Europe’s institutional disorder is just the surface of a deeper crisis: a four-decade-long structural decline in overall competitiveness, paired with a pervasive culture of evasion and blame-shifting.
To make matters worse, the relative decline of the United States and its intractable domestic problems have brought unprecedented external pressures to the whole of Europe.
Looking back over the past 40 to 50 years, Europe has lagged far behind other major economies in technological innovation, industrial strength, governance efficiency and social development.
Unlike China, which sticks to consistent long-term development strategies, and the United States, which maintains advantages in cutting-edge technology, European political elites have long been obsessed with short-term electoral gains and internal power games.
They have wasted huge amounts of public resources and failed to address deep socioeconomic vulnerabilities, resulting in stagnant industrial vitality and shrinking global influence.
The most harmful governance flaw in the EU is its habit of externalizing domestic crises instead of solving problems internally. The post-2022 European energy crisis is a typical example.
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The EU pushed for hasty energy transformation by phasing out coal and nuclear power, yet failed to build alternative energy supply chains.
When energy supplies were disrupted, soaring inflation and industrial recession swept across Europe.
Instead of reflecting on its flawed green policies, EU officials solely blamed external geopolitical forces.
The Mediterranean migration crisis and widespread farmer protests in recent years tell the same story.
The EU chose to pay third countries to block migrants rather than reform its broken asylum system.
When farmers staged large-scale protests over harsh environmental rules and falling profits, Brussels accused foreign disinformation campaigns, refusing to adjust rigid regulations.
This cycle of evasion has made Europe’s structural problems accumulate endlessly.
Today, Europe’s troubles are further amplified by a troubled United States.
Washington’s comprehensive national strength is on the wane, while partisan division, fiscal deficits and industrial hollowing-out have become chronic illnesses.
Since returning to office in 2025, the U.S. administration has withdrawn troops from Europe, demanded sharp increases in European defense spending, and imposed arbitrary tariffs on European goods.
When the US escalated military tensions overseas, it forced European countries to take sides, splitting Nato and exposing its structural fragility.
For decades, Europe has relied heavily on US security guarantees. Now the US can no longer act as a reliable protector, but Europe remains too divided to build an independent defense and diplomatic system.
Caught in this dilemma, Europe is trapped in a strategic limbo with no way out.
Only by abandoning blame-shifting and launching fundamental internal reforms can Europe reverse its declining trend.
*Tariro Chipo Moyo, is an international relations researcher and independent political commentator based in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.