EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell appeared to commend the values of Spanish ‘conquerors’ during a contentious speech between European and Latin American lawmakers in Brussels on Wednesday.
“We are living in a perfect storm, and to navigate this storm, we have no more use for the routes and maps of the past. Like the discoverers and conquerors, we have to invent a new world,” Borrell said.
Borrell’s use of Spanish colonialism as an example of progress was met with ire, with some claiming he was vindicating European colonial powers who had seized the Americas through violence and exploitation.
This is not the first time the EU foreign policy chief has been accused of discriminatory rhetoric. In October, he described Europe as a ‘garden’ and the rest of the world as a ‘jungle’.
