Who can save Europe?

In a new policy brief from the European Council on Foreign Relations, an independent think-tank, authors Mark Leonard and Anthony Dworkin pose the question: “Can Europe save the world order?”

After another week of intense political turmoil in Italy, Spain and Greece, contagious eurozone instability that sent global stock markets plunging and an unprovoked, highly damaging trade assault by the continent’s closest ally, a more apposite question might be: “Who in the world can save Europe?”

The report underscores what most Europeans instinctively know: “The world is becoming a scarier place … rules and alliances that promoted international co-operation and stability seem to be losing their hold. In their place, there is a resurgence of international relations based on assertive nationalism, winner-takes-all competition and disdain for the rule of law. Authoritarianism and illiberalism are in the ascendant, at the expense of democracy and human rights.”

European leaders, the report argues, face a choice: defend the post-1945, rules-based, collaborative world order by joining together to uphold progressive and democratic values at home and abroad — or don’t and face the consequences. Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, bluntly summed up the challenge earlier in 2018: “In our joint European policy, we want to show results. As Europeans we will be unbeatable if we remain united.”

The unspoken alternative was clear: risk being steamrollered by the forces of reaction, typified by US President Donald Trump, China, Russia and Europe’s own hard-right and hard-left nationalists, demagogues and xenophobes.

Trump’s potentially illegal decision to impose tariffs on European steel and aluminium imports, following his sabotage of the Iran nuclear deal, symbolises the trend towards a dog-eat-dog mindset. If Europe and its values are to survive, let alone prosper, European countries must hang tough together. /London, June 3.