Borrell at launch of European Diplomatic Academy called Europe 'garden', outside world 'jungle'!!!

Speaking in Belgium at Diplomatic Academy on October 13, Borrell said "Europe is a garden, but most of the rest of the world is a jungle," he said "And the jungle could invade the garden." Despite using this analogy to give a message that the EU should be concerned more about the world, his remarks were under fire in the last few days especially on social media.

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European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell drew criticism with his recent remarks where he used an analogy of a garden for Europe and a jungle for the outside world.

Speaking in Belgium at Diplomatic Academy on October 13, Borrell said "Europe is a garden, but most of the rest of the world is a jungle," he said

"And the jungle could invade the garden."

"The 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," he added.

"Because the jungle has a strong growth capacity, and the wall will never be high enough in order to protect the garden," Borrel stressed.

"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."

Despite using this analogy to give a message that the EU should be concerned more about the world, his remarks were under fire in the last few days especially on social media.

A lot of users and critics said that Borrell's remarks had a "racist" and "colonialist" undertone in them and reflected long-outdated views of European superiority.

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Here, Bruges is a good example of the European garden. Yes, Europe is a garden. We have built a garden. Everything works. It is the best combination of political freedom, economic prosperity and social cohesion that the humankind has been able to build - the three things together. And here, Bruges is maybe a good representation of beautiful things, intellectual life, wellbeing.

The rest of the world – and you know this very well, Federica – is not exactly a garden. Most of the rest of the world is a jungle, and the jungle could invade the garden. The 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.

Yes, this is my most important message: we have to be much more engaged with the rest of the world.

We are privileged people. We built a combination of these three things – political freedom, economic prosperity, social cohesion – and we cannot pretend to survive as an exception. It has to be a way of supporting the others facing the big challenges of our time.

So, thank you, Federica, for hosting this experience, this pilot programme of the [European] Diplomatic Academy.