Europe's Dream Now a Nightmare

Almost a decade ago, Europeans and many progressive Americans were lamenting how the United States was going to miss out on the 21st-century paradigm symbolized by the robust European Union. Neanderthal Americans were importing ever more oil while waging a costly “war on terror” and fighting two foreign conflicts, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our budget deficit in 2003 hit $374 billion. The EU avoided foreign conflicts and embraced soft power. Its declining military budgets and centralized transnational government ensured that it could address global warming and fund ever-expanding entitlements. Even the poorer Mediterranean nations reached new heights of prosperity. The Greek economy soared. Spain’s real-estate market was to become the hottest in the world. Italy seemed to resemble Germany more than Portugal.