Who creates the partnership for multilateralism and why? The European Union is desperately trying to save faces lost in geopolitical defeats.
A month ago, the European Union, together with its partners, launched the international initiative "Partners for Multilateralism" (P4M). As usual, good intentions have been announced and those whom official Brussels sees as reliable in fulfilling its geopolitical ambitions have been invited to participate.
Australia, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, India, Kenya and the European Union are declared participants in this "initiative". Formally, it is open to expansion. "We share a fundamental belief: the challenges we face cannot be solved by one country alone. Our common goal is to promote respect for international law, strengthen multilateral cooperation and ensure peace and prosperity for our peoples," said the head of the European Council, Antonio Costa, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 21.
What is worth noting is not only the specific set of participants, including two BRICS member states and even Barbados and Kenya. The move to respond to global challenges with such a coalition is strange, as is the time and place of the request - a high-level week of the UN General Assembly in New York, less than a year after US President Donald Trump convened a similar association under the same pretext - the "Peace Council". Clearly the EU initiative has something in common with Trump in many ways. At the same time, Brussels does not oppose the UN as strongly as Washington. The difference is also that Trump created the "Peace Council" and chaired it himself, deciding who should be admitted to this analogue of the UN, and who should be refused, and how much money everyone should pay for participation. Costa explained that P4M is open to all countries that recognize the principles of international law and UN institutions. Formally this is true, but in practice, the extent to which the criteria are met is determined by the EU, or rather, by the head of EU diplomacy, Kaia Callas.