We knew that Europe was incompatible with the Russian dictator and the Chinese Communist Party regime. Trump has just joined the ‘illiberal’ camp of his opponents by neutralising the famous American counter-powers, long considered democratic criteria.
It so happens that all three have now declared war on Europe: one by attempting to subjugate a neighbour that wishes to join it; another by weakening its economy and flooding it with subsidised products; and the last by insulting and denigrating it as a competitor to be eliminated.
Why does this coalition of autocrats hate Europe so much?
Presumably because it advocates the rule of law and peaceful cooperation between nations rather than brute force.
But also because it embodies a moral force that has its origins in the 1789 Declaration of Human Rights, the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights within the framework of the UN, and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, with its supranational Court of Justice, which does not tolerate any violation of the rights proclaimed, to the point that it is criticised for its broad interpretation of them.
Perhaps also because, with more than a thousand years of culture and experience behind it, it has chosen peace among its members, negotiation and dialogue between nations, which has enabled it to build the world's second largest economy and become a benchmark and an attractive force in the contemporary world.
Whatever autocrats and other dictators, with their entourage of self-serving sycophants, may say, Europe has thwarted Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which it has helped more than anyone else. It prevented negotiations from taking place behind its back that could have been unfavourable to Ukraine, and it has not allowed Trump to seize Greenland, an autonomous territory of a European Union member state, in a cavalier manner.
Europe's power is therefore much more real than its own citizens think. It is certainly neither a state nor an empire, nor does it act as such, but it is developing a unique power of influence and exemplarity. It is an economic power that disturbs.
Is it necessary to insist on demonstrating how much Europe stands for stability and continuity in the face of the rash decisions of dictators?
Its methods are not those of brutality or unpredictability, surprise or betrayal; quite the contrary.
Europe is about treaties. It is about human rights, the cornerstone of any social organisation; it is a prosperous economy and a society based on solidarity.
While democracies have become a minority in the world, and the large continent-states think they can dominate it, Europe, despite its geographical size, rivals the greatest empires and has already made that of Russia obsolete. It will accept neither China's revisited communism nor being the vassal of its former ally.
It must, of course, strengthen its military credibility so that its diplomacy is stronger and more demonstrative, but it will never choose excess, force or vulgarity to impose itself on its interlocutors.
It will prefer to use its influence and draw on the peaceful example it has set on a continent long ravaged by conflict, because it embodies the idea that reason must prevail over passion.
Some find this naive and ineffective, but it remains the honour of Europeans. Edmund Husserl wrote in 1937: ‘Europe, if it must be made, must be made for the world.’ Why was he not heard sooner?
The coalition of autocrats may well declare war, whether hybrid, verbal or commercial, on today's Europe, but it remains the last obstacle to their expansionist or revisionist ambitions, which they believe to be superior and which history will inevitably condemn.
