By Jorge Liboreiro
Dear readers, allow me to address you directly with a special announcement that might disappoint some of you: after six years in circulation, this newsletter, The Briefing, is coming to an end as part of a broader overhaul of our editorial offer. I personally thank you for dedicating your time once a week to reading my commentary and the stories of my excellent colleagues.
As I close this chapter, it’s inevitable for me to look back at the long history of this newsletter, which has borne witness to the troubled, confused and at times melodramatic recent history of the European Union.
Tellingly, The Briefing was born out of a crisis: the COVID-19 pandemic. Our team decided to launch the newsletter, then daily, during a hastily arranged Zoom call, with all of us locked down at home. Reading back the first issue, sent almost six years ago, I’m struck by its opening lines.
“Europe is at war. It is a war with an invisible enemy, a war our leaders tell us we must all play our part in and yet, despite the fact that we share the same foe in this life and death battle – COVID-19 – it feels like this war is starting to tear the EU apart,” the edition read.
The paragraph reads like a chilling prophecy. Less than two years after that first newsletter, an actual war of unspeakable brutality would break out on European soil, altering the trajectory of our bruised continent in ways that we’re yet to realise.
Ukraine’s brave fight against Russia’s attempt to redraw the European map by force has arguably been the most prominent story in this newsletter. Even when the war as such wasn’t mentioned, its ripple effects were present, one way or the other. It’s the end of the so-called “peace dividend”, the “wake-up call”, the “great reckoning” with the spectacular collapse of the premise that economic interlinks would make armed conflicts unthinkable in the 21st century.
The cruellest irony is that the very economic interlinks that were supposed to rein in our most violent instincts are today being brutally wielded as modern-day weapons. Trade flows, customs duties, supply chains, natural resources, currency reserves and even human beings are being leveraged on an unprecedented scale, wreaking havoc on the rules and principles meant to stabilise international relations. If there’s one norm left, that’s constant instability.
Of all the major powers in the world trying to weather the ruthless storm, the European Union is perhaps the worst equipped.
The bloc’s byzantine decision-making is designed to nurture and maintain consensus among disparate member states. The internal processes were never easy or fast, but they worked and delivered results. The EU prospered steadily from the fall of the Berlin Wall until the 2008 financial meltdown. Its economy was head-to-head with the United States. The value of the euro soared.
But then the tremors started and haven’t stopped since. Just as this newsletter bids farewell, the EU is coping with a widening war in the Middle East, a new energy crisis and a US president intent on pushing the transatlantic alliance to the brink. And that’s just a quick selection of our top stories.
The dizzying succession of events, most of which were unimaginable until the day they happened, has challenged not only our single market, our dependencies, our defence capabilities, our democratic resilience and our fixation on unanimity. At its core, it has challenged our unity – the audacious project of political and economic integration that emerged from the ashes of World War II.
Looking at the dire state of things, some would argue that the EU is doomed to crumble, that it’s just a matter of time, that the internal and external forces trying to tear it apart are too mighty to be resisted. But others would say the opposite: that the geopolitical tempest makes the perfect case for a stronger and closer union, that mid-size countries have no credible chance of surviving on their own. Some, like Mario Draghi, are openly talking about federalism again.
The debate is still ongoing, but one conclusion has already emerged: the status quo is untenable. The EU must change because the world has changed. This brings me to a recent speech delivered by Ursula von der Leyen, who has been a recurrent (maybe the lead?) character in the history of this newsletter.
Speaking to ambassadors in Brussels, the president of the European Commission declared that the continent could no longer be “the custodian for the old-world order”. The blunt remark immediately raised eyebrows. Critics said her words were a dangerous invitation to turning a blind eye to rampant violations of international law. Amid the backlash, she later stressed the “unwavering commitment” to the rules-based order, though she didn’t backtrack.
If you manage to go beyond the “custodian” line, what you find is an incisive and frank summary of the anxieties that today permeate Europe, particularly our feeling of being powerless spectators in the theatre of geopolitics. But her detailed dissection isn’t meant to browbeat or dismay. Quite the contrary: it’s meant to encourage Europe to forego its fatalist resignation, raise its head proudly and “seize the opportunities” that every crisis brings.
“In times of radical change like ours, we can either cling to what used to make us strong and defend habits and certainties that history has already moved beyond, or we can choose a different destiny for Europe,” she said.
“Not with nostalgia, or by mourning the old world, but by shaping the new one.”
Editor’s final message: On that inspiring note, The Briefing says goodbye. Thank you again for reading this newsletter during its six years in circulation.
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A RAGING WAR
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