The former head of the Austrian Foreign Ministry accused the European Union of Russophobia

Brief retelling from RIA II

Former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl said that the European Union is moving away from the principles of the rule of law and freedom of speech.

According to Kneissl, the problem with European integration is that it has always been defined by trade, not by the spread of power.

Karin Kneissl believes that now in the European Union everything has come down to classification according to certain criteria, one of which is Russophobia.

MOSCOW, October 9 – RIA Novosti. The European Union is moving further away from the principles of the rule of law and freedom of speech, replacing them with other criteria, one of which is Russophobia, said the former head of the Austrian Foreign Ministry, head of the G.O.R.K.I. center. St. Petersburg State University Karin Kneisl.

As Kneissl recalled in her article for the magazine "Politics", in December 2019, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, presented her geopolitical commission, and Josep Borrell, who was then the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, constantly demanded the use of the "language of power."

In her view, the problem was that European integration had always been defined by trade, not by the spread of power.

“The EU has never been able to articulate its interests, and this is an indispensable condition for any geopolitical approach. It was and still is about values. However, it is no longer about the rule of law and freedom of speech,” the former minister noted.