July 18, 2023
The European Union came through the door with €45bn ($51m USD) worth of investments for the Latin American and Caribbean region. This looks good on the face of it, because they say they want to use this as a “counterbalance” to Chinese ambitions in the region.
But, stop for a second: Why does the EU care what happens in America’s backyard? The US has LAC covered and always has. Why doesn’t the EU use that counterbalance lyric with the Ukraine or Eastern Europe? Where China is and the region is closer to them?
That right there was a crass red flag. Not only does it not compute in terms of the diplomatic overlay, the fact of the matter it lends to the idea that it masks ulterior motives by the EU.
Now that we have set this background, we also have at the same time, the EU threatening Caribbean countries with their blacklisting. We know they move the goal posts on the criteria for the blacklisting. We also know that they love to pull back aid and support and other things when they want to punish countries that go awry of their rules.
So, we have the Financial Action Task Force, not a direct arm of the EU, but one of the institutions in the region it uses to bully countries into their will.
So, when we think about how the EU has been over the history of time, how can we just take the money and not be wary of why they want to give us the money? Not that we should not take the money, oh yes we should. But the money should be nothing more than the extra to what we do for ourselves. Because the minute the EU sees that you are dependent on them, then they will bully your country until you lose all sovereignty.
Just be mindful.