Kathrine Frich
A sharp critique of transatlantic relations has emerged from one of Europe’s most senior former diplomats.
Speaking outside the EU’s institutional framework, he questioned long-held assumptions about alliances, power and sovereignty.
Imperial logic
Former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell said US President Donald Trump “wants a puppet government in Venezuela, like the one Putin wanted to install in Ukraine and which he already has in Belarus,” in an interview with the EFE news agency, cited by Agerpres.
“The ultimate goal is not to restore democracy in Venezuela, but to confiscate its natural resources (…),” Borrell said during a visit to Santiago, where he is due to lecture at the University of Chile.
With more than 300 billion barrels of oil, Venezuela “has the largest oil reserves in the world, larger than those of Saudi Arabia,” he added, arguing that Washington is prepared to exploit them.
Putin comparison
“It shouldn’t surprise us. Putin doesn’t care about international law, and neither does Trump. And that’s extremely serious. What kind of world are we heading towards?” Borrell said.
He described the emerging order as a “jungle” governed by “the law of the strongest.”
Borrell also called Trump a “compulsive narcissist” and criticized his handling of Venezuela’s political transition after the capture of Nicolas Maduro and his wife.
According to Borrell, Trump is offering Venezuelan leaders conditional survival: “as long as you do what I want, you’ll stay there, but the day you don’t, I’ll remove you like I removed others.”
Europe’s response
Borrell criticized the EU’s muted reaction to the US intervention, saying Europe should stop viewing Washington as its “great ally.”
“The United States is prepared to establish its own order in its areas of influence, and continuing to believe that it is our great ally means denying reality,” he said.
He argued that European leaders fear confronting Trump because they worry the US could withdraw support for Ukraine.
“Trump will abandon Ukraine or not, depending on what suits him,” Borrell added.
A warning for Europe
The former diplomat said replacing Maduro with “an American proconsul in the style of the Roman Empire” would not be legitimate, even if many Venezuelans welcomed his fall.
“If tomorrow Trump decides to take Greenland by force… what would we Europeans say or what could we do?” Borrell asked.
“Europe lived comfortably under the protective umbrella of the United States; today it is a military protectorate,” he concluded.
Sources: EFE, Agerpres, Hotnews
