欧盟承认 繁荣建立在中国和俄罗斯的基础上 能源、劳力、大市场

欧盟承认“我们的繁荣建立在中国和俄罗斯的基础上”：廉价能源、低薪劳动力、大市场

https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2022/10/18/eu-prosperity-china-russia-energy-market/

欧盟外交政策负责人 Josep Borrell 承认，西方的新自由主义经济模式“基于来自俄罗斯的廉价能源”、“进入中国大市场”和低薪中国工人。欧洲现在已经失去了这一点，因此陷入了危机。

作者：Ben Norton 2022-10-18

欧盟财富中国俄罗斯欧盟最高外交政策官员 Josep Borrell 承认，1991 年第一次冷战结束后，西方的经济繁荣建立在新自由主义资本主义经济模式之上，而这种模式只有在从中国和俄罗斯榨取财富的情况下才有可能实现。

“我们的繁荣建立在中国和俄罗斯——能源和市场的基础上，”Borrell 说。

中国为美国和欧盟提供了巨大的市场、低薪劳动力和廉价消费品。苏联解体后，俄罗斯大规模私有化并逐步融入西方，帮助欧洲获得大量廉价能源。

但中国工人生活水平的大幅提高，以及乌克兰的代理人战争和欧盟相应抵制俄罗斯天然气和石油的承诺，大大提高了欧洲的生活和经商成本，使其产品在全球市场上失去竞争力。

这使跨大西洋资本主义体系陷入了深刻的危机，促使新自由主义西方对北京和莫斯科发动新冷战，希望重新控制中国的市场和劳动力以及俄罗斯的自然资源。

欧盟外交政策负责人在 10 月 10 日于布鲁塞尔举行的 2022 年大使会议上发表演讲时承认了这些事实。

博雷尔的言论让人想起法国总统埃马纽埃尔·马克龙 8 月份的言论，他警告新自由主义“富足时代”即将结束。

“我们的繁荣建立在中国和俄罗斯的基础上——能源和市场”

博雷尔解释说，“我们的繁荣建立在来自俄罗斯的廉价能源的基础上。俄罗斯天然气——廉价且据称负担得起、安全且稳定。”

“还有进入中国大市场的渠道，包括出口和进口、技术转让、投资和廉价商品，”他补充道。

欧盟外交政策负责人表示，“我认为，中国工人的低工资在控制通胀方面做得比所有央行加起来还要好得多。”

博雷尔总结道，“所以，我们的繁荣建立在中国和俄罗斯的基础上——能源和市场。”

这种繁荣现在正在消逝。

由于对莫斯科在乌克兰的代理人战争中实施毁灭性制裁，并承诺抵制俄罗斯能源，欧洲失去了其最大的天然气和石油供应国。

欧盟现在正在寻找新的能源来源，并从美国进口价格高得多的液化天然气 (LNG)，这导致欧洲公民和企业的电费飙升。

现在，中国和俄罗斯已成为欧盟的地缘政治对手，博雷利认为欧洲“将需要对我们的经济进行强有力的重组”。

“调整将是艰难的，这将产生政治问题，”他说。

“我认为，我们欧洲人正面临着这样一种境况，即我们承受着持续多年的过程的后果，在这一过程中，我们将繁荣的源泉与安全的源泉脱钩，”他承认。

欧盟外交政策负责人承认美国在安全方面不可靠

欧盟在 1990 年代采用的新自由主义经济模式依赖俄罗斯的廉价能源和中国的消费品、劳动力和市场。

另一方面，欧洲的安全政策以美国和北约为基础。

但博雷尔承认，美国不是一个可靠的安全伙伴。

他说，目前，美国和欧盟比以往任何时候都更加紧密。然而，这种联盟并非牢不可破，在不久的将来可能会发生变化。

博雷尔解释说：

另一方面，我们将安全委托给美国。虽然与拜登政府的合作非常出色，跨大西洋关系从未像今天这样好——[包括]我们与美国和我的朋友托尼 [安东尼] 布林肯 [美国国务卿] 的合作：我们的关系非常好，合作很多；谁知道两年后，甚至 11 月会发生什么？

如果白宫不是拜登，而是特朗普或像他这样的人，会发生什么？美国对乌克兰战争的回答是什么？在不同情况下，我们的回答是什么？这些都是我们必须问自己的问题。

对我来说，答案很明确：我们需要自己承担更多的责任。我们必须在确保安全方面承担更大的责任。

你们——团结起来

国家——照顾我们的安全。你们——中国和俄罗斯——为我们的繁荣提供了基础。这个世界已经不复存在了。

博雷尔还承认，欧盟的安全问题不仅仅是外部的。在内部，欧洲正面临“极右翼”的威胁。

“这是一个根本性的转变，极右翼在我们的民主国家中正在民主地发展，”他说。博雷尔没有试图将此归咎于外国妖魔，而是承认这种极右翼的转变“不是任何强国强加的”。

“极右翼正在加强对欧洲政治的掌控，”他补充道。欧盟的“内部凝聚力受到威胁。”

