Europe’s Test Is a Stronger Union,
Not a Looser One
In a more dangerous world, Europe’s answer cannot be retreat or fragmentation. It must be a deeper, more confident union — one that turns shared challenges into lasting strength.
By Adrian WhitmoreColumnist
2 October 2026 | Brussels, Belgium | 7 min read
For decades, the European Union has been a remarkable experiment — a union of former adversaries choosing cooperation over conflict, rules over raw power. It has delivered peace, prosperity and a shared sense of purpose to a continent that once knew too much division.
Yet today, that achievement is again under strain. A more assertive Russia, a less predictable America and a world order in flux have exposed uncomfortable truths. Europe can no longer rely on the assumptions that once guaranteed its security and influence. The question before us is not whether the EU should change, but whether it has the political will to become stronger rather than looser.
“A Europe that stands together is not a threat
to national identity, but its strongest guarantee.”
Calls for a “return to national control” may be politically seductive, but they offer no credible solution to the challenges we face. In a world of continental powers and global competition, smaller, fragmented European states would be less secure, less prosperous and less able to shape their own destiny.