How many ‘moments of truth’ have had Europe in recent years; How many times have you told yourself that you have to take action?; How many conversations to understand that you had to grow up. Now it has arrived once again with the return of Donald Trump to the White House: the EU returns to the message that you have seen so much written or said in recent times. “We have to depend on ourselves.” After the elections in the United States, right after, the European continent has begun its own therapy with both the European Political Community and the European Council of Budapest, which, of course, are held at the Puskas stadium in the Hungarian capital. The EU He can no longer allow more goals to be scored against him.
The phrases most worthy of being recorded in history books are, once again, those of Emmanuel Macron, determined to be the star of the team even despite being in his lowest hours at the national level. At a summit without Pedro Sánchez, the Frenchman raised his voice as on so many other occasions. Everything seems like a repetition of exercises for the EU. “Do we want to read the history written by others? The wars launched by Vladimir Putin, the American elections, the decisions of the Chinese in technological or commercial terms, Or do we want to be the ones who write history?“Macron asked himself as if he had already seen this match.
Europe has to move from words to actions “so as not to die politically,” said the same leader who in 2019 saw NATO “brain dead.” How things have changed in five years. Time is even short for Emmanuel Macron who will no longer be there as of 2027, because he cannot repeat as president. “I do not intend to leave Europe as a theater inhabited by herbivoreswhich the carnivores, according to their agenda, will come to devour. We Europeans must be lucid, ambitious and determined regarding our own agenda, an agenda of sovereignty,” he said, remembering that Europe that Borrell drew and that eats energy-poor foods while others continue to muscle up. Continuing with the football simile: quality is of no use if the physique fails.
All this does not mean that good relations with the United States must be renouncedno matter how difficult Trump may make it. Thus, European leaders appeal not so much to pragmatism as to intelligence. We must be astute, they repeated in Budapest: and at the core, strategic autonomy. “It must be our priority, but it should not be from a naive ‘transatlantism’ or from questioning of our alliances or of a short-sighted nationalism that would not allow us to win the challenge against China or the United States,” said Macron. Win, that is the verb for an EU that seems to have until now only known how to draw.
Not everything was a space for metaphors. The French president was also direct: “We need a Europe that simplifies its rules, that moves much faster, that strengthens its competitiveness with innovationand also to strengthen its internal market, invest in its own market, not just open it to everyone.” He will surely not be in the EU’s starting team to see the results in the medium term, but like so many others before, he gets the diagnosis right. Or so it seems. But the tactic has to go well on the pitch.
I do not intend to leave Europe as a theater inhabited by herbivores, which the carnivores, according to their agenda, will come to devour
The other leaders followed that message, including some from candidate countries. like Moldova or Ukraine itselfwhich for the moment maintains the good tone so that the Trump Administration does not comply with the rumors that suggest that it will cut off aid to kyiv. “We hope that the United States becomes stronger. This is the kind of America Europe needs. And what the United States needs is a strong Europe. This is the connection between allies that must be valued and cannot be lost,” the Ukrainian president explained to his partners. This is also the way, he stated, for “victory” against Russia.
Macron established himself, because de facto he is, as the founder of a European Political Community that precisely aims to be a false enlargement of the EU to reinforce its international role. And that’s what the 27 are doing despite the internal divisions, which there are, and the crises, which there are… like in Germany, where the Government has collapsed. These circumstances do not seem to be decisive when it comes to thinking big. The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, He wants to see the US “as a reliable partner” without this going against the Union’s need to be more autonomous. “You have to commit, but in a rational way,” commented the Belgian about the transatlantic link.
A verb is to win, for Macron. The Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, puts the other: “wake up” to start winning. “Must awaken from geopolitical naivety and assume that we need to commit additional resources to address essential issues such as competitiveness, European defense and I hope that we achieve it with the seriousness and urgency that these times demand,” he warned his counterparts. Urgency, another key word, which can be replaced by haste; there is a good tone at the moment with Trump, but everyone is taking note of what is coming.
The role that Poland can assume will be important, however. Donald Tusk can be a hope for the Union: a conservative leader, firm against populism and with a good image in Brussels. Leader of a key country for aid to Ukraine and which will have the future Budget Commissioner; Warsaw has almost everything in its favor to be part of an axis in favor of European integration that helps important advances in Defense, an industrial push and a discourse capable of being transversal from a Member State that also It has an economy in good condition and is part of the top-5 partners at the GDP level.
This action involves, broadly speaking, complying with a good part of the Draghi report on the EU’s competitiveness. He new “whatever it takes” from the former president of the European Central Bank includes the most important message of allalthough it sounds generic: the EU has to face “radical changes” because if it does not it runs the risk of “losing its reason for being” in a fierce scenario, increasingly competitive against the United States and China. The clock is not only ticking, but it seems that Europe He entered injury time to turn the game around.
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