If one’s actions confirm one’s affiliation with a likeminded group of countries, it is a fact. What is there to project. You either think like Germany, France, Italy or Greece or you don’t. A simple fact.
To take a broader look, what were the highlights for you among this year’s visits or meetings?
That people who think as you do can be found in very different places.
Definitely Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern. I specifically went to listen to her speech at the UN General Assembly to support women with small children participating in top politics (Ardern, who became PM last October, gave birth to her first child this summer – ed.). I believe she is a very nice person, and I very much enjoyed meeting her.
But I am trespassing against many others who very much share our concerns by only mentioning her.
How much room is there for personal sympathies in top politics?
A great deal. It is the same in the UN: people need to know and love our ambassador and want him to be the one who gets to stand up triumphant.
What about personal antipathy? Whether against individual people or representatives of countries that are neither democracies nor have rule of law?
I believe we still have to talk even if I’m absolutely convinced that we will not be able to agree on anything.
That is the work of politicians and diplomats.
Just like people in domestic politics know they have differences of opinion but still – calmly, I hope – sit down and discuss them. It is the same on the international level.
The general rule of much ado about nothing applies. The better you are at explaining things, looking for common elements, taking the problem to pieces and isolating items on which you disagree, the better.