Fine words from von der Leyen on EU triumphs - 100% wrong of course.
IF anyone had had the foresight to set up a heat transfer pump next to Ursula von der Leyen prior to her State of the Union address today the European fuel crisis would be over, such were the volumes of hot air emanating from the EU boss over the next hour.
07:48, Thu, Sep 15, 2022.
It's quite hard to be mean to Ursula, I mean, she's just so nice. Like a Teutonic Anne of Green Gables she is forever seeing life through rose-tinted spectacles. The world seems a grand and wondrous place to her where all you need to solve a problem is a big smile and a twinkle in your eye. Apparently, even if that problem is the bloody carnage of a war which has left more than 60,000 people dead on European soil.
It really was quite bizarre and unsettling. Her faded supermodel perma-smile barely faltered even as she detailed Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine and the deaths of countless innocent Ukrainian children.
Compare and contrast with the face of Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska - guest of honour at the European Parliament - which had raw grief and bone tiredness etched into every line. This was a woman who had been living through the hell of war in Kyiv, not a woman who had been shuffling papers in Brussels.
And therein lies the problem. Ursula often means well but the disconnect between what she says and what is actually happening in the world is so jaw-dropping you begin to wonder if she's really paying attention.
Her central theme in today's address was that of the EU as the champion and protector of democracy, and of course she kicked off with Putin's invasion... and the EU's collective response.
"From that very moment Europeans neither hid nor hesitated," she began, "they found the courage to do the right thing and from that very moment, our union as a whole has risen to the occasion.
"Our response was united, determined and immediate."
Fine words indeed. But 100 percent wrong of course.
The EU prevaricated over this war from the start. Need anyone remind Germany of their opening offer of help to a Ukraine threatened with overwhelming firepower and indeed a potential nuclear attack... a consignment of tin helmets.
Ms von der Leyen was right to point out that Putin's war was not just a war on Ukraine but a war on Europe's energy, economies, values and future.
But again the fine words were confounded by the facts.
She boasted the EU had funnelled 19bn euros into Ukraine - which is admirable until you contrast it with the 85bn euros the European Union has funnelled to Russia in the last six months alone.
85bn euros will build you a lot of tanks and warplanes. Or, if you prefer, it will prop your economy up while you grit your teeth through sanctions.
Hard to believe but the value of Germany’s imports from Russia actually jumped by more than 10 percent in July compared to a year ago. Putin pocketed almost 3bn euros courtesy of Bonn.
In the first six months of the war too the EU accounted for 54 percent of all Russian energy exports.
Tough sanctions indeed.
(And before the naysayers chip in ... Britain has not imported any oil or gas from Russia since May, nor is it ever likely to again.)
And that "unity" Ursula spoke so glowingly of? Don't believe a word.
The EU is facing an existential threat from "rogue" members in the east. Poland and Hungary refuse to fall in line with Brussels' diktats on law and order in their sovereign states and are putting hurdles in front of a myriad pieces of EU legislation.
More pressingly, at least three states Hungary, Slovakia and Austria - all highly dependent on Russian oil - are actively blocking an EU bid to price cap Russian gas because they fear the Kremlin would simply turn off the taps and plunge their economies into recession.
That, Ursula, is the real state of the Union.
Ms von der Leyen finished with a flourish: "Oh, it's delightful to have ambitions. I'm so glad I have such a lot. And there never seems to be any end to them - that's the best of it. Just as soon as you attain to one ambition you see another one glittering higher up still. It does make life so interesting.” Oh hang on, that was Anne of Green Gables... but you get the point.
Express.
