Brexit was right: And EU’s spineless capitulation to Putin shows why | Politics | News
If anyone still needs proof that voting for Brexit was the right decision for Britain, one need only look at the EU’s miserable capitulation over Russia’s frozen central bank assets. It was a moment that required moral clarity, political courage and strategic determination. Instead, the European Union has resorted to weakness, delay and self-indulgent handwringing, and in doing so has doomed Ukraine to many more years of bloodshed while exposing fundamental flaws at the heart of the EU project.
EU bosses have also openly thwarted the will of 450 million people across Europe; These people, I would humbly suggest, would prefer to use almost £200bn of frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine’s war effort rather than use 90bn of their own money.
Around £200 billion of Russia’s assets remain frozen within the EU, the bulk of which is held in Brussels through a highly opaque Belgium-based financial institution. This money is not the product of honest labor; These are the accumulated spoils of the corrupt kleptocratic system that plundered post-Soviet Russia and transferred the wealth to the oligarchs and their cronies while waging a fascist, imperial war on the European mainland. Using these funds to support Ukraine would not be theft, but justice. This would force the aggressor to pay for his own war and significantly reduce the burden on European taxpayers; Instead, they will be asked to shoulder tens of billions of dollars in new loans and take on billions of dollars more in annual debt servicing costs.
But when moral clarity and the chance to really turn the screws on Putin came, the EU caved, sidestepped and led him astray.
One of the member states—Belgium—demanded such comprehensive legal and financial guarantees that they effectively vetoed the action, with the help of the usual suspects within the bloc acting as Putin’s useful idiots.
Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, along with Slovakia and the Czech Republic, were awarded exemptions to achieve unanimity. Conclusion? A watered-down loan scheme backed by shared EU debt falls far short of what Ukraine actually needs and sends entirely the wrong signal to Moscow.
The EU, and by extension the West, is divided, weak and plagued by suspicion, cowardice and inaction.
The Kremlin noticed. Of course it did.
Russian officials publicly celebrated the decision, praising the EU for not using Russian assets “illegitimately” and declaring that “law and common sense” had prevailed. When your enemy is publicly pleased with what you did during the war, you are doing something very wrong.
This is not diplomacy; This is just cowardice. Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever likened the asset seizure plan to the Titanic and claimed that “rationality prevailed”. What actually prevailed was fear; fear of legal battles, fear of financial risk, fear of taking responsibility. The EU is structurally incapable of acting boldly because it is paralyzed by unanimity rules, conflicting national interests, and an obsession with process over outcomes.
And this weakness has real consequences. Ukraine is in ruins. Between 60,000 and 100,000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands more were injured or displaced. On the Russian side, there are close to a million. The West has a responsibility here. The United States and Britain promised protection to Ukraine in exchange for giving up its nuclear weapons; We shamefully accepted this agreement.
Do you think Putin will invade the world’s third largest nuclear power? No, me neither.
And now Ukraine is being let down for the second time by institutions that claim to represent Europe’s security and values.
Compare this to Britain outside the EU. Having escaped Brussels paralysis, the UK has been one of Ukraine’s most consistent and powerful supporters, militarily, diplomatically and politically, both as Boris and Keir. Brexit restored Britain’s ability to act decisively in its national interests and in defense of wider principles, without being hindered by risk-averse bureaucrats or self-interested member states.
The EU could one day use frozen Russian assets, as party leaders vaguely promised. But “someday” is not good enough when people are dying today. The EU’s position in this war was determined when Germany was asked for help in fighting against the huge aggressive Russian war machine.
defense minister Christine Lambrecht sent tin hats instead of tanks and long-range missiles.
Tanks and long-range missiles came later, after political strife and indecision, when many more people died.
The seizure of Russian assets will happen later, after political wrangling and hesitation, when many more people have died.
Politicians should never be allowed to wage war.
If Putin is allowed to win, this will happen: Millions of refugees flock to Europe and the UK; Putin seizes all military equipment to replenish Russia’s arsenal; Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and even Poland become the next target. Oh and China, realizing the West’s spineless inability to defend itself, invades Taiwan.
Global conflict options are many.
Brexit has never been about isolation. It was about sovereignty, accountability and the ability to take action. The EU’s failure on Russian assets makes clear why leaving was the right call. Hesitation when faced with evil is complicity, and even when justice, morality, courage and common sense point in the same direction, it is better for Britain to forge its own path than to remain tied to a bloc that cannot do what is necessary.
