European Official Not Ready to Stiffen Russia Sanctions

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/09/world/european-official-not-ready-to-stiffen-russia-sanctions.html

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BRUSSELS — Rattled by a newly aggressive Russia but still loath to confront the reality of violent conflict, Europe needs to draw clear lessons from the war in Ukraine in order to respond to a new and dangerous era, according to Donald Tusk, the former prime minister of Poland who took over recently as representative of the European Union’s 28 leaders.

Mr. Tusk, who will meet President Obama in Washington on Monday in his role as president of the European Council, said in an interview that Europe was not yet ready to further tighten sanctions against Russia despite continuing provocations by President Vladimir V. Putin.

But he said he was eager for Europe to take a more robust stance alongside the United States in countering Russian efforts to redraw the borders of Ukraine, in dealing with chaos in countries like Libya, and in confronting the threat of jihadist violence in what he described as “the first chapter in a new and very dynamic history of new fears and new threats.”

The conflict in eastern Ukraine and Russia’s annexation last March of Crimea, Mr. Tusk said, are “just one of many” crises that now threaten European security and require a concerted response by Europe and the United States.

“We have to start to live without illusions,” he said.

NATO, he added, forms the bedrock of European security and Europeans need to do more after years of steady defense cuts. Europeans should consider “a new and more ambitious defense and security policy,” and “not only as part of NATO,” he said.

Most European members of the alliance have failed to meet their NATO commitments on defense spending despite repeated pledges to Washington to do so.

Mr. Tusk’s views, shaped by his experience in Poland, are more hawkish toward Russia than those of many of Europe’s national leaders, and among his challenges is forging a consensus among the European Union’s member states, whose different interests, political forces and histories often inhibit robust common action.

“To build consensus between 28 democracies — because it’s not only states — but democracies” is very “difficult,” Mr. Tusk said, adding that a raft of sanctions imposed on Russia since it seized Crimea had shown Europe’s desire to remain united and went further than some European governments wanted.

One of Mr. Tusk’s key concerns is that few Europeans are able “to think today about a possible hot conflict or war.” To do so, he said, was “unacceptable” in public opinion, a reluctance that he said had left Europe ill prepared to defend common Western values against assertive undemocratic forces in Russia and elsewhere.

“We have to use this Ukrainian crisis also as something like an education” for the whole of Europe about “how serious the situation can be” for other countries in the region.

A former activist in the Polish Solidarity movement, the trade union that led the fight to topple Communism in the 1980s, Mr. Tusk, 57, ridiculed Russian accusations that the West had created the crisis in Ukraine by orchestrating the protests last year that toppled the pro-Moscow president, Viktor F. Yanukovych. He noted that Moscow had characterized the Solidarity movement as a “one big provocation against Russia” by the West.

“I have no doubts who is the victim and who is the aggressor in this part of the world,” he said. “Personally, I would want maybe more engagement for Ukraine.” He denounced the murder last week of a prominent opposition leader, Boris Y. Nemtsov, in the center of Moscow as a poor omen for freedom and human rights in Russia.

After serving as Poland’s prime minister for seven years, Mr. Tusk stepped down in September to take over as president of the European Council, becoming the first East European to hold one of the bloc’s most senior positions after a laborious period of political horse-trading among member states.

He arrives in Washington at a moment when both Europe and the United States want to present a common front against Mr. Putin and to deepen their cooperation in addressing terrorism. Trans-Atlantic relations are “absolutely the backbone not only of our two continents” but also “the only guarantee that our values like democracy, free markets, free movement and human rights are based on real power,” he said.

Europe’s acute security concerns, he said, made a proposed trade agreement with the United States a strategic priority. He said it was essential that American and European negotiators reach an agreement on the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership a deal strongly opposed by a host of European groups wary of globalization and American-style capitalism.

He acknowledged that the European Union’s complex decision-making made it difficult for the bloc to respond as swiftly and firmly to Russia and other security challenges as Washington would like.

But with some of the sanctions against Russia expiring soon, Mr. Obama was seeking support from his European allies to maintain pressure on Moscow, Mr. Tusk said. He added that it was currently “impossible” for Europe to reach the unanimity needed to impose additional sanctions, despite what he said were more than 1,000 violations of the cease-fire agreement reached last month between pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian government.

“Some politicians in Europe are ready to believe that there is a chance of good will” from Mr. Putin and from Russia, Mr. Tusk said, adding: “I am more skeptical.” There needs to be “a permanent effort” to guard against attempts by Russia to divide European leaders, he warned.

“Either by military or economic or other tools, I am afraid that Russia wants to rebuild control over the whole of Ukraine,” Mr. Tusk said.

He said the truce in eastern Ukraine — brokered by Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President François Hollande of France in the Belarussian capital, Minsk — had clearly not stopped the fighting but had still helped to create a “situation that is better than before.” A new surge in fighting by pro-Russian rebels, he said, would prod Europe to strengthen its sanctions.

Powerful lobbies in Britain, France and Germany have already made it difficult for the European Union to impose more sweeping sanctions in order to protect industries like finance, arms and energy. More recently, a new left-wing government led by the Syriza party in Greece added a further hurdle.

Mr. Tusk said he had already used some diplomatic arm-twisting in the case of Greece, winning what he described as a pledge by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras not to be “a troublemaker.”