Costa moves to realign the EU: “There is no alternative to multilateralism; we must strengthen it”

Brussels – The summit of EU heads of state and government, disrupted by the Middle East crisis triggered by the US and Israeli attack on Iran, will also mark UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s final appearance at the table with European leaders. At a time when multilateralism is under attack on several fronts, the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, sought to make the 12-star club’s position clear: “The multilateral system is a basic instrument to protect the international rules-based order. And it is clear that there is no alternative,” he declared on his arrival in Brussels.

Costa’s message is unequivocal, and, as the EU’s representative abroad, he is bringing into line the various positions expressed so far by EU leaders on the rule-based world order and international law. In particular, he strongly rebukes Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, who, in her speech to the Conference of EU Ambassadors on Monday, 9 March, had stated: “Europe can no longer be a custodian for the old-world order, for a world that has gone and will not return.”

According to Costa, “the alternative is the war in Ukraine, the alternative is unfair competition on trade, it is the threat on the sovereignty of Greenland, it is the threat to sovereignty in other parts of the world.” In a world no longer underpinned by the guarantees of multilateralism, it is the EU that stands to lose out, at the mercy of the renewed aggression of the major powers: “If you want to preserve peace, we need to uphold the international law and uphold the multilateral system,” the former Portuguese prime minister added.

While von der Leyen has called for the overthrow of the regime in Iran, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, also appears to be well aware of the risks of backing a conflict where “we do not know what the objectives are” and for which “there is no basis in international law for the use of force.” To uphold the rules‑based international order, and ultimately to defend the United Nations itself from those who openly discredit it, led by Trump and Netanyahu, one must, however, have the courage to call things by their name. The war in Iran is a war “which we consider illegal,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said. “Europe is founded on the principles of multilateralism and, therefore, on shared, not unilateral, decisions; on international law; on peace; and on respect for peaceful coexistence between nations and societies. And it is precisely this that is being called into question once again, with the war in Iran,” the socialist leader insisted.