NOURNEWS- The erosion of the war in Ukraine and the confusion of member states of EU in the face of this process have led to the emergence of a new and open conflicts among the member states.
Some of these conflicts were hidden and weren’t so obvious, but now they have become open, and some of the said conflicts refer to the conflicting interests of European countries regarding the war in Ukraine and its strategic, economic, and political implications.
Recently, the government of Austria announced that it has summoned the representative of the European Commission in this country to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their Criticism against Austria's slow pace in reducing its dependence on Russian gas.
German and Austrian media have also entered this conflict willingly or unwillingly. In this regard, the anti-Austrian statements of one of the German officials of the EU named “Martin Sellmeier” at a ceremony in Vienna have become the subject of these media.
Sellmeier, who was the head of the European Commission's office until 2018, said at the said ceremony: “Oh my god, 55% of Austria's gas is still supplied from Russia. Why does no one object to Austria?! This is the blood money that is given to Moscow from Vienna every day!”
In the meantime; Although the authorities of EU have tried to prevent the public opinion from focusing on the nature and depth of these conflicts by censoring and covering up the current disputes over the war in Ukraine or even merely simplifying and making the deep-rooted conflicts look normal, but EU authorities are acting very ineptly in this regard.
Some European countries, such as Hungary, Bulgaria and Austria, emphasize that NATO's unilateral actions and the imposition of sanctions and restrictions against Russia, without any consideration of the interests of member states of NATO and the EU, or the lack of implementation platforms, have become intolerable.
According to the latest data of the Austrian government, in June, this country obtained 60% of its natural gas from its imports from Russia, which has decreased by 20% compared to the years before the Ukraine war, but this data is still much higher than the minimum volume of imports in September last year.
Last September, Austria was able to reduce the share of gas imports from Russia by 21 percent, and after decades of heavy dependence on cheap Russian gas, Austria's coalition government of conservatives and the left-leaning Greens says it will do its best to replace Russia as a major supplier of its gas and energy, but Austria is facing various obstacles, including being landlocked.
One of the topics that has led to Austrians' intense anger towards the Germany’s government is the silence of the Green, Social Democratic and even Christian Democratic parties of Germany regarding the claims made against Vienna, and certainly even if the war in Ukraine ends, these differences will affect and cast a dark shadow on future relations of Vienna-Berlin.
Some of the conflicts formed between the members of the EU, including the war in Ukraine, will not be focused on the war period and will have an impact on the arrangement of new geostrategic puzzles in the West, a matter that has greatly worried the heads of the NATO and the EU.
BY: Pooya Mirzaei
NOURNEWS