I will put this straight – when the EU got involved in the geopolitical confrontation with Russia, it didn’t know how to react.

The entire EU model is scheduled to extinguish political passions, focusing on economy, bureaucracy and the Russian “anti-gay law”. One of Brussels’ most famous jokes today: “we shot at each other earlier, today we argue on fishing quotas”.

When we talk about Ukraine, the issue with the strategic thinking leads us to nowhere. Poland and the Baltic countries have always pushed Ukraine to EU membership, while France has been skeptical. The technocratic approach appears to be the best one with all this disagreement. Technocracy Incorporated is a dominating group that became a popular social movement in the 1930s, still being active today. The movement calls itself an educational and surveying organization that upholds the technological design of North America.

However, I am not quite sure that today’s crisis will push us to the creation of a strategic approach, regarding Ukraine. The problem is that the EU is divided on the sanctions that need to be implemented. Poland and the Baltic states are the hardliners, England is at the conversational level and is not quite aware of the City’s losses it is to reconcile with. Germany is split. Merkel wants tough measures, while some social democrats vote for a rapprochement with Russia. Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia and Greece are viewed as pro-Russian states, especially now, when we might be facing an energy catastrophe.

Vladimir Putin has written a letter, grounded on this, to 18 European countries: Germany, Italy, France, Greece, Austria, Moldova, Romania, Macedonia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Serbia, Turkey, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Russia supplies gas to all these. They are all threatened that gas supplies will cease due to the situation in Ukraine. In the current situation with no negotiations, but sanctions only Russia is about to collapse, just like Ukraine, the letter prompts.

The suspension of Russia’s voting rights within the PACE is anything, but a constructive approach. The MEPs simply refused to listen to Russia’s reasons, they punished it on Crimea, blaming it also for the collapse of Ukraine’s economy.

The Russian president presents in his letter detailed economic evaluations, saying that after the 2009 signing of the gas treaty with Kiev “Moscow has never violated a single volume determined of the supplies for Ukraine, the transit to Europe, or price guarantees. Besides that Russia has invested in the Ukrainian economy some USD 35.4 bln. due to any discounts, loans and its preferences.” To say nothing on the term loan of USD 3 bln. in the end of 2013.

We might be shocked and blame Moscow and Putin for trying to put down on their knees not only Ukraine, but also the whole of Europe. However, EU leaders do not have any other constructive exit, but to leave the rhetoric part and to negotiate. Otherwise we might be facing a new ice age in Europe’s economy and energy sphere, as Bulgaria is a small part of this whole stuff.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev