"Europeans are at risk of becoming more and more an object and not a player in international affairs, reacting to other people's decisions, instead of driving and shaping events ourselves", Borrell warned, adding that the EU "should avoid our usual tendency to have an abstract, and frankly divisive, debate on whether we should either strengthen Europe's own security capacities or do so in NATO. We clearly need to do both".
"...as repeatedly stated over the last years and demonstrated by recent developments, including the Afghanistan withdrawal and AUKUS, our American friends expect us Europeans to carry a greater share of responsibility - for our own and the world's security", Borrell said, adding that he plans to cover this issue with Blinken.