European Union

The West needs a reckoning with America’s decline

philmullan Changing world order, China, European Union, Geopolitics, Rivalries, United States

Despite Donald Trump proclaiming that a ‘framework of a future deal’ had been agreed on Greenland, it is still unclear how his demands are likely to be resolved. In any case, the fracas over this icy island is about far more than just the unpredictability and narcissism of the White House incumbent.

The Greenland saga has exposed the shortcomings in geopolitical nous of the West’s leaders – Trump included – and just how hazardous this can be for everyone. International flashpoints are more likely to get out of hand when traditional statecraft is replaced by kneejerk, megaphone diplomacy.

This danger is compounded by the fact that world leaders should already be grappling with a perilous situation: a potential Thucydides trap. But they are refusing to do so.

Read the full article here.

‘More EU’ won’t save Europe’s economy

philmullan Creative destruction, European Union, Politics, State intervention, Zombie economy

Mario Draghi’s report on the future of European competitiveness, published last month may present itself as a sober economic analysis, complete with proposed policy solutions. But this report – commissioned by the EU and produced by a former head of the European Central Bank – is best understood as a political manifesto for an ever-closer EU, controlled from Brussels.

His report is chiefly concerned with ‘strengthening governance’ – a euphemism for the extension of the European Commission’s power. Stronger governance, he writes, ‘means “more Europe” where it really matters’. And this means less national sovereignty where it really matters, too.

Read the full article here.

Unshackling Europe’s Economy: what holds us back?

philmullan Creative destruction, European Union, Politics, Productivity, State intervention

Here is a video of the talk I gave at the conference ‘Unshackling Europe’s Economy: what holds us back?’, organised by MCC Brussels on 24 September 2024.

My talk critiqued Mario Draghi’s recent report, The future of European competitiveness – A competitiveness strategy for Europe. I explained that this is not a neutral report on economic policy with new ideas to boost productivity within European countries. Rather it is a political manifesto motivating an ever-closer European Union controlled from Brussels. Europe’s real productivity slump is used as another instance of a ‘crisis’ – in Draghi’s words, an ‘existential challenge’ – in order to justify extending the powers of the EU to the detriment of national sovereignty and decision-making.