The EU is dead
In view of the current tectonic shifts in world politics – from an imperialist Russia to a systemically competitive China and an unpredictable US foreign policy – the European Union in its current form looks like a relic from a fair-weather period long past.
We have to face the truth: The Brussels water head is frozen in its own bureaucracy. While the world is in crisis mode, the EU is entangled in the principle of unanimity and in an institutional parochialism that condemns us to insignificance on the global stage.
The problem is inherent in the system. An apparatus that refuses to radically modernize its outdated structures cannot develop any external strength. If individual member states can hold the entire Union hostage to national egoisms, Europe loses its ability to act and thus its moral authority.
This structural agony is particularly evident when looking at the Commission’s inability to transform itself from a mere regulator to a geopolitical player. We are suffocating in directives to bend cucumbers or regulate AI niches, while we remain supplicants in defending our external borders and securing our energy independence.
Luxembourg has a key role to play
It is time for a radical liberating blow: the initiative for a new core Europe. The idea of a “two-speed Europe” is not an invention of Eurosceptics, but a return to visionary concepts such as the Schäuble-Lamers paper of 1994.
Even then, it was recognized that an expansion without a simultaneous deepening of a center capable of acting would inevitably lead to an inability to act. Today, in the face of a possible return of an isolationist “America First”, this differentiation is no longer an option, but a survival strategy.
The Brussels water head is frozen in its own bureaucracy.
We need a “two-speed Europe” – not as an act of exclusion, but as a vital lifeboat for Western values. A union of those states that are willing and able to live true sovereignty.
Luxembourg in particular has a key historical role to play here. As a founding member and traditional mediator, the Grand Duchy has always been the driving force behind EU reforms when others have hesitated. It is in Luxembourg’s DNA to take the initiative to prevent the European idea from suffocating. The small country has often proven that it is precisely the small players who can provide the necessary intellectual leadership when the big players are caught up in their own power games.
A united core Europe from the ruins
This new core Europe must be based on three pillars that complement each other in a fluid process: Firstly, a common foreign policy voice must mark the end of the previous cacophony principle. Those who are part of the core will represent Western values to the outside world in a united and defensive manner, without hiding behind national reservations. Secondly, this requires radical institutional agility: away from paralyzing unanimity and towards efficient majority decisions and structures that can react to crises in real time instead of bogging down in years-long summit marathons.
Thirdly, however – and this is the foundation – this must be a democracy from below. This must not be a project of the “Eurocrats” that is decreed behind closed doors. The new initiative needs direct legitimacy from the people. A Europe that is wanted by its citizens and not decreed by its bureaucrats is the only one that can withstand the storm of populism.
Those who are part of the core represent Western values to the outside world in a united and defensive manner, without hiding behind national reservations.
The old, cumbersome EU of 27 will fail due to its own weight, its inflexibility and EU politicians who prefer to cling to the current EU waterhead rather than seek new paths. But out of its ruins can emerge a core Europe that is capable of action, united and ready to actively defend its freedom. A capable, strong and united core that deepens integration, defends values internally and externally, while other states remain associated in a wider circle.
The EU is dead … long live the EU!
Press article on the topic
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