欧盟越来越依赖美国能源
欧盟外交政策负责人同样承认，虽然欧洲不再依赖俄罗斯能源，但它越来越依赖美国的液化天然气出口。

博雷尔警告说，这本身就带来了新的安全问题：

前几天，在布拉格 [欧洲] 理事会上，法国总统马克龙明确表示：我们不能用一种依赖关系来替代另一种依赖关系。

我们很高兴从美国进口了大量液化天然气 (LNG)——顺便说一句，价格很高——并用美国和挪威的天然气或阿塞拜疆的天然气替代俄罗斯天然气——好吧，来自阿塞拜疆的天然气数量很少。

但是，如果美国换了新总统，明天决定不再对欧洲人那么友好，会发生什么？为什么不呢？你可以想象，我们对来自美国的液化天然气的严重依赖也可能陷入危机。

或者，明天我们没有钴，我们没有来自刚果民主共和国、南美、阿富汗的稀有材料——它们对我们来说和石油和天然气一样重要。

乌克兰代理人战争、中美竞争、粮食和能源危机、经济衰退导致世界陷入混乱

博雷尔警告称，世界陷入混乱，并列举了几个主要原因：北约与俄罗斯在乌克兰的代理人战争、“中美深度竞争”、粮食和能源危机以及迫在眉睫的经济衰退。

博雷尔表示，破坏欧洲稳定的不仅仅是乌克兰的代理人战争，还有“中美深度竞争”。

他承认，美国政府对将局势推向战争边缘负有责任。

博雷尔表示：“台湾紧张局势的升级是由一位名人的个人旅行引发的，他将台湾海峡推向了——我不会说是战争，但——许多战争游戏。”

他指的是众议院民主党议长、美国政府第三高级官员南希·佩洛西的旅行。

博雷尔说，这些冲突加上不断上升的通货膨胀和“粮食和能源危机”，已经形成了一场“完美风暴”。这将不可避免地导致经济衰退：

这是一场完美风暴。首先，物价上涨。其次，美国中央银行的反应是提高利率。每个人都必须跟进，否则他们的货币就会贬值。每个人都在努力提高利率。这将导致世界经济衰退。

世界跟随美联储（美国联邦储备委员会），世界实施相同的货币政策——因为没有其他办法，否则资本就会外流——这让我想起了欧元出现之前欧洲发生的事情，当时每个人都必须遵循德国制定的货币政策。

因为如果你不做同样的事情，资本就会外流，你就必须这么做，即使出于内部原因，这不是正确的政策。欧元出现之前我们之间发生的事情，今天正在世界舞台上上演。

EU confesses' our prosperity was based on China & Russia' : cheap energy, low-paid labor, big market

https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2022/10/18/eu-prosperity-china-russia-energy-market/

EU foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell confessed the West's neoliberal economic model was “based on cheap energy coming from Russia,” “access to the big China market,” and low-paid Chinese workers. Europe has now lost that, and is thus in crisis.

 By Ben Norton 2022-10-18

 

The West's economic prosperity following the end of the first cold war in 1991 was built on a neoliberal capitalist economic model that was only made possible due to the extraction of wealth from China and Russia, the European Union's top foreign-policy official, Josep Borrell, has confessed.

“Our prosperity was based on China and Russia – energy and market,” Borrell said.

China provided the US and EU with a massive market, low-paid labor, and cheap consumer goods. And after the Soviet Union was overthrown, mass privatizations in Russia and steps at integrating it into the West helped Europe secure huge amounts of inexpensive energy.

But the significant rise in workers’ living standards in China, as well as the proxy war in Ukraine and the EU’s corresponding pledge to boycott Russian gas and oil, have greatly increased the cost of living and doing business in Europe, making its products uncompetitive in global markets.

This has plunged the trans-Atlantic capitalist system into a deep crisis, motivating the neoliberal West to wage a new cold war on Beijing and Moscow in hopes of reasserting control over China’s market and labor and Russia’s natural resources.

The EU’s foreign-policy chief acknowledged these facts in a speech at the 2022 Ambassadors Conference in Brussels on October 10.

Borrell’s remarks were reminiscent of comments made in August by French President Emmanuel Macron, warning of the end of a neoliberal “era of abundance.”

‘Our prosperity was based on China and Russia – energy and market’

Borrell explained, “Our prosperity has been based on cheap energy coming from Russia. Russian gas – cheap and supposedly affordable, secure, and stable.”

“And the access to the big China market, for exports and imports, for technological transfers, for investments, for having cheap goods,” he added.

The EU foreign-policy chief observed, “I think that the Chinese workers with their low salaries have done much better and much more to contain inflation than all the central banks together.”

