Alexander Schallenberg told the Financial Times that Russia’s war of aggression was a “geostrategic moment” for Europe that would require a more fundamental response than sanctions and financial and military assistance to Ukraine. “Let us negotiate and put our money where our mouth is,” said Salenberg, a career diplomat with years of experience in Brussels, warning that the EU could no longer afford to take half measures with neighboring countries. “There is no gap. “It’s either our model or someone else’s,” he said, referring to the future of countries bordering the EU, such as Ukraine and Moldova, which are now threatened by Russian revanchism. His comments are the strongest proof of Austria’s changing relationship with Moscow – and unusually sincere in their request to Brussels to put realistic power behind their words in favor of Ukraine. Calling for a review of the EU accession process, he said the bloc should consider giving neighboring countries rapid access to “common market segments” and selected EU institutions and programs as a transitional process to full integration, including participation in official decisions – construction of bodies. “February 24 [the date of the Russian invasion] “It was a milestone and I think we have to think and use the maximum of our imagination, not stick to the old ways, not stick to the same pattern we used for every EU accession from Britain.” Schallenberg, who briefly served as chancellor of Austria after the resignation of Sebastian Kurz last year, was criticized by politicians across the EU last week for comments that seemed to mean Ukraine had to wait in line behind incumbent candidates. and that its inclusion was not possible for years. He said his comments were misinterpreted, but stressed that the aspirations of countries in the Western Balkans, such as Albania and northern Macedonia, as well as Moldova – where Russia also has a destabilizing influence – should be given equal priority with Ukraine. “We have to anchor [all of] in Europe and the West, “he said, calling for a change in the existing process to allow them to do so. Speaking specifically about the Balkans, he said: “We are not just talking about the backyard of Europe, it is the atrium. “These are countries surrounded by other EU Member States.” While Austria has condemned the Russian invasion and backed EU sanctions, as a non-NATO country with deep social and economic ties with Russia, it has also sought to mediate with Moscow. In April, Austrian Chancellor Carl Nehammer became the first Western leader to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in person since the beginning of the conflict, during a visit to Moscow condemned by foreign policy experts across the country. Europe. Austria had no illusions that Nehammer’s intervention would make a major breakthrough, Schallenberg said, but it had a deeper perspective on Putin, who was “stuck in the logic of war” and “believes everything he says publicly behind closed doors.” ». Salenberg urged Brussels “not to get lost in the limitations of numbers and laws and details” on the accession of new states and instead acknowledged that they should see the acceptance of new members as a necessity to combat bad Russian influence. “Enlargement is not a legalistic, bureaucratic approach, it is a geostrategic tool.” The possibility of the EU returning to the status quo with its neighbors, regardless of the outcome of the war in Ukraine, is over, he said. “The Eastern Partnership we have developed is not working. “He is gone,” said Schallenberg, referring to the EU’s official policy towards the former Soviet states. “We have to reconsider the whole arrest [of the] EU neighborhood policy “.
