Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand
Josep Borrell, former Vice-President of the European Commission, dropping quite a few truth bombs: https://theguardian.com/world/2025/may/09/israel-committing-genocide-in-gaza-says-eus-former-top-diplomat… He says Israel commits genocide in Gaza: “We all know what’s going on there, and we’ve all heard the objectives stated by Netanyau’s ministers, which are clear declarations of genocidal intent. Seldom have I heard the leader of a state so clearly outline a plan that fits the legal definition of genocide.”
He laments Europe’s role in Gaza (which is somewhat lacking in self-awareness): “Europe has the capacity and the means not only to protest against what is going on but also to influence [Israel’s] conduct. But it is not doing so. We supply half the bombs that are falling on Gaza. If we really believe that too many people are dying, then the natural response would be to supply fewer weapons and to use the lever of the association agreement to demand that international humanitarian law is respected, instead of just lamenting that that isn’t happening.”
He describes Trump as “the master of chaos”, who has transformed the US “from being an ally to an adversary”. He says that means that Europe “needs to shift away from a comfortable and atavistic Atlanticism, which has seen us delegate our security to the US, to building full European sovereignty.”
He also called Trump unintelligent in comparison to Xi and Putin: “The faces of history today are those of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. None of them is European. I know them – well, I know them a bit – and I can assure you that of those three, two are more intelligent than the third. The thing is the third one doesn’t know it.” To be fair to Borrell, he did say some of these things whilst in power but not in such stark terms. And it’s all good and well to say things, but what matters are actions: somewhat disingenuous to lament that Europe was “supplying half the bombs that are falling on Gaza” when he himself was Vice-President of the Commission.
This is an indictment of himself, or at least of the powerlessness of his former role. In any case, at least his head is in the right place and the same unfortunately can’t be said about his successor Kaja Kallas.