Dear readers,
Welcome to EU Politics Decoded where Benjamin Fox and Eleonora Vasques bring you a round-up of the latest political news in Europe and beyond every Thursday.
In this edition, we are looking at the Western narratives of the EU and the US when dealing with those countries named as ‘malign actors’.
Editor’s Take: The EU should ditch its superiority complex about ‘malign actors’
In his theory of Orientalism, the American-Palestinian intellectual Edward Said explained how Westerners try to associate different stereotypes with non-Western people and cultures.
Example: The West is clear, white, and good, and the rest is obscure, black, and bad.
Global Politics is not exempt from the tendency to describe everything that is other or unknown as ‘malign actors’, put in opposition to, for instance, the Western world, such as the US and EU countries.
The European Parliament sub-committee on Foreign Interference is currently working on a set of proposals to combat foreign interference by ‘malign actors’ in all democratic processes in the EU, also considering the next EU elections in Spring 2024.
Parliament President Roberta Metsola opened December’s plenary session in Strasbourg and referred to ‘malign actors’ when speaking about Qatargate.
“To those malign actors, in third countries, who think they can buy their way forward. Who thinks Europe is for sale. Who thinks they can take over our NGOs. Let me say that you will find this Parliament firmly in your way. We are Europeans. We would rather be cold than bought,” said Metsola.
EU lawmakers are not the only ones. A bill on Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa is currently before the United States Senate, having been passed by the House of Representatives, despite complaints from the Presidents of South Africa and the African Union that it would penalise African firms doing business with Russian counterparts.
You could argue that the US bill represents precisely the foreign interference that the US and EU are so critical of.
Claims of moral superiority when dealing with geopolitics further empower those actors for whom weakening democratic systems is a central aim. Moreover, eurocentrism and labelling as ‘malign actors’ the foreign policy decisions of third countries in a competitive and fragmented world does not strengthen the diplomatic cause of the EU or the US.
An emblematic example is the Middle East and, in the case of Qatargate, the (limited) amount of knowledge about the Gulf. The countries in this peninsula are light years from the depiction in the European imagination.
It is simplistic and hypocritical to define Gulf states as a bunch of corrupt governments that try to weaken our values, especially since the EU has bilateral relations with many of them.
Europeans need to drop the ‘Manichaeism’ when dealing with them. Otherwise, democracy will keep losing.
Who’s electioneering?
Czechs are going to vote for their next president this Friday and Saturday. According to the polls, the three frontrunners are former prime minister Andrej Babiš, who was acquitted of EU subsidy fraud earlier this week, retired army chief Petr Pavel and ex-university head Danuše Nerudová. All are polling in the mid-20s.
Babiš may receive a boost from his acquittal following years of legal wrangling, but pollsters say that he would probably be defeated by either Pavel or Nerudová should he get to the run-off.
Capitals-in-brief
Swedish government nuclear expansionism. Legislation restricting the number of nuclear reactors and their geographic location is being updated by the government, favouring nuclear expansionism. Read more.
Sinn Fein boycott scuppers UK plans for Brexit talks. The first round of talks launched by the UK government aimed at making further progress on post-Brexit relations were plunged into chaos after a boycott by Sinn Fein and the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour parties.
Plan to scrap VAT on fruit and vegetables sparks debate in Germany. To soften the blow of price hikes and encourage healthier diets, German agriculture minister Cem Özdemir has proposed abolishing value-added tax (VAT) on fruit and vegetables. While experts see the idea as a step in the right direction, there is resistance within the governing coalition over the potential lost tax revenue.
Headaches ahead as French renewable energy bill preempts EU rules. French lawmakers in the National Assembly approved the Renewable Energy Acceleration Bill at first reading on Tuesday (10 January), though some decision-makers and legal experts are questioning its likely compatibility with future EU law.
Inside the institutions
NATO, EU mull joint plan to protect Europe’s critical infrastructure. The EU and NATO on Wednesday (11 January) announced a ‘joint taskforce’ aimed at stepping up the protection of critical infrastructure in the face of potential hybrid threats from Russia.
The Single Market today: Unfinished and uncertain. While the market for goods is generally well-integrated in the EU, this is not the case for some of the most essential economic sectors. Moreover, the turn towards a more activist industrial policy is forcing the EU to choose between more or less fragmentation.
EU is pushing ‘anti-industry-policy’, says German car industry chief. The head of the German car industry association, Hildegard Müller, has criticised the EU for making vehicle production more expensive by political means, which in her view is undermining the bloc’s proclaimed industrial policy objectives.
Race to replace Eva Kaili. A group of MEPs are expected to throw their hats into the ring to replace Eva Kaili, the Greek deputy who is being detained in a Belgian prison pending charges related to the Qatargate bribery scandal, as a vice-president of the European Parliament. So far, the S&D candidate is the Luxembourgish Marc Angel, while the far-right ID group has proposed the Italian Annalisa Tardino. More names might be announced in the coming days ahead of next week’s vote in the Parliament plenary.
Europe has not used its COVID tools to ease travel restrictions, EU auditors say. Of all the tools the European Commission has proposed to facilitate travel during the pandemic, only the EU Digital COVID Certificate was effective, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) has found.
What we are reading
- The pro-Bolsonaro ‘insurrection’ was pathetic – and, for now, has made President Lula stronger, writes Richard Lapper for The Guardian.
- What Ukraine teaches us about power. Acting tough doesn’t make you strong, even militarily, writes Paul Krugman for The New York Times.
- British politics is still suffering from ‘long populism’, writes Robert Shrimsley for the Financial Times.
The next week in politics
- The EU institutions are now back to full speed following the Christmas holidays. Finance ministers will gather for Eurogroup and Economic and Financial Affairs Council meetings early next week.
- The European Parliament’s January plenary session will be held in Strasbourg.
- Meanwhile, European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans will attend the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) General Assembly.
Thanks for reading. If you’d like to contact us for leaks, tips or comments, drop us a line at [email protected] / [email protected] or contact us on Twitter: @EleonorasVasques & @benfox83
[Edited by Alice Taylor]
Source: euractiv.com
