Interview with Aymeric Chauprade, member of the European Parliament for the French party National Front.
We would like to ask you as an expert and a politician about the EU army proposed by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Does Europe really need such an army if it has had NATO for over 70 years? Is there any sense in this proposal?
I think there is a desire to revive the old idea of the European Defense Community, which Mr. Juncker has articulated. Unfortunately, it was done in an anti-Russian spirit. European institutions are pursuing a crazy policy of isolating Russia and severing relations with it over Ukraine. This is being done under US pressure. Mr. Juncker unearthed this project in a bid to mobilize European countries around the idea of an EU army that would ultimately become part of a US-led transatlantic axis. This is happening at a time when several national diplomacies, in particular French and German ones, have reached a compromise based on the Minsk Agreements. At the same time, the numerous advocates of Atlanticism in the European Parliament and other European agencies are trying to outmaneuver France and Germany, which are urging reconciliation. Moreover, the Atlanticists are doing this under the guise of integration, the need to strengthen and accelerate integration in Europe.
Another issue is how this idea correlates with the European budget, because an army is a costly enterprise. What do you think on this issue?
I think it’s highly unlikely. There are two large armies in Europe, in Britain and France. And don’t underestimate the Italian army either. But speaking about a European army in the current financial situation is utter utopia. And I say it again that this is a project of complete subordination to the United States.
However, no practical action has been taken to implement this idea. By the way, French Defense Minister Le Drian, who is much more practical than the bulk of socialists, is skeptical about the European army.
Do you think that the so-called Old European countries are being pressured in the European Parliament by new EU members, such as Poland and the Baltic countries, which are in direct proximity to the developments in southeastern Ukraine? Is this so?
You are absolutely right. The European Council is headed by Donald Tusk, a Pole. He knows that the Council has more respect for national sovereignties than the European Parliament or the European Commission. He knows very well that such countries as France and Germany reject the logic of tension, which has led to the development of a silent agreement between Mr. Juncker’s European Commission, Donald Tusk and the Atlantic lobby in the European Parliament, which I see in action every day and which easily finds pretexts for quarrelling with Russia.
You have recently spoken on the issue of Kosovo, which experts tend to forget. Much is being said about Ukraine, while the issue of Kosovo has disappeared from the media. You have recently written about Kosovo for a Serbian newspaper. What do you think about Kosovo’s independence, which European countries have recognized but Russia has not?
My stand on the issue of Serbia has not changed since the former Yugoslavia. I believe that, unfortunately, West European countries and NATO wanted to enslave Serbia, which is why they bombed it and in 1999 created a small state, contrary to international law, which 128 countries out of 200 have recognized, if memory serves. But it has not been recognized by all countries. It has not been recognized by several EU member states, in particular Spain. In principle, this small Muslim state in Europe is supported by the United States and several pro-Atlantic countries.
Kosovo is a criminal economy based solely on trafficking in drugs, weapons and human organs. It is a source of instability for Europe and its Serbian neighbor, which is very sad because Kosovo is a historical region of Serbia. It is part of Serbian history with its holy monasteries, which I have visited. But today it is a US military base, a region whose natural resources are being plundered and where smuggling is encouraged. And all of this is going on with the encouragement of the EU, which plans to incorporate Kosovo and signed an association agreement with it in July 2014.
This crazy policy of following in the wake of the United States is designed to weaken Serbia and Russia. But it will only increase the number of problems, in particular with international crime in Europe, in the EU.
