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Will this be the time that EU grows a spine and comes together to oppose Russia? Naaa, better continue to have Germany and France continue to destroy the Union

Will this be the time that EU grows a spine and comes together to oppose Russia? Naaa, better continue to have Germany and France continue to destroy the Union by looking only at their self interests while they pretend to talk tough on Trump and sabotage any real internal changes so that they can keep their crumbs. Just this week, France’s meddling halted a deal that was 30 years in the making: Mercosul while their president, in all his virtue signaling went on Davos to pretend to have the moral upper hand on the USA. We’re a union of hypocrites. And France and Germany are the worst of them.

v_iter 9mo ago
Yes, but how could that be solved? To solve this issue you'd have to significantly reduce the sovereignty of the EU member states, which some, especially Poland will oppose fiercely. But on the other had, without some coherent cooperation and responses, Europe will be chewed up country at a time by Russia, and maybe in the future by China.
- hkt 9mo ago
  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/glossary/mutual-defence-clause.html https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/glossary/mutual-d... Any actual EU members are in principle protected by this, even if they aren't NATO members. Whether or not EU countries being in NATO diminishes their ability to act without US consent is debatable and I lean towards saying NATO's joint command essentially sets article 42 cooperation up to fail. That's the difference between Ukraine and the other countries on Putin's list though: Ukraine wasn't in the EU or NATO, and for all intents and purposes had no allies.
  - v_iter 9mo ago
    Things like that don't protect countries. If a real threat arises, if there is no unified force, under the command of one central organ, they won't cooperate, it will always be inferior to the force that does have a single unified command center, like Russia for example or China. NATO or the EU cannot command, say Poland or Germany where to put their forces and what to do with them, but Russia and China can do that with their own. Although their military potential is on par (I mean NATO and Russia) My point is, although on paper NATO is great, it's still fragmented, and to some extent relies on who is in power politically, for example the tomorrow's president of an X country can say "Oh, we will leave NATO yata yata"
hardlianotion 9mo ago
Which EU? The EU that continues to buy rebadged Russian oil and gas, the EU that sold them entire fleets of shadow tankers? Or the one that likes to pretend that states bordering Russia have suddenly acquired the exact same demand for expensive cars that Russia used to exhibit?
rasz 9mo ago
>France’s meddling halted a deal that was 30 years in the making: Mercosul Mercosur would actually be Polish complaint to the EU Court of Justice (CJEU) https://www.visahq.com/news/2026-01-22/pl/polish-meps-spearhead-move-to-send-eu-mercosur-trade-pact-to-court-of-justice/ https://www.visahq.com/news/2026-01-22/pl/polish-meps-spearh...
- weezing 9mo ago
  Poland as usual doing God's work.

v_iter 9mo ago

Yes, but how could that be solved? To solve this issue you'd have to significantly reduce the sovereignty of the EU member states, which some, especially Poland will oppose fiercely. But on the other had, without some coherent cooperation and responses, Europe will be chewed up country at a time by Russia, and maybe in the future by China.

hkt 9mo ago
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/glossary/mutual-defence-clause.html https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/glossary/mutual-d... Any actual EU members are in principle protected by this, even if they aren't NATO members. Whether or not EU countries being in NATO diminishes their ability to act without US consent is debatable and I lean towards saying NATO's joint command essentially sets article 42 cooperation up to fail. That's the difference between Ukraine and the other countries on Putin's list though: Ukraine wasn't in the EU or NATO, and for all intents and purposes had no allies.
- v_iter 9mo ago
  Things like that don't protect countries. If a real threat arises, if there is no unified force, under the command of one central organ, they won't cooperate, it will always be inferior to the force that does have a single unified command center, like Russia for example or China. NATO or the EU cannot command, say Poland or Germany where to put their forces and what to do with them, but Russia and China can do that with their own. Although their military potential is on par (I mean NATO and Russia) My point is, although on paper NATO is great, it's still fragmented, and to some extent relies on who is in power politically, for example the tomorrow's president of an X country can say "Oh, we will leave NATO yata yata"

hardlianotion 9mo ago

Which EU? The EU that continues to buy rebadged Russian oil and gas, the EU that sold them entire fleets of shadow tankers? Or the one that likes to pretend that states bordering Russia have suddenly acquired the exact same demand for expensive cars that Russia used to exhibit?

rasz 9mo ago

>France’s meddling halted a deal that was 30 years in the making: Mercosul Mercosur would actually be Polish complaint to the EU Court of Justice (CJEU) https://www.visahq.com/news/2026-01-22/pl/polish-meps-spearhead-move-to-send-eu-mercosur-trade-pact-to-court-of-justice/ https://www.visahq.com/news/2026-01-22/pl/polish-meps-spearh...

weezing 9mo ago
Poland as usual doing God's work.