The European Union is facing an irreversible economic decline and increasing internal fragmentation due to a lack of political courage among the bloc’s leaders, according to an analysis published by Euractiv.
The article cites data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) showing that the EU’s share of global output has halved since 1980. During the same period, Germany’s share of the bloc’s economy has fallen from one-quarter to one-fifth.
According to Euractiv, the decline is linked to Germany’s diminishing political influence within the EU, while no alternative power center has emerged to fill the gap. As evidence, the publication points to a recent summit where European leaders failed to reach consensus on nearly every major issue, from the accession of new member states to migration policy.
Fabian Zuleeg, head of the European Policy Centre, told the outlet that the world is becoming not more multipolar but increasingly fragmented, a trend that can only be slowed rather than reversed.
However, he argued that even this would require leaders with strong domestic backing or at least political courage — qualities that, in his view, are largely lacking among the current generation of European prime ministers and presidents.
By Jeyhun Aghazada