Borrell then summarized, “So, our prosperity was based on China and Russia – energy and market.”

That prosperity is now slipping away.

By imposing devastating sanctions on Moscow over the proxy war in Ukraine, and by pledging to boycott Russian energy, Europe has lost its larger supplier of gas and oil.

The EU is now looking for new sources of energy, and is importing much more expensive liquified natural gas (LNG) from the United States, which has caused electricity bills to skyrocket for European citizens and businesses.

Now that China and Russia have become the EU’s geopolitical adversaries, Borrell argued that Europe “will require a strong restructuring of our economy.”

“The adjustment will be tough, and this will create political problems,” he said.

“I think that we Europeans are facing a situation in which we suffer the consequences of a process that has been lasting for years in which we have decoupled the sources of our prosperity from the sources of our security,” he conceded.

EU foreign-policy chief acknowledges the US is not reliable for security

The EU’s neoliberal economic model adopted in the 1990s relied on cheap energy from Russia and China’s consumer goods, labor, and market.

On the other hand, Europe’s security policy was based on the United States and NATO.

But the US is not a reliable security partner, Borrell acknowledged.

At the current moment, the US and EU are closer than ever, he said. However, that alliance is not ironclad, and it could shift in the near future.

Borrell explained:

On the other hand, we delegated our security to the United States. While the cooperation with the Biden Administration is excellent, and the transatlantic relationship has never been as good as it is today – [including] our cooperation with the United States and my friend Tony [Antony] Blinken [US Secretary of State]: we are in a fantastic relationship and cooperating a lot; who knows what will happen two years from now, or even in November?

What would have happened if, instead of [Joe] Biden, it would have been [Donald] Trump or someone like him in the White House? What would have been the answer of the United States to the war in Ukraine? What would have been our answer in a different situation? These are some questions that we have to ask ourselves.

And the answer for me is clear: we need to shoulder more responsibilities ourselves. We have to take a bigger part of our responsibility in securing security.

You – the United States – take care of our security. You – China and Russia – provided the basis of our prosperity. This is a world that is no longer there.

Borrell also conceded that the EU’s security problems are not just external. Internally, Europe is facing a threat from the “radical right.”

“There is a radical shift, and the radical right is increasing in our democracies, democratically,” he said. Instead of trying to blame this on a foreign bogeyman, Borrell admitted that this far-right shift “is not an imposition from any power.”

“The radical right is increasing their grasp in European politics,” he added. The EU’s “internal cohesion is under threat.”

EU is becoming dependent on US energy

The EU foreign-policy chief likewise acknowledged that, while Europe is no longer dependent on Russian energy, it is becoming dependent on US liquified natural gas exports.

This poses its own, new security problem, Borrell warned:

The other day, at the Prague [European] Council, President [of France, Emmanuel] Macron said that very clearly: we cannot substitute one dependency by another.

We are happy that we are importing a lot of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from the United States – at a high price, by the way – and substituting Russian gas by American and Norwegian gas, or Azerbaijani gas – well, from Azerbaijan it’s a small quantity.

But what would happen tomorrow if the United States, with a new president, decided not to be so friendly with the Europeans? Why not? You can imagine the situation in which our critical dependency from LNG coming from the United States could also be in crisis.

Or that, tomorrow we do not have the cobalt, we do not have the rare materials that [come from] the DRC, South America, Afghanistan – they are [as] critical for us as oil and gas.

World is in chaos due to Ukraine proxy war, US-China competition, food and energy crises, economic recession

Borrell warned that the world is in chaos, and he named several main causes: the NATO proxy war with Russia in Ukraine, the “deep US-China competition,” food and energy crises, and an impending economic recession.

It is not just the proxy war in Ukraine that has destabilized Europe, Borrell said, but also the “deep US-China competition.”

He acknowledged that the US government bears responsibility for pushing up to the brink of war.

“The escalation of tension in Taiwan,” Borrell said, “was triggered by an individual travel of a personality that brought the Taiwan Strait at the edge of – I would not say a war, but – a lot of war games.”

He was referencing the trip taken by Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, the third-most senior official in the US government.

These conflicts, compounded by rising inflation and “food and energy crises,” has created a “perfect storm,” Borrell said. This will inevitably lead to an economic recession:

This is a perfect storm. First, the prices increasing. Second, the reaction of the central banks raising interest rates in the United States. Everybody has to follow, because otherwise their currency will be devaluated. Everybody is running to raise interest rates. This will bring us to a world recession.

The world following the Fed [the US Federal Reserve], the world implementing the same monetary policy – because there is no other way, otherwise the capital will flow – reminds me of what was happening in Europe before the euro when everybody had to follow the monetary policy dictated by Germany.

Because if you did not do the same thing, the capital was flowing, and you had to do it even if it was not the right policy for your internal reasons. What was happening among us before the euro is happening today on the world stage.