Lack of real leadership: Covid-19 exposed ‘massive problems’ in the EU & the West, Russia’s FM spokeswoman tells RT

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has exposed “massive problems” in the West as a whole, and particularly in the EU, which has been plagued by lack of leadership and political will, Maria Zakharova told RT Deutsch.

The European Union (EU) has repeatedly exhibited an inability to make decisions and defend its own interests lately, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told RT Deutsch’s Thomas Fasbender in an exclusive interview.

The bloc failed to act as a truly independent entity during the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project saga. While many experts show that the pipeline serves the best interests of Germany, Zakharova pointed out, its construction has been disrupted on multiple occasions, as the bloc’s members repeatedly give in to US pressure.

“In this regard, the question that needs to be asked is, what if tomorrow the US president, be it Mr. Biden, Mr. Trump, Mr. Obama or anybody else, will tell Germany to stop breathing, will it obey? Will it stop breathing? Or will it realize finally that not breathing will mean dying?” Zakharova wondered. 

No, really, this is a very important question, and everybody is afraid of asking it. Everybody is trying to avoid facing it. But it’s crucial – to what extent is each and every member state of the European Union still capable of promoting its interests? Based on what I see right now, what everyone can see is, the answer is negative, including in the matter of vaccine acquisition.

Similar problems have been experienced by the bloc during the coronavirus pandemic, which has “highlighted massive problems in the EU and the West as whole,” Zakharova believes. While the Covid-19 crisis is massive, it has not become “some horrible global catastrophe that the world has never faced before,” so the sloppy handling of it is unacceptable.

Pandemics have happened in the past. And it turns out that leaders who call themselves leaders of the world aren’t really leaders. They are just chest puffers.

Instead of rushing to save lives, the EU “simply wasted time” making the pandemic into a political issue and impairing its own ability to respond to the crisis, Zakharova said.

“It could have become the leader in vaccine rollout and manufacturing. But it didn’t. Why? Because the process was politicized, and EU officials tied the hands of their manufacturers, companies, and most importantly – their people,” Zakharova stated.

“It turns out the EU, including Germany and France, the US and many other countries couldn’t set an example for the rest of the world and show how to fight the pandemic effectively," she continued. "Unfortunately, they failed in every area – economy, social policies, vaccination. Yes, they developed and manufactured vaccines but they didn’t demonstrate real leadership in that respect.”

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