Global south does not buy western stance on Ukraine Francis Ghilès [Recurso electrónico]

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the EU has failed to offer its immediate neighbours to the south, let alone Africa, economic partnerships which have serious content. The Barcelona Process could have offered an interesting policy framework but it was never seen in European capitals as remotely equivalent to the ambitious policy Brussels constructed to integrate Eastern European countries. European corporations do not speak the language of Brussels and defend their interests with bare knuckles, often giving support to authoritarian regimes and helping to scupper local politicians and policies seen to harm their investments. The EU has often veered in the same direction because it fears change and the uncertainty more democratic politics would bring to the ease of speaking to one strong man at the top. The counterrevolution that followed very quickly in the steps of the Arab revolts in 2011 – and which is finally engulfing Tunisia, will not bring long term stability to the region. The revolts of 2011 will occur again, albeit in different form. A slow-moving revolutionary fuse was then lit in the Arab world but the EU persist in its refusal to think strategically. It is little wonder its influence is declining.