Not a day goes by without Europeans complaining about Europe. Depending on the circumstances, it is described as “divided”, “behind the times” or “powerless”.
‘And yet it moves,’ as Galileo is said to have told his judges about the Earth, whose rotation was upsetting to the religious beliefs of the time. The same is true of the European Union. Despite its imperfections, it continues to progress despite the obsolete criteria that are too often used to judge it.
Its watchwords may become clearer on 23 October at the European Council: defence, preference, mistrust.
Belatedly but with determination, Europeans have become aware of the dangers of disarmament in the face of Russian expansionist revisionism. Their defence budgets, which are increasing by nearly 20% per year, will have doubled in less than five years and will exceed a cumulative total of €700 billion by 2030. The common budget, which until now has not been allowed to finance defence, is committed to this, across all programmes, to the tune of €12.8 billion.
For the first time, the principle of European preference has been introduced into the common rules for financing defence expenditure established by the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP). This is a major step towards greater European autonomy.
Finally, while trust is growing among EU members, including with their third-party partners such as the United Kingdom, Norway and Canada, mistrust is growing with the major partner across the Atlantic. This mistrust is justified.
For reasons of his own, the American president systematically chooses to side with the Russian dictator and has just demonstrated this once again by making his support for Ukraine conditional on the demands of a Putin in disarray, as if, in 1941, his distant predecessor Roosevelt had called Hitler before choosing his side and supporting the Allies!
World history would have been changed. Today's Europe is not prepared to accept this.
The European Union was created to guarantee peace between its members and allow them to restore the prosperity that their divisions had destroyed. Its raison d'être now is to face an increasingly hostile external environment.
It no longer has many allies, but it still embodies democracy and the rule of law. Along with these values, the strength of its economy and its determination are the only assets it has left to take up the challenge. They are enough. It is regrettable that it is slow to make the most of them, but we have to acknowledge that it is still advancing every day and adapting, more quickly than expected, to the world of tomorrow.
