Is Europe a garden and most of the world a jungle? | In Focus podcast

Published: Oct. 17, 2022, 9:42 a.m.

Josep Borell, the European Union\u2019s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has triggered a controversy by saying that Europe was a garden and \u201cmost of the rest of the world\u201d was a jungle. He warned in a speech at the European Diplomatic Academy on the 13th of October, that the \u201cjungle could invade the garden\u201d.\nHe continued, \u201cThe gardeners should take care of it, but they will not protect the garden by building walls. A nice small garden surrounded by high walls in order to prevent the jungle from coming in is not going to be a solution. Because the jungle has a strong growth capacity, and the wall will never be high enough in order to protect the garden. The gardeners have to go to the jungle. Europeans have to be much more engaged with the rest of the world. Otherwise, the rest of the world will invade us, by different ways and means.\u201d\nSo what does this speech mean for the rest of the world? Does it signal a formal end to globalisation and integration? Does it reflect the true state of the world? Are these rare candid remarks from a serving European bureaucrat?