‘Next-level urgency’: EU leaders spring into action as reality of US pivot to Russia hits
‘A European-Russian war would be a catastrophe for China as well,’ analyst says as Beijing looks for opportunities amid shifting geopolitics
During dark times in Europe, which are arriving with alarming frequency these days, optimists like to say that the continent was “forged in crisis”.
The quote from one of the European Union’s founding fathers, Jean Monnet, has been wheeled out during banking crashes and sovereign debt crises, the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to show that the notoriously divided bloc comes together at moments of true cataclysm.
In the cafes of Brussels, it has been heard more than ever in recent weeks, with various degrees of enthusiasm, as Europe faces what may be its greatest crisis of all: abandonment by the United States, which has provided the security blanket that has allowed widespread peace and prosperity since World War II.
01:20
Trump says Zelensky ready to negotiate to end war with Russia
Even as the bad news kept coming, however, some European optimists are getting more vocal. Taboos have been dropping like flies as political action on the continent takes place at an uncharacteristic speed. Notoriously slow Europe, they say, is finally grinding into gear.