I heard the best definition of the (EU) from a Brussels official: “Our role is very clear: we create complex problems, study them for years in dozens of committees, and then issue a hundred-page guideline that explains how to solve a problem that no one knew they had.”
The barracks joke has, like almost all satire, a grain of truth. Yes, it reached the height of regulating, in 1994, the curvature of the banana, a moment so symbolic (and laughable) that it was widely used — and exaggerated — during the “Leave” campaign.
Why do I bring this story? Because Europe in general, and the European Union in particular, is experiencing a moment of existential crisis: the old European empire is dead and buried, and in its place a complex superstructure has emerged, so tangled up in itself that it seems lost among past glories, bawdy rituals, cynicism and meaninglessness. It is better suited to problematize the aesthetics of bananas than, for example, to lead a technological revolution or wage war with .
This century has been especially painful for Europe. Because this was the time when she faced her growing insignificance. The problem is that the EU was conceived as a commercial bloc, progressively refined, but never thought of as a geopolitical superpower. Its design is based on the global order that emerged from the Second World War and a transatlantic alliance with those that guaranteed defense through .
Now, everything has fallen apart. On the one hand, under Trump, the United States has ceased to be a reliable partner. They are a threat and a competitor. And, with Putin, delirious in his imperialist impulses, very clear since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, peace is a mirage.
Furthermore, new players entered the field in force in the global economic championship, full of vigor and with new tricks. I’m thinking about , , Brazil, but also or . For some sad Europeans nostalgic for the past — and they are out there everywhere — the emergence of these new powers brings a bitter taste: it tastes like the revenge of the former colonies against the oppressive countries of other times.
Europe is now trying to navigate itself and understand how it will stop being dependent on defense, energy and technology. Of course, it has capital, intelligence and a huge market of more than 450 million consumers. And it has a set of essential values, democratic principles and common interests that unites a large bloc of countries, which continue to believe that together they are stronger. But it also has a paralyzing bureaucracy and immense difficulty in speaking with one voice, with Judas and detractors among its members — just look at Hungary and Slovakia, which maintain close ties with Moscow.
Last week, the president of the European Commission, , made a statement on a visit to Australia that sounded like a disoriented rant: “The world we live in is brutal, harsh and unforgiving. It seems to be upside down.” In fact, it is the perfect synthesis of Europe’s crossroads. The world has turned 180 degrees, and only she remains in the same place.
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