In response to a question about her views on opening up to negotiations with Russia, she actually seems to argue publicly the reverse logic; why should Russia want to talk with us, and not even once attempting to make a point about any form a leverage the EU has in this regard. This coming from the “creme de la creme” of EU diplomacy (the Foreign Affairs “expert”) and its no wonder – within a list of many other factors – that the EU is quickly losing its relevance in this key area of influence. As for viability of negotiations the question comes down to, in card game talk; how strong is your hand when you have deep disagreements within the Union itself in a multitude of issues including Ukraine, and lack of firm, pragmatic and consistent foreign policy, not to mention economic and political issues due in the main to poor leadership/vision, in my opinion? Again in my opinion the EU as mentioned in last post is seeking – as usual – easy wins for complex issues (like the sanctions ticketing machine I mentioned before) and throwing money away as if they were poker chips and that never works in the best of times. The real question you should ask is this; in the current EU multi-layered predicament driven by internal fragmentation, intensifying geopolitical pressures, and critical resource/financial vulnerabilities compounded by poor leadership who benefits more with this status quo, the EU or Russia? I would love for the EU to prevail, but hoping for the best under the current leadership is a bridge much too far for me imagine, and good luck with it (it sometimes seems to me that the present EU leadership is not actually fighting for the EU but rather fighting against it).
Just a thought….