the European people, on what grounds are the Commission and the ’Coalition of the Willing’ trying to build a defence union with Ukraine, developing military capabilities at the expense of people’s living costs, instead of promoting peace?!
Just for greater clarity: with a continued military support for Ukraine, the ’Coalition of the Willing’ is actively engaged in prolonging the war and derailing the ceasefire negotiation process launched by the Trump administration, while ignoring the fact that leaders in this coalition are putting their countries’ economies, the well-being and the security of their citizens at risk. All they care about is their own political careers. It also should be added that, such developments are partly fuelled by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling for more help for Ukraine to continue the war, and talking about the imminent death of Russian President Vladimir Putin. With effective rhetoric, Zelenskyy has succeeded in getting Macron to provide Ukraine with an additional €2 bn military aid, and in convincing Starmer that Putin does not really want a ceasefire, but is just playing dirty games with the Americans. In addition, his European supporters say it is ’not the time’ to start lifting sanctions against Russia.
According to the aformentioned Eurobarometer survey, security issues are also at the forefront for European citizens when it comes to the topics the European Parliament should prioritise. Four in ten Europeans mention ‘inflation, rising prices and the cost of living’ (43%), followed by the ‘the EU’s defence and security’ (31%).
Brussels’ response to all this deserves a Nobel Prize since top European officials has offered a very unique solution to people’s security concerns.
According to a new defence strategy, largely created on the ideas of the ’Coalition of the Willing’, the EU wants every Member State to develop a 72-hour survival kit for citizens to face any new crisis. The strategy unveiled by the European Commission includes a list of 30 concrete actions it says EU Member States need to take to boost their preparedness against potential future crises ranging from natural disasters and industrial accidents to attacks by malicious actors in the cyber or military domains. Further developing this idea, the Renew group in the European Parliament has sent a letter to Ursula von der Leyen asking the Commission to send a handbook to all European households on how to prepare for crisis situations.
The question is no longer whether the ’Coalition of the Willing’, hand in hand with the President of the European Commission, would be ready to drag the whole of Europe into a World War III, as the answer is yes, but whether it would be capable of doing so, given its current light political weight, insignificant economic strength and little social support.
Since neither the ’Coalition of the Willing’ nor the President of the Commission has any mandate from the people, furthermore, public support for their proposals is almost zero, European citizens can only hope that, the implementation of the recent absurd plans, including long-term financial and military support for Ukraine, will never take place.
In the meantime, both Ursula von der Leyen and Emmanuel Macron and their friends in the ’Coalition of the Willing’ can only be advised to put together an emergency kit for themselves, which can be comfortably put into a handluggage in case they are abruptly forced to leave. In that case, Europe would surely become a safer place.
