Europe Suffering at the Hands of its Member States

In the context of a rise of populisms in Europe (recently exemplified in the Italian elections) and of UK withdrawal from the European Union, the European project is under great strain, despite the efforts in late 2017 by France and the president of the European Commission to give it a boost. Yet, in many cases, the European institutions are distinctly more able than national governments to resolve problems or bring progress to European societies, and potentially more efficient at doing so. This is what emerges from this column, which stresses how much the “go-it-alone” attitude of certain member states can turn out to be harmful, including for those who adopt it. Jean-François Drevet draws here on three emblematic ranges of issues: the struggle against fiscal dumping, coping with illegal immigration and economic protectionism. In all three cases, it is clear, as he sees it, that the European Union is much more the solution than the source of problems, but can the member states grasp this?