The Foreign Service Journal, April 2017

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2017 33 For Europe to take greater responsibility for its own defense seems highly desir- able, even if the consequences are unpredictable. It could be that the result will be a more muscular E.U. “defense union” that initially parallels NATO, but then diverges once Europe has the means to concentrate on its own priorities, notably in unstable and overpopulated Africa. The E.U.—Down But Not Out Where does that leave the European Union? It is assailed by a lengthening list of challenges. Some are new and oth- ers have long been unresolved. Ostrich-like, Europe has for many years refused to face up to its structural weaknesses. As well as its demographic shrinkage and comparative decline in terms of the global economy, attitudes within European society spell serious trouble ahead. Unlike America’s “melting pot” culture of absorbing immigrants, people across Europe resent and resist newcomers. Whether speak- ing of longstanding Turkish communities in Germany or North Africans in France and Belgium, the record on successful integration is poor and the political signposts suggest worse to come. None of this means the European Union is going to collapse. Although the Eurosceptic tide has been running strongly in recent years, as opportunists heading the new breed of populist parties have played on widespread resentment of the austerity policies that followed the last decade’s economic downturn, it’s far too soon to herald the E.U.’s disintegration. Brexit is frequently seen as the domino that will topple other countries into leaving. Instead, the E.U.’s message that Britain Ostrich-like, Europe has for many years refused to face up to its structural weaknesses.