Europe’s Challenge Is Decline, Not Trump

[Valin]

WSJ/Outline

Walter Russell Mead

February 18, 2019

The greatest mistake Europeans can make is to believe that their biggest problem is Donald Trump.

To be fair, it’s an easy error to make. In the long annals of American diplomacy, there’s no previous instance of an American president treating close allies with anything approaching the Trumpian mix of critique and contempt.

But it’s not only Mr. Trump and his supporters whose attitudes should worry Europe. Some of Europe’s closest friends are also increasingly discouraged.

(Snip)

Mr. Trump’s tweets aren’t the reason populists are governing Italy and the gilets jaunes revolt has shaken Emmanuel Macron’s reform efforts in France. Since the financial crisis, the Italian economy—measured in euros—has been shrinking at an average rate of 0.5% a year, while the French economy has been growing at an average of only 0.8%. Only the gush of cheap energy made possible by American fracking keeps these fragile economies afloat; at an oil price of $125 a barrel, the eurozone—and its banking system—might well face another economic crisis.

Asked about the importance of European unity to the U.S. in January 2017, President-elect Trump told the Times of London: “I never thought it mattered. Look, the EU was formed, partially, to beat the United States in trade, OK? So I don’t really care if it’s separate or together, to me it doesn’t matter.”

But whatever Mr. Trump thinks, European unity matters to U.S. interests. A strong Europe and only a strong Europe can stabilize the region, manage migration and refugee issues in a humane and sustainable way, contain Russia at a reduced cost, and provide the markets that American companies need for growth. On its current course the EU cannot achieve these goals, and the decay or dissolution of the union would only make things worse.

(Snip)

That lifelong proponents of European values like Messrs. Soros and Joffe increasingly share Mr. Trump’s harsh view of the EU as an irrelevant failure should make even the most headstrong Brussels partisans reflect. Europe is not on a sustainable path; nobody knows this better than those who love and value it most.

 

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2 quick thoughts

Question: Is the European Union, Europe? Or will Europe still be Europe without the EU?

A large part of the EU's problem is the European Constitution is 70,000 words! Opposed to the US Constitution which is 4,543 words, including the signatures.  The US Constitution is Bottom Up the EU Constitution is Top Down.