The fact is, the detractors argue, that Europe is over-regulated. Piles of red tape and punitive taxes mean that there are no trillion-dollar entrepreneurial ventures in France or Germany that rival Amazon, Google or Tesla. But that’s not all Europe lacks. The continent also lacks broligarchs – tech powerhouses who run corporate giants, some of whom have a tighter grip on power than on reality. So there are no Silicon Valley Rasputins pumping untold millions into political campaigns, receiving honorary seats at leaders’ inaugurations or even running their own ministries. Europe, alas, has few unicorns, billion-dollar tech startups and too little innovation. But there are also no tech CEOs who brag on social media about “grinding up parts of the country in a meat grinder” on weekends.
The fact is that Europe is indecisive, too slow to react. Every crisis requires a series of summits of EU leaders, often with late-night squabbling. The tedious process of consensus decision-making can dramatically slow down the EU: in 2020, it took four days and four nights of haggling to reach an agreement on the bloc’s latest seven-year budget. But, on the other hand, the European administrative apparatus does not shut down arbitrarily every few years due to the failure to reach a political agreement on the budget, leaving millions of public sector employees on forced leave and basic services unavailable for days or weeks. The consensus rule also means that the whimsical tweets of individual politicians, say about 125% tariffs on China, do not send global stock markets into a tailspin. EU officials are not elected and are sometimes beyond accountability. Yet they wouldn't dare take pictures on the golf course after wiping out the life savings of millions of their compatriots.
The fact is, many argue, that Europe is lagging behind when it comes to defense, that it does not allocate enough for its own armed forces to be able to deal with security threats on its own. This is likely to remain the case for a long time to come, even as most European countries gradually increase their military budgets. But this approach also reflects a different understanding of what “defense” even means. For example, no one in Europe, at least with the possible exception of Russia, even casually hints at planning to invade neighboring countries. No one in Brussels jokes about making an unwilling neighbor “our 28th member” (on the contrary, many of the EU’s neighbors desperately want to join). Also, European vice presidents do not go unannounced to regions they want to annex, under the pretext that their spouse wanted to watch a sled race. Europe may have been skimping on intelligence gathering, but its leaders do know who started the war in Ukraine (hint: it’s not Ukraine). Many of them foresaw the pitfalls of invading Iraq long ago.
The fact is that Europe does not have an absolutist attitude towards free speech. Consider how judges in Romania and France have sidelined the political careers of hard-rightists who convinced themselves (with scant evidence) that their troubles were caused by their beliefs, not by breaking the law. Yet to many Europeans, the claim that freedom of expression is under threat seems strange. In theory and practice, Europeans can say almost anything they want. European universities have never become strongholds for “unwanted speech” hunters, on either side of the cultural front. In almost any European university complex (except perhaps Hungary), you can express a controversial opinion without fear of losing your job or research grant. Foreigners who have the “wrong” view on Gaza are not sent to detention centers; newspaper editors are not sued for interviewing opposition politicians. Nor do law firms have to kneel before presidents expressing remorse for having previously worked for their political opponents.
It is also a fact that Europe is facing a demographic crisis. The sharp decline in population is now being offset by a surge in the workforce thanks to immigrants, some of whom are finding it difficult to integrate. Such immigration is a sign of the attractiveness of the European way of life; for those fleeing war, it also reflects Europe’s generosity (which is sometimes misdirected). And while Europeans occasionally demonstratively tighten measures against illegal migration, in practice they rely heavily on legal migrants to, for example, harvest their crops.
The fact is that the European economy is chronically stuck, which serves as a global cautionary tale. And no wonder. Europeans take collective vacations in August, retire while still in their prime, and spend more time with family and at the table than residents of any other part of the world. Oddly enough, surveys show that people in both rich and poor countries highly value vacation time; Europeans have somehow managed to convince their employers to give them more of it.
Europeans, in their slow and unpretentious way, have managed to create a society in which they are guaranteed rights that others around the world only dream of: the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
And while they were supposedly "damaging GDP" by playing with their children, Europeans have at the same time managed to keep inequality relatively low, while it has exploded in other parts of the world over the past two decades. No one in Europe spent last Sunday looking at their stock market and wondering if they can still afford to send their children to college. The term "health bankruptcy" means nothing to Europeans. And yes, no EU leader has ever launched their own cryptocurrency.
The fact is that Europe is naive, the only global trading bloc that still adheres to moral norms. It insists on respecting World Trade Organization rules or, say, fulfilling its role in reducing carbon emissions. Europe is not a place that requires allies to crawl at its feet and beg for tariff "favors."
The fact is that Europe resembles an open-air museum, a continent of the past. Is its model even sustainable? A good question, which implies that the European model is worth defending. Europe is a place with walkable cities, long life expectancies, and vaccinated children who don't have to learn how to avoid gun attacks in schools.
Europe is full of flaws, many of them persistent and deeply rooted. But Europeans, in their slow and unpretentious way, have managed to create a society in which they are guaranteed rights that others around the world can only dream of: the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Translation: NB
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