Haughty by nature: on the EU’s outward rhetoric

... course of integration, it has to find a way to enforce adherence to them internally and to deal with defectors. Negotiating partnership deals and tightening relations with the rest of the world would be, nonetheless, a lot easier with a more modest rhetoric. Europe might consider itself the land of freedom and solidarity. But fancying itself capable of exporting its norms, while morally justified, can be an obstacle to smooth rapprochement with the outside world, especially Russia.