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Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau has commented in a lengthy opinion piece for the Polish Rzeczpospolita journal, that despite Brussels claiming to be standing up to "the imperialist threat posed by Russia", the EU itself is not free of “imperialistic tendencies," - naming Germany as one of the driving forces behind these aspirations.  

Rau described one of the indicators of imperialist behavior being the EU frequently witnessing its larger members attempt to “dominate one’s partners, impose one’s arguments on them, disregard their rights, interests, and needs, or pay no attention to their protests,”.  

He further urged the EU to reform decision-making processes that would fortify the role of smaller bloc members, arguing that the bloc hardly suffers from a lack of “the most powerful member states’ aspirations to hold sway", adding: “Small and medium-sized states, who are disproportionately less capable of building effective coalitions” are “doomed to lose” the vote even when their own essential interests or needs are affected.

Rau claimed that their fate is then “decided by others, which means that their freedom is fundamentally violated”, believing the increased role of the majority vote in the EU decision-making process advocated by Berlin poses a particular threat to freedom and equality within the bloc. 

The end of Germany’s competitive advantage

Larger EU nations like Germany possess “an unquestionable economic advantage and demographic potential” that also translates into “a voting power in the EU’s decision-making process, which small and medium-sized states are unable to counterbalance even by acting together,” according to Rau. The minister also claimed that Berlin uses this advantage to pursue its national interests at the expense of the “dominated” states.

Germany in particular was blamed by the minister for striking the Nord Stream gas pipeline deal with Russia to ensure a “competitive advantage in the common market” and push the entire bloc into dependence on Russian energy, which has led to the current energy crisis that the EU is now trying to solve by calling on all member states to reduce their gas consumption by 15% between August 1 and March 31, 2023, which amount to a whopping 45 billion cubic meters of gas.

Poland has previously bought gas from Russia, but this past spring it refused to pay for the deliveries in Russian rubles under a new arrangement suggested by Moscow in light of EU restrictions. According to Bloomberg, rather than agreeing to the scheme, Warsaw started buying Russian gas from other EU member states. 

“Gaining a dominant market position came at the expense of not only undermining the level playing field but also of European economies becoming dependent on Russian supplies of energy sources and the security interests of some EU member states and Ukraine,” claimed Rau.  

“The end of Germany’s competitive advantage in the common market has resulted in a proposal – insisted on by Germany – that all member states voluntarily cut their gas consumption by 15%, including those countries that have persistently warned their European partners against becoming dependent on Russia,” he added, urging that Berlin cut down both its economic and political ambitions. “If the German offer is to defend the EU from imperialism, which Germany feels responsible to do, the Union does not need German leadership but German self-limitation,” he said.