"Know Putin well"
Former EU Commission President fears “big war”
Former EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warns against "only talking about weapons" in view of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. He fears a "major war" because he "knows Putin well".
Europe is "in a pre-war mood, because some of the rhetoric reminds me of the rhetoric of the Cold War. People are only talking about weapons," Juncker said in an interview with the Kleine Zeitung newspaper. He hoped that the war rhetoric would not lead to a "great war".
"Know Putin well"
At the same time, Juncker explained that it was not Europe's fault, but was due to "the massive misconduct" of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He knows Putin well, Juncker reported. "I am probably one of the Europeans who have talked to him the longest and most intimately. I have had hours of conversations with him, even at night, in German, without the help of diplomats or interpreters. So I really had him on the grill. And he had me." Now he is "very disappointed".
Putin must not win
He could not forgive himself for having "lent my ear" to his "Eastern and Central European friends when they warned of Russian encroachments in their part of Europe, but immediately closed it again". He thought that they were fundamentally wrong. "But I was fundamentally wrong," said the former Luxembourg prime minister.
Jucker answered the question of whether Putin should not be allowed to win the war with "Yes, because he (Putin, editor's note) would become even more violent". This presupposes that the Western Europeans and the Ancients actively support Ukraine. "I'm not a warmonger in the sense that I want only the weapons to talk. I am of the opinion that other formats must be sought behind the weapons front in order to end this war. But there must be no Russian-dominated dictatorial peace. That must be prevented."
The fact that French President Emmanuel Macron was talking about deploying troops on Ukrainian soil "surprised him, but not horrified. There is also a well-considered strategy behind this, which says that you shouldn't tell an opponent who acts like an enemy where your own red lines are. In this respect, I file this under the heading of tactical movements," said Juncker, who once again spoke out in favor of a European army. But that is "not an easy thing. Thinking in Europe has remained national. It must become European."
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