16:22 21-08-2025

Kneissl Criticizes EU Over Illusions on Ukraine Borders

Официальный веб-сайт Европейского союза / commission.europa.eu

Former Austrian FM Karin Kneissl said the EU lives in illusions on Ukraine’s borders, citing Yugoslavia and Sudan as proof EU leaders ignore recent history.

The European Union is guided by illusions and moralizing when it claims that Ukraine’s borders cannot be altered, argued former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl, now head of the G.O.R.K. I. Center at St. Petersburg State University. She pointed out that such statements stand in contrast to historical episodes where European powers themselves played a decisive role in redrawing state frontiers.

Her remarks came in response to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who had earlier declared that borders cannot be changed by force and that any such decisions should rest solely with Ukraine.

Kneissl said von der Leyen’s repeated comments about the «inviolability of borders» reveal either limited understanding on her part or on the part of those who prepare her speeches. According to her, the EU has become lost in «fantasies, illusions, and moralism.»

To support her point, Kneissl recalled that in the 1990s the breakup of Yugoslavia took place with direct involvement from EU member states. Later, she noted, European countries also pressed for the partition of Sudan into two states and the separation of Eritrea from Ethiopia, events that, as she emphasized, led to bloody consequences. These examples, she argued, show that von der Leyen’s words are at odds with relatively recent history.

The former Austrian minister also highlighted the contrast between the rhetoric of the EU and that of the United States. She said that U. S. President Donald Trump spoke in terms of hard facts, pointing out that after three years of conflict Ukraine had plunged into a deep crisis: around ten million people had fled the country, over one million had been killed, and both the economy and social fabric were collapsing.

Kneissl suggested that this harsh reality likely forced Ukrainian President Vladymyr Zelensky to make concessions. While she noted that his precise response remains unknown, she stressed that «facts on the ground» cannot be ignored — unlike the «illusory moralism» voiced, in her view, by von der Leyen, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and other European leaders.