URSULA von der Leyen who has been re-elected as European Commission (EC) President, has vowed to transform the EU into a defence bloc in her political programme published by the EC.
The document said: ‘Our work in the next five years will be focused on building a true European Defence Union.’
Von der Leyen added that EU countries ‘will always retain responsibility for their own troops, from doctrine to deployment, but there is a lot Europe can do to support and coordinate efforts to strengthen the defence industrial base, innovation and the Single Market.’
Strategic cooperation between Russia and China is reducing the global influence of the European Union, undermining the West’s so-called ‘rules-based order,’ Ursula von der Leyen said in her political guidelines for the next term.
She added: ‘The more aggressive posture and unfair economic competition from China, its “no limits” friendship with Russia reflect a shift from cooperation to competition,’ she noted. ‘As a result, our (Western) rules-based international order is fraying, and our global institutions have become less effective.’
She also pointed out that Russia, North Korea, Iran and some other countries, were seeking ‘to create an alternative international order’, allegedly based ‘on redrawn maps, imperial ideas and spheres of influence’. That said, Europe should ‘play a leading role in reforming the international system’.
Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said at the Saint Petersburg International Legal Forum in June that the West’s rules-based order concept was eroding international law.
Members of the new convocation of the European Parliament gathered for their first session in Brussels on Thursday to approve Ursula von der Leyen for her second term as the European Commission president.
Thursday’s schedule was drafted in a way that no other event could potentially divert attention from the session, which is largely ceremonial. No other decision-making bodies of the European Union were scheduled to have any serious events on Thursday.
The parliamentary session consisted of von der Leyen’s speech, lawmakers’ responses and the vote itself.
The head of the European Commission is appointed for a five-year term by the heads of European states and governments during their summit. Neither elections to the European Parliament nor the subsequent vote in the legislative body has any direct influence on the process.
In all, four parliamentary factions that support von der Leyen’s candidacy (the European People’s Party (EPP), Socialists, Liberals and the Greens) have 478 mandates in the 720-seat legislature, well above the required simple majority of 361 votes.
The joint naval exercises of China and Russia constantly increase their ability to address security challenges together, the Chinese Defence Ministry said in a statement.
The statement reads: ‘The Maritime Interaction drills have become a major platform for cooperation between the two navies as they constantly enhance both parties’ ability to jointly address security threats and challenges.’
The Maritime Interaction-2024 exercise, which took place in July, strengthened professional exchanges, mutual understanding and trust between the Chinese and Russian navies, ‘promoting practical cooperation in a standardised and systematic manner,’ the Chinese Defence Ministry noted.
Russia’s Pacific Fleet said earlier that Russian and Chinese naval ships had wrapped up the Maritime Interaction-2024 joint drills in the South China Sea.
The two countries practiced anti-submarine operations, naval warfare and escort missions, as well as ways to provide air defence to a detachment of ships and carry out search and rescue operations at sea.
About 30 combat exercises were performed during the drills, including joint artillery fire at air, sea and coastal targets.
The Russian Navy and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy held their first joint drills in the Yellow Sea in 2005. Since 2012, the exercises have been taking place on a regular basis in various regions.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s accession to NATO is currently impossible and Kiev is also unlikely to be granted EU membership in the near future, Huseyin Bagci, head of the Ankara Global Advisory Group and Turkey’s leading expert on international security, said.
He said: ‘If we look at the situation in terms of the Ukrainian conflict and from NATO’s perspective, I believe that the alliance will not enter direct confrontation (with Russia) but it will support Ukraine through weapons supplies. One cannot expect a ceasefire to be announced in Ukraine at this point, as well as the country to join NATO.
‘As for Ukraine’s talks with the EU, they can also last for years.’
NATO members stated at their summit in Bucharest in April 2008 that Ukraine and Georgia would join the alliance in the future. No specific timeframe was set for Ukraine’s NATO accession at the bloc’s Vilnius summit in July 2023. Before the meeting, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had pointed to the lack of consensus on Ukraine’s membership among the allies.
- Tehran remains a party to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear programme and wants to see it revived, Iranian Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani has said.
He said: ‘We have an agreement made in 2015. The US withdrew from it, dealing a blow to the accords. We are still a party to the JCPOA. The US has yet to come back to the JCPOA, so our goal is to revive the 2015 document. We are not seeking a new agreement.’
On July 16, Bagheri said in an interview with Newsweek that it was up to Washington to take steps to improve bilateral relations and resume the nuclear deal.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal, was signed by Iran, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (Russia, the United Kingdom, China, the United States and France) and Germany in 2015.
The United States withdrew from the agreement in 2018 under President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, incumbent US President Joe Biden has repeatedly signalled that Washington was ready to return to the nuclear deal.
In April 2021, Russia, Britain, Germany, China, the United States and France entered negotiations with Iran in Vienna in an effort to restore the JCPOA to its original form. However, the talks ended without any result in November 2022.
- Republican vice presidential candidate James David Vance believes that if Donald Trump wins the US presidential election in November, the country will use its military force abroad ‘only when we must’.
He said: ‘We will make sure our allies share in the burden of securing world peace. No more free rides for nations that betray the generosity of the American taxpayer. Together, we will send our kids to war only when we must.’
‘But as President Trump showed with the elimination of ISIS (outlawed in Russia) and so much more, when we punch, we will punch hard.’
The US presidential election will take place on November 5.
Meanwhile seventy per cent of Americans believe that US President Joe Biden should end his election campaign and allow the Democratic Party to nominate another candidate to compete for president, according to a public opinion poll conducted by the NORC research centre for the Associated Press.
