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How will Henry Kissinger be remembered in Europe?
How will Henry Kissinger be remembered in Europe? | Europe In: 60

How will Henry Kissinger be remembered in Europe?

Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, shares his perspective on European politics from Stockholm.

How will Henry Kissinger be remembered in Europe?

There's always an amount of controversy around the person who's been around in politics in powerful positions for such a long time as he was. But primarily, I think he would be remembered as a great European. He was an American, no doubt. But he came out of the tragedy of Europe and he was deep concerned with all of the lessons that could be learned from the failure to preserve peace in Europe time after time. His first academic and his first book was about the Congress of Vienna. And then book after book after book, that was really around the same theme, how to preserve peace also in the age of nuclear weapons. And that, of course, from the European point of view, is not an insubstantial issue.

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UN Security Council resolution calls for Gaza humanitarian pauses
Israel's Gaza invasion: How is the EU reacting to ceasefire calls? | Europe In: 60 | GZERO Media

UN Security Council resolution calls for Gaza humanitarian pauses

Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, shares his perspective on European politics from Stockholm.

How is Europe reacting to the different calls for ceasefire in the Gaza war?

The important thing, I think, was that the UN Security Council the other day managed to get a resolution adopted. It was proposed by Malta, and it calls for a multitude of ceasefires or pauses. Not necessarily a permanent ceasefire, but clearly extended periods in which humanitarian supplies can reach Gaza, and perhaps also provide the political necessary space for release, at least of some of the hostages. We'll see if first time the Security Council has managed to agree on anything in this particular conflict, if that has any effect whatsoever.

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Russia leaves nuclear test ban treaty in show of public posturing
Russia leaves nuclear test ban treaty in show of public posturing | Europe In :60 | GZERO Media

Russia leaves nuclear test ban treaty in show of public posturing

Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, shares his perspective on European politics from Stockholm.

What can be done by Europe or others to help the 1.7 million Afghan refugees that are now being expelled from Pakistan back into Afghanistan?

Well, sorry to say the answer is not very much can be done. We are delivering humanitarian aid to some extent, and the UN is there to Afghanistan, but to take care of or to help substantially 1.7 million people that are expelled from Pakistan is going to be very difficult. Relationship with the Taliban regime is virtually non-existent, so it's one of these tragedies that are happening at the same time as we have the Gaza War and the Ukraine War.

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Putin tries to advance in Ukraine while world focuses on Gaza
Putin tries to advance in Ukraine while world focuses on Gaza | Europe In :60 | GZERO Media

Putin tries to advance in Ukraine while world focuses on Gaza

Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, shares his perspective on European politics from Stockholm.

What's been the reaction so far of the European Union to the war in Gaza?

Well, the vote in the UN General Assembly the other day, the Jordanian-sponsored one on protection of civilians and legal unitarian obligations, you saw the European Union countries all over the place. You had eight of them voting in favor of the resolution, four voting against, and the rest simply abstaining. So it was not the most glorious moment. This is a highly divisive issue, and we'll see where it goes from here.

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Can the EU get aid to Gaza?
Can the EU get aid to Gaza? | Europe In :60 | GZERO Media

Can the EU get aid to Gaza?

Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, shares his perspective on European politics - this week from Milan.

Can Europe help with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza?

Well, in theory, absolutely. The European Commission has tripled the amount of money available for humanitarian help to Gaza. But the problem is, of course, getting it in. For reasons that is beyond me, the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza is closed. There's a lot of floods of humanitarian help outside that has been flowing into Egypt, waiting to cross, but they are not opening up the border. I would hope that there will be soon an agreement to open up that border and allow the help to get into Gaza. There’re huge numbers, millions of people that are really suffering and need that particular help. Now, that is also politically important, obviously.

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Israel-Hamas war: How is Europe responding?
Israel-Hamas war: How is Europe responding? | Europe In :60 | GZERO Media

Israel-Hamas war: How is Europe responding?

Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, shares his perspective on European politics from Stockholm.

What’s the European reaction to the Hamas terror attack against Israel?

Well, the first reaction is obviously, the European foreign ministers were gathering, they had an extraordinary meeting by Zoom, as well, to express support for Israel, solidarity, understanding that Israel does have, no question about that, the right to defend itself. But also saying that there is also international humanitarian law and international law otherwise, and concern that the fighting that we will see, that it's going to have immense humanitarian and human consequences, and the fears that this, in its turn, will have different political consequences in the region and perhaps wider. This is on the doorsteps of Europe - that might be difficult to handle. Then, another bit of questioning, was it right to have the Israel-Palestine issue on the back burner both in the US and Europe during the last few years? Probably not. Could this have been prevented? We'll never know if that could have been the case. But clearly, this is an issue that has to be on the agenda one way or the other after the more acute face of the rather horrible war that we now see after the terror attack.

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Kosovo-Serbia tensions worsen, hurting EU membership hopes
Kosovo-Serbia escalation | Europe In :60 | GZERO Media

Kosovo-Serbia tensions worsen, hurting EU membership hopes

Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, shares his perspective on European politics - this week from Stockholm.

Are Serbia and Kosovo heading towards a confrontation?

It looks very bad. What happened in northern Kosovo the other day was distinctly bad. A collection of fairly well-armed and well-organized Serb thugs did an operation that was eventually beaten back by Kosovo police. It follows a cycle of escalation that was initiated on the Kosovo side, has to be said, last year, and has not been brought under control by rather intense diplomacy, both by the Europeans and by the Americans. At the moment, things look very bleak. This, of course, is damaging the EU integration prospects for both Serbia and Kosovo. Let's see what happens.

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Ukraine-EU farm export dispute: Are there any consequences?
Ukraine-EU farm export dispute: Are there any consequences? | Europe In: 60 | GZERO Media

Ukraine-EU farm export dispute: Are there any consequences?

Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, shares his perspective on European politics - this week from the airport in Madrid.

What are the consequence of the dispute now between Ukraine and the European Union on farm exports?

It is not really a dispute with the European Union because the commission has said that farm exports are okay. But then suddenly Poland has an election, and Slovakia which has election and Hungary, which has own policy, said, “No, no, we don't allow these particular grain exports from Ukraine because our farmers don't like it.” That runs totally contrary to the common trade policy that the European Union is running, runs totally contrary to the solidarity with Ukraine and support to Ukraine that we have all agreed on. So yeah, we'll see what happens. It’s a serious question.

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