Speakers at the first “Conference of European Continentalism” in the German Bundestag took a hard look at the current EU and develop the foundations for a sovereign Europe. The host Petr Bystron succeeded in bringing a squad of internationally renowned speakers to Berlin. The emancipation of Europe from transatlantic influences in the areas of finance, defence, economy, but also culture was the focus of the contributions. As informational partner, the MIWI Institute reports.
In his speech, political scientist and foreign policy spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group Petr Bystron criticized the policies of the European Union, quoting the spiritual father of “European continentalism,” Algis Klimaitis, who considers the European Union to be an “ineffective political project” that contributes “to the weakening of European nations and the sovereignty of individual countries.”
“Klimaitis’ criticism is directed against the fact that the United States also controls the European Union from the outside and essentially uses it as an instrument to expand its own power in Europe,” Bystron said.
In his contribution, Bystron emphasized the need to develop a new political identity for Europe that is clearly distinguished from both “transatlantic on the one hand and Alexander Dugin’s Eurasianism on the other.” The actions of European politicians, he said, must stand on the foundations of their own European history, culture and identity, on the foundations of Greek philosophy, Roman law, Christianity. In addition to the political-scientific remarks, the foreign policy expert also addressed current events. He said that the war in Ukraine has nothing to do with the defence of democracy, but rather with the expansion of American influence on the European continent.
“Everyone who formulated German interests in this conflict was suddenly a friend of Russia. Anyone who pushed American interests at our expense, at European, German expense, was suddenly hyped up as the great saviour of Ukraine. Both are equally wrong, Bystron said.
The Ukraine conflict was also the focus of the presentation by Swiss military expert Ralph Bosshard, who spent several months on the ground as an observer for the OSCE. In his speech, Bosshart criticized NATO’s eastward expansion as a mistake. He stressed that one of the main problems was the lack of proposals from NATO to counter Russian mistrust. NATO’s actions were increasingly undermining trust. According to the analyst, these enlargement failures could be a major reason for the current situation.
Bosshard also stressed that NATO’s enlargement was not accompanied by arms control and confidence building, and that most of the West’s actions could be met with dissatisfaction in Russia. This would deepen the sense of humiliation of Russia by the West from the 1990s, the military expert said. This, he said, would lead Russia and China to form a strategic partnership against the West.
Bosshard concluded that the West should prepare for tougher economic competition with Russia and its allies. He warned that regime changes would be forced in countries that disagree with the West’s policies.
“From an economic point of view, we must assume that Russia and its allies will soon set prices for resources, labour and know-how that are not in our favour. The winds of economic competition will become sharper.
Of course, the Western Europeans will now do everything they can to hold their ranks. EU and NATO headquarters in Brussels will punish dissent with economic measures. There could be regime change operations,” Bosshard said.
Christian Zeitz, a researcher at the Institute for Applied Political Economy, discussed important aspects of current European politics and migration in his presentation.
He emphasized that the EU is not a force for peace and has fuelled the war in Ukraine more than other organizations by providing weapons and funding. He mentioned requests from EU member states such as Slovakia to provide ammunition and airfields for NATO.
“I hope that the new Prime Minister Robert Fico will put an end to this terrible activity, because it goes against the peace order,” said Dr. Christian Zeitz.
He hoped that reason and cultural values could prevail and called for an end to military activities that contradict peace.
Dr. Dušan Dostanić, a researcher at the Institute for Political Studies in Belgrade, stressed the importance of Europe’s sovereignty in foreign and security policy in order to break away from U.S. dominance and protect its own interests.
“First and foremost, Europeans need a sense of their own identity. This also means that Europeans need a socio-economic model based on this identity,” Dostanić said.
In conclusion, Dostanić stressed that in order to maintain its economic sovereignty, Europe needs political dominance over the economy.
“If Europe wants to preserve its economic sovereignty, that means first and foremost political dominance over the economy. It also means recognizing that there are areas where market logic has no place. Or that there are areas that have their own logic beyond the free market and competition,” Dostanić said.
Harley Schlanger, vice president of the Schiller Institute in the U.S., called for the dissolution of NATO, calling it the first step toward a new era of multilateral agreements, cooperation and coordination with the global South. In his statement, Schlanger stressed the importance of a “new multilateralism that must be embraced by sovereign European states to break away from EU dominance.”
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