EU’s comfortable talking diplomacy even as Syria continues to burn

Western Europe enjoys the highest quality of life in the world and prefers its comfortable state of elaborate conversation and repose

The European Union’s lack of collective response to the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria has again put its apparent disunity on display. It’s painfully clear that the EU might be an economic giant, but it is a midget when it comes to cohesive engagement in complex geopolitical affairs or projecting combined military might.

Even though France and the UK joined the US for airstrikes on suspected chemical weapons facilities in Syria, most of the national leaders in the EU have called for diplomacy. As the talking went on, the Syrian disaster continued to play out, making it clear that boots on the ground and planes overhead will affect the outcome. Riccardo Cristiano, a journalist at Italy’s

La Stampa newspaper and author of books on contemporary Syria, says the EU’s muddled response to the Syrian disaster shows that “Europe is living a moment of crisis, not just of disunity”.

“Indeed, anti-European forces advance everywhere,” he says. “The lack of understanding among our public on what happened in Syria is a proof that Europe is in crisis — it does not have its own reading of the world and follows others. European public opinion should start by understanding what happened in Syria.”

Yet even if it had a fully informed outlook, European public opinion is still shaped by WWI, WWII and its colonial past. “The US has long been signalling its will to withdraw from the Mediterranean and the Middle East, and geopolitics refuses empty spaces,” says Germano Dottori, professor of Strategic Studies at LuissGuido Carli University in Rome.

“Britain has negotiated access to bases in Bahrain and Oman. France is in Abu Dhabi, but Germany has instead a huge historical burden to bear. It cannot militarise foreign policy to the same extent shown by Britain and France. Italy is in a defensive mood, still coping with an endless domestic crisis,” Dottori says.

With so much past and present baggage, Europe and its experiment in unity simply does not offer a credible global power that can affect outcomes, even when needed for the highest humanitarian ends.

Cristiano says the EU’s inability to implement a cohesive strategy lays bare its impotence.

“It would be preferable to solve problems before arriving at the need to employ armies,” he says “But to do this it is necessary to invest, to use political and economic power. One cannot think that (action) is not economic or political or military force. I believe in humanitarian intervention — sometimes it is a duty.”

Yet Dottori says that is far from likely. “Most of European public opinion opposes war and the use of force in international relations as a result of the tragedies experienced during both World Wars,” he says. “Even when military interventions have clear geopolitical reasons, governments have to frame each decision related to the use of force on humanitarian grounds. Syria, however, has proved a highly divisive conflict. Even if nobody likes Assad, many consider his authoritarian rule as a sort of lesser evil vis-à-vis extremism.”

Ironically it is not political leaders but Pope Francis who has long highlighted the Syrian crisis and the need for a more global vision. “It would require a political, Mediterranean and Atlantic vision that is not only economic,” says Cristiano. “I see all this envisioned today only by Pope Francis, who has frequently warned European leaders. When the Pope spoke of extermination in Syria, he actually reminded us of what happened in Europe and what is building around us. Is it not in the interests of all of Europe to understand it?”

And with its head in the sand, Europe’s many liberal theories and humanitarian opinions ring hollow. Cristiano says that to “continue to follow narratives against the constituent values of Europe can only lead to the end of the European experiment. Do we still believe in our values?”

So look for more high-flown humanitarian speeches from EU leaders, more studies and conferences, but not decisive action. Western Europe enjoys the highest quality of life in the world and prefers its comfortable state of elaborate conversation and repose. Mariella Radaelli and Jon Van Housen are editors at the Luminosity Italia news agency in Milan