WHAT? NO ONE EXPRESSED SURPRISE AT EUROPE'S DECLINE?:

A Tired Continent of Crises: Europe has become a continent of political crises with governments in Italy, France, Britain and Poland all suffering from paralysis or a lack of voter approval. Is the continent about to abandon its integration project and return to the old era of national rivalry? (Der Spiegel, 5/10/06)

Giulio Andreotti, nicknamed "Beelzebub," is the personification of traditional politics in Italy, and he's back in the game. The 87-year-old grand old man of Italy's Christian Democratic establishment, bowed with age and enveloped in the sulfurous aura of the Mafia, the Vatican and unresolved scandals, was brought back by the country's right-wing camp to run for president of the senate. His opponent, Franco Marini, a former Christian Democrat himself, is 73.

After four chaotic elections, Marini was finally elected,sparing Prime Minister-elect Romano Prodi an embarrassment. This was no new beginning for Italy. The Andreotti episode in the Senate Palace shines a merciless spotlight on Italy's inability to reform itself. [...]

The four governments in Italy, France, Great Britain and Poland represent more than 220 million citizens, or about 48 percent of the EU. These four countries hold 282 of 732 votes -- 38.5 percent -- in the European Parliament.

But how can a continent undergoing so much change, a continent that has embarked on an unprecedented unification effort, achieve it goals when its leaders, including those of the EU's two nuclear powers, are in such weak positions? Why is this continent unable to escape its history of rivalries among nation states? Who can step up to the plate and give the EU the boost it so sorely needs when Germany and France are focused on their own problems and Britain would rather ally itself with the United States than with Europe?

The navel-gazing by the EU's most important countries is obstructing the continent's bid to become a global player. Inertia is a waste of time and moving backward is deadly. While countries like China, India, Japan and Russia -- and the United States, for that matter -- run a tight ship or reap the benefits of centralization, a many-faceted Europe is merely falling back into its old routines.

Asian business executives already view the old continent with some amusement and its states as little more than departments in some romantic history museum.

Oughtn't Democrats, Atlanticists, Realists, etc. be quoted as being surprised that Europe isn't emerging as a world power?

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 10, 2006 10:52 AM