The writer is co-chief executive of the Itinera Institute, a Brussels-based think-tank, and the author of ‘Superpower Europe: The European Union’s Silent Revolution’
The EU faces the challenge of a new world order. May 9 marked its official “Europe day” — a celebration of peace and unity that is a stark contrast to the world beyond. Europe sits strategically alone: Russia is an enemy, China an adversary as well as partner, and Donald Trump’s US a threat or liability.
The bloc essentially has three major options. One: do an America in Europe geopolitically. That means developing what is needed to project European power, tying third countries to a Pax Europeana built upon a big market with integrated technological and security capacities, eventually flanked by a refashioned Nato.