Daily Times

At the time of its establishment on November 1, 1993, in the Netherlands, the core aims of the European Union within its borders were set “to promote peace, its values and the well-being of its citizens, and to offer freedom, security and justice without internal borders, while also taking appropriate measures at its external borders to regulate asylum and immigration and prevent and combat crime.”

The European Union (EU) was formed to economically flourish mainly by the richest and geopolitically independent countries. But, it has devalued its financial and economic market by taking sides with the irrational decisions of the United States. After COVID-19, the war pandemic has created a huge mess for the EU, its member countries and its citizens. The inflation has gone up from 4.4 per cent to over 12 per cent after its engagement in the Ukraine war. The statistics show that the COVID-19 pandemic was less damaging than the Ukraine war.

Europe’s energy system faces an unprecedented crisis. Supplies of Russian gas – critical for heating, industrial processes, and power – have been cut by more than 80 per cent this year. Wholesale prices of electricity and gas have surged as much as 15-fold since early 2021, with severe effects on households and businesses. The energy crisis will last until at least 2024. In January 2022, British Gas owner Centrica’s CEO Chris O’Shea told the BBC that “high gas prices will be here for the next 18 months to two years”. In October 2022, EU countries adopted an emergency regulation to address high energy prices and help citizens and businesses that are most affected by the energy crisis. The rules were adopted in record time. The three regulation emergency measures include reducing electricity use, which is impossible in the increasingly harsh winter.

The Ukraine war is supporting the US’s longtime desire to strengthen its political and economic position in Europe.

The Ukraine war continues to dent the EU member states, especially the nearest ones while the US, being far away from the neighbourhood of war, is calm and peaceful. A stronger lobby in the US administration used the situation around Ukraine for its own vested interests, and to solve its own narrowly self-serving tasks. Since Russia launched its ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine, Washington has intensified activities aimed at increasing its role in the modern world order and weakening the European Union as a global player.

The economic crisis in European countries, which is currently tending to grow, was fueled by the policy of harsh sanctions against the Russian Federation initiated by the US and approved by the EU. It led to the disruption of all established logistical schemes. The degradation of Europe’s industrial complex is mainly caused by the energy deficiency, created by the US sanctions on the free supply of hydrocarbons from Russia to European countries. Certainly, it was a big dent to the Russian Federation, the picking up economy after facing the brunt of the Cold War. The energy crisis in the EU has facilitated Washington’s accelerated penetration into the EU energy sector with its liquefied gas. The ban on the supply of hydrocarbons from the Russian Federation to the EU has facilitated an immense increase in the import of US liquefied gas. But, it could not stop the energy crisis, price hike or cut down the rate of inflation. Consequently, the EU states have to shut down a number of production facilities.

The Ukraine war is persistently promoting the US military-industrial complex and defence products in the European market. By forcing the Europeans to supply arms to Ukraine, the US is freeing up the market for its military-industrial products. The EU has taken up the bloc’s security support to 2.5 billion euros since the Ukraine War started on February 24 this year.

The prolonged Ukraine war is well serving the US’s vested interests. Tangible facts prove the US’s responsibility for provoking and further prolonging the Ukrainian conflict in order to weaken the Russian Federation as its geopolitical adversary. The US has openly exerted pressure on the EU states in order to saturate the Ukrainian Armed Forces with European weapons and military equipment, in exchange for which the US promises to arrange supplies of its own weapons. This arrangement is serving the US to avoid a direct confrontation with the Russian Federation.

The US has successfully increased its share in the EU energy market of LNG by ousting Russian energy companies from this sector of the European market. The Ukraine war is supporting the US’s longtime desire to strengthen its political and economic position in Europe by accusing Russia of aggression against Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia. It is likely to prevent the EU’s transformation into an independent centre of power. Seems quite strange that the US administration is forcing EU countries to follow its policies under the pretext of strengthening “Atlantic Solidarity” and countering the “spread of the Russian threat”. Fine, but the EU citizens are on the streets against what they are facing as the brunt of their governments following the US dictation. They know well that they are paying the cost of the US vested interests.

The writer is a freelance journalist and broadcaster, and Director Devcom-Pakistan. He can be reached at devcom.pakistan@gmail.com and tweets @EmmayeSyed