What does Slovakia’s gas deal reveal about the balance between EU unity and national interests when sanctioning Russia ? Analyst John Kavulich shares his thoughts.
00:00Don, let's talk about Slovakia, who, of course, as we know now, dropped its opposition after they received these guarantees on Russian gas.
00:07They got their way. But what does this say about the balance between the EU unity and also national interest when it comes to sanctioning Russia?
00:14EU is 27 sovereign nations. And while Ursula von der Leyen sits atop in Brussels as the president of the European Commission, she's not a head of state.
00:27She's not a head of government. She's an administrator who is appointed, elected, appointed by the 27 and then by the 407 member of the European Parliament.
00:41So all it takes is one. And we've had Viktor Orban of Hungary. We've had the prime minister of Slovakia.
00:48We also have Greece that has issues because of their energy interdependence with Russia, Malta, Cyprus.
00:57So it is. This isn't over because as one country gets satisfied, there's going to be an issue with another one.
01:08And then, of course, you look to the to the future and the future European Union with Ukraine as a member.
01:14And, you know, it doesn't take a lot of creativity to think about Ukraine as a member of the European Union, number, let's say, 28.
01:25And then when the members of the European Union start to say, OK, the war's over, Ukraine's a member, we want to start reengaging with Russia for a variety of reasons, 140 million potential consumers, energy again, etc.
01:40And who do they think is going to be standing up at every opportunity amongst the requirements for unanimity, their group in the European Parliament that's probably going to be, you know, fifth or sixth largest?
01:56They're going to make the prime ministers of Hungary and Slovakia look like really team players in terms of what the Ukrainians are going to do vis-a-vis Russia down the road.
