EU barely able to defend continent: Dutch FM

According to Minister Wopke Hoekstra of Foreign Affairs, Europe is "barely able to defend the continent" now that a Russian invasion of Ukraine seems imminent. The Minister made this statement "almost with shame" in the talk show Beau. According to him, the European Union still has a lot of work to do "in a geopolitical sense."

Hoekstra also finds continued dependence on Russian gas "hard to sell." According to him, Europe has done too little about this in the past ten years. "You have to be honest about that. We wasted too much time on that."

Should Russia invade Ukraine and be sanctioned, it is conceivable that the country will turn off the gas tap for Europe. The EU must be prepared for this. When it comes to that, Hoekstra hopes for help from the United States, for example. He added that this only becomes relevant after several "if-then scenarios."

On Monday, Hoekstra said he had good consultations with colleagues in Brussels about how the EU should respond if Russia invades Ukraine. There was talk of an "extremely robust" sanctions package in the event of an invasion. Hoekstra hopes that the conflict can be resolved diplomatically. "But you have to be clear: if the aggression continues, it will have serious consequences."