During the last European Council, Berlin and Paris made a surprising proposal to organize a European summit with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin. It was banned by Poland and the Baltic states. “Germany and France were driven by low motives,” comments Wolfgang Moenschau, head of the Brussels analytical center Eurointelligence.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Emmanuel Macron had low motivations in making their proposal. They chose to do so because they misjudged the mood of European leaders. As usual, Poland and the Baltics were ignored

Muenshaw says.

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In his opinion, the main motivation for Germany and France to offer the initiative was their reluctance to rely on Joe Biden as a mediator in relations with Russia. Berlin and Paris want to negotiate with Vladimir Putin on their own.

This attitude results from the desire to build the illusion of superpower, and not from the desire to influence and change a specific policy (of Russia).

– Convince the head of Eurointelligence.

He also emphasized that the US president himself, indicating that he would not impose sanctions on companies involved in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, somehow encouraged Germany to communicate with Vladimir Putin.

Germany felt strongly about its pro-Russian policy

– These, according to the expert, are the consequences of Joe Biden’s actions towards NS2.

I also think that, in the end, Germany considers relations with Russia more important than relations with the United States

– He’s pointing out.

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The problems of the American administration

When it comes to US policy toward Russia, Moineshaw believes the new administration in Washington “still has a lot to learn.”

It wants to pursue a different foreign policy, not using hard rhetoric, but seeking concrete cooperation in areas such as, for example, climate issues. This is due to the correct assumption that America cannot act simultaneously against two of its competitors: China and Russia. Therefore, it treats systematic competition with China as a priority. However, it is naive to think that Russia will act as Biden wants. exactly the contrary. Putin will mercilessly benefit from a change in approach

– concludes the analyst.

EU leaders, who met last Thursday in Brussels, rejected the German-French proposal for an EU-Russia summit after several hours of all-night discussions. This initiative was opposed, among others, by Estonia, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the approval would be premature and would be a kind of reward for the president of Russia “for his consistent, but unfortunately aggressive policy, provocations of neighbors, attacks of various kinds.”

JAH / PAP