Jaishankar’s viral remark on European ‘mindset’ quoted by German chancellor

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday quoted external affairs minister S Jaishankar’s viral remark on the “European mindset” which has been included in Munich Security Report 2023.

Jaishankar, taking part in the 17th edition of the GLOBSEC Bratislava Forum in Slovakia last year, said that Europe remains silent on a lot of issues, adding it has to “grow out of the mindset that Europe’s problems are the world’s problems, but the world’s problems are not Europe’s problems.”

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Scholz echoed Jaishankar’s views and suggested a change in the so-called “mindset.”

“This quote from the Indian foreign minister is included in this year’s Munich Security Report and he has a point. It wouldn’t be Europe’s problem alone if the law of the strong were to assert itself in international relations,” Scholz said.

The German Chancellor also emphasized the need to work with Asia, Africa and Latin America to find solutions to the challenges of poverty and hunger, calling it a “prerequisite for joint action.”

“We have to generally address the interests and concerns of these countries as a basic prerequisite for joint action. And that’s why it was so important to me to not merely have representatives of Asia, Africa and Latin America at the negotiating table during the G-7 Summit last June. I really wanted to work with these regions to find solutions to the main challenges they face growing poverty and hunger, partly as a consequence of Russia’s war, as well as the impact of climate change or Covid-19,” he said.

At GLOBSEC Bratislava Forum in June 2022, Jaishankar was asked why he thinks anyone will help New Delhi in case of a problem with China after it did not help others for Ukraine.

“Europe has to get out of the mindset that Europe’s problem is the world’s problem but the world’s problem is not Europe’s problem,” the foreign minister said. “Today linkages being made between China and India and what’s happening in Ukraine. Come on guys, China and India happened way before Ukraine. I do not see this as a clever argument.”