Alexis Papachelas
Europe is confronting enormous, almost existential, threats. Where do you even begin? Illegal migration has reached alarming levels, as we have seen in Spain. Even left-wing politicians are changing course because they have realized they are dealing with a real problem, one that could come at a significant political cost.
The Democrats learned that lesson before the 2024 election, when they failed to recognize how much damage their indifference to what was happening at the country's southern border had done. I often think back to the prediction made by a senior EU leader during a private discussion in 2008. He said the day would come when European naval vessels would be forced to form a defensive barrier against waves of migrants, using "every available means."
Europe is also an aging continent that urgently needs to solve its labor shortage. Convincing voters that legal immigration is necessary without stirring hostile reactions has become extraordinarily difficult, especially when social media amplifies those emotions.
At the same time, Europe is going through a painful and unavoidable geopolitical coming of age.
It faces an unpredictable Trump who ridicules Europe whenever he can, an equally unpredictable and uncompromising Putin, and continuing chaos in the Middle East. It confronts this reality without a true military force, without intelligence capabilities that can operate as one, and without a strong decision-making system.
Europe has also managed, through what can only be described as a self-defeating energy policy, to weaken a substantial part of its industrial base.
Then there is climate change and its devastating impact on France and Spain, which came as a profound shock. Once again, Europe found itself unprepared, trapped by political compromises and bureaucracy that prevented it from building an adequate fleet of firefighting aircraft and other emergency resources.
I am far from convinced that the European Union can cope if it continues to drift.
There was a time when we believed a single shock would be enough to wake Europe. We have now lived through several, with little to show for them.
Some will argue that Europe made it through COVID, that it has shown determination in supporting Ukraine, that it is making progress in defense spending and military capabilities, and that it quietly resolved the Orbán problem.
All of that is true. Even so, the gap between the scale of today's challenges and the quality of Europe's leadership remains enormous. What Europe needs are decisions that are not constrained by coalition politics in Germany or by endless consultations among Brussels bureaucrats.
Today, as Europeans, we take pride in the "European way of life," our democracy, and our values. Without strong leadership, however, all of them will be placed at risk by the growing number of shocks and threats Europe continues to face.
