Europe's existential dilemma : to be or not to be an American vassal

While Europe as a whole remains a first world economic power despite Brexit, it has been unable to build a truly democratic and efficient state or carry weight as a respected power on the international scene. Its splendid intellectual and artistic icons of the past two centuries are dimming in memory, leaving it no longer a radiant cultural Mecca for the world. Starting with Brexit in 2016, the European Union is now exposed to an array of dismantling forces, including the possibility of further exits, the organized opposition of populist parties, and popular uprisings like those of the Yellow Jackets in France. Mettan outlines the long history of attempts to unify the European continent, stretching from Charlemagne to Napoleon, Hitler and Stalin, predecessors to the current iteration. He specifies the routes they took, which were most promising and durable, and why they all collapsed. Strikingly, he compares Rome's early adulation and mimicry of ancient Greece, followed by its steady encroachment and final absorption of it, to the current trajectory of relations between Europe and the United States, noting the increasing penetration of American culture and exer-extending application of its laws. The European Union has allowed the United States to tell Europeans how they are to progress, with whom they are to collaborate, and against whom they should go to war. The problems confronting contemporary Europe are then examined in greater depth―its democratic “deficit”; the stifling primacy of economics and law over politics; the sprawling expansion of an ever unsatisfactory governing institutions; its inability to secure peace within its territory; and far from least, on the ongoing encroachment on its sovereignty by the United States. Europe faces two possible futures, Mettan concludes. It can choose to lapse into insignificance, subservient to ever increasing US demands and ascendancy, unable to address its unique concerns in defense or energy policy while being denied potential economic benefits from a rising China and forced into ever deeper and dangerous confrontation with Russia. Or Europeans, fully conscious of what is at stake, can face up to Europe's problems and create an institutional framework that will enable it to stave off its inevitable decline into vassalization―seizing the opportunity of the new space opened by the emerging Chinese power to create a truly democratic and sovereign federal union. Switzerland provides a model for that. "While Europe as a whole remains a first world economic power, it has been unable to build either a truly democratic and efficient state, or to secure peace within its territory or to have impact as a respected power on the international scene. Its splendid intellectual and artistic icons of the past two centuries are dimming in memory, leaving it no longer a radiant cultural Mecca for the world. Starting with Brexit in 2016, the European Union is now exposed to an array of dismantling forces, including the possibility of further exits, the organized opposition of populist parties, and popular uprisings like those of the Yellow Jackets in France. Mettan outlines the long history of attempts to unify the European continent, stretching from Charlemagne to Napoleon, Hitler and Stalin, predecessors to the current iteration. He specifies the routes they took, which were most promising and durable, and why they all collapsed. The institutionalization of Brussels' current CIA-influenced technocratic iteration suffers from an extreme "democracy deficit". Strikingly, he compares Rome's early adulation and mimicry of ancient Greece, followed by its steady encroachment and final absorption of it, to the current trajectory of relations between the United States and Europe, noting the increasing penetration of American culture and exer-extending application of its laws. The European Union has allowed the United States to tell Europeans how they are to progress, with whom they are to collaborate, and against whom they should go to war. Mettan addresses these urgent questions: Is Europe capable of ensuring security and prosperity? Do its institutions respect the internal political and social balances? Are its standards set to meet the needs of one and all or of only a few? Is Europe in a position to respond to external pressure? Indeed, whither Europe? Mettan examines in greater depth the problems confronting contemporary Europe-the strengths and weaknesses not only of the European Union but also of Europe's institutional construction; the profound imbalances that keep it from moving forward, namely the democratic "deficit" and the stifling primacy of economics and law over politics; the sprawling expansion of an ever unsatisfactory governance, the military tutelage of the United States and the absence of sovereignty; and the US-exacerbated tensions with Russia and the Mediterranean countries. He then examines two possible futures. The first one foresees Europe remaining eaten away with its old evils, unable to reform itself or to make real choices in its own interest. Or to be more precise, Europe chooses to be insignificant, to remain subservient to ever increasing US demands and ascendancy, unable to address its unique concerns in defense or energy policy while being denied potential economic benefits from a rising China and its Belt & Road Initiative, and forced into ever deeper and dangerous confrontation with Russia. The second one postulates that Europeans, fully conscious of what is at stake, will face up to Europe's problems and create an institutional framework that will enable it to emerge from its increasing domination by the United States and stave off its inevitable decline into vassalization-seizing the opportunity of the new space opened by the emerging Chinese power to create a truly democratic and sovereign federal union. Here, Switzerland provides an example"-- Provided by publisher Since Charlemagne, Europe has made its sixth attempt at unification. Will it be the right one? Too authoritarian or too decentralized, too federalist or not federal enough, often undermined by internal divisions, sometimes imposed by external pressure, previous initiatives have all failed. Drawing on distant history, from the Peloponnesian War and its consequences for the decline of Greece, to the experience of the Holy Roman Empire, Guy Mettan's uncompromising analysis of Europe's dysfunctions shows that Europe could meet the same fate if it fails to establish itself as a free, independent, democratic and sovereign state.The model exists, and Switzerland has been applying it successfully for 150 years. It is based on democracy and the will of diverse peoples to live together. Why shouldn't Europe be able to do the same?Far from being a retrograde step, a reorientation of European construction in the direction of assertive federalism would be a fabulous step forward, a qualitative leap towards a horizon that we can already apprehend. It requires less audacity than determination.But the political construction of Europe implies a true mental revolution: trusting the people.Guy Mettan is a journalist who has headed La Tribune de Genève and the Swiss Press Club. He has been a member of Geneva's Grand Council since 2001, and was its president in 2010. He is the author of several books on Switzerland and international relations, including Russie-Occident. Une guerre de mille ans (Editions des Syrtes, 2015), translated into six languages. Contents Foreword: Is There Light at the End of the European Tunnel? Acknowledgments PART I: A DISAPPOINTING LEARNING PROCESS 1. Europe: From Enthusiasm to Disappointment PART II: THE LESSONS OF HISTORY 2. From Charlemagne to Stalin: The Failure of Constraint 3. The Greek Syndrome and Europe’s American Encroachment 4. Two Scenarios for a Declining Continent PART III: A MALFUNCTIONING MACHINE 5. The European Technocratic Dictatorship 6. American Trusteeship, Russian Exclusion, German Hegemony 7. Europe’s Absurd Form of Governance: Bad Planning or Intentional? PART IV: SCENARIOS FOR THE FUTURE: A DEMOCRATIC INDEPENDENT FEDERATION OR A PROVINCE OF THE EMPIRE? 8. The Imperial Scenario: The Choice of Insignificance under American Ascendancy 9. The Scenario of Independence: A Democratic Reset and Full Sovereignty Epilogue Index