BERLIN, August 25. /TASS/. To a German reporter, the decision on the expansion of BRICS membership following the group’s summit in Johannesburg symbolizes a personal defeat for President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

Ramon Schack said in an opinion story for Berliner Zeitung that "almost half of the world’s population, including some of the fastest growing economies, will soon find themselves in this truly global alliance." In the context of six new countries joining BRICS as members, the criticism voiced by participants in the summit of the West advocating for the rules-based order "symbolizes a personal defeat for Ursula von der Leyen and Josep Borrell," the reporter said. According to Schack, the EU’s top diplomat who still sees "Europe as a garden and the rest of the world as a jungle" should "realize the limitations of the EU’s powers."

Schack also surmised that "the age when Europe could command the world is long gone." "In the geopolitical institutes of Hanoi, Vientiane and Phnom Penh, the EU is hardly perceived as an independent global political actor, but as an extended arm of Washington’s interests," he added. The columnist also said that it was high time the bloc "emancipated itself from the United States in terms of foreign and defense policy in order to be able to do justice to the new global realities and balance of power."

The group’s summit was "a turning point" in global politics, Schack said. "While many Western media still use the terms like `emerging markets meeting’, possibly as an expression of a neo-colonial attitude [of the West toward BRICS], <...> these days made history in South Africa," the columnist concluded.

South Africa hosted BRICS’ 15th summit in Johannesburg on 22 to 24 August after the country took up the one-year rotating chairmanship of the group in January. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced at a news conference following the summit that Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE would join BRICS on January 1, 2024. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also said that the leaders had agreed the guiding principles, standards, criteria and procedures for expanding the grouping. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that "the weight, prestige and the role of an individual candidate country and, of course, its position in the international arena" were taken into account in decision making on expanding BRICS. A new list of potential BRICS members will be prepared by the group’s next summit.