The European Union “should be abolished and sovereignty returned to individual countries, so that governments can better represent their citizens”: this refined political analysis comes from Elon Musk. Much ink has been spilled about the well-known American entrepreneur and former political actor… Yet his thesis, posted on his social platform X, however bizarre and unacceptable, has in recent days found supporters among other key figures in the United States: President Donald Trump, his Vice-President Vance, and Secretary of State Rubio. All of them have repeatedly backed positions similar to Musk’s, going so far as to point to the eclipse of European civilisation, as in Trump’s case.
Gauging the prophetic capacities of the US quartet is no easy task.
What is certain is the presence of political interference, at times threatening in tone, which is driving the two sides of the Atlantic ever further apart. And while Europe as a whole is under Russian threat, with the aggressor Putin continuing his dramatic offensive against Ukraine for the fourth consecutive year, heavy words come from Washington against Ukraine itself and its leadership; the differences with the EU-27 come to the fore and – as is now clear to everyone – the US winks at Putin.
It is possible that Musk bears a grudge against the EU following the €120 million fine imposed by the European Commission on his social platform X for failure to comply with EU transparency rules. But the content of the new US National Security Strategy, presented a few days ago, goes well beyond Musk’s protest: it marks a possible exhaustion of that Euro-Atlantic alliance forged in the post-war period, which has enabled and then achieved a growing political, economic, commercial and even socio-cultural integration between the United States and Europe.
In Brussels, efforts are being made to soften the tone and avoid open confrontation.
This is also because the EU needs the American ally on the economic, energy and even military fronts. Yet, amid the embarrassed silences of many national leaders and the cautious stance of Ursula von der Leyen (Commission) and Roberta Metsola (European Parliament), António Costa, President of the European Council, took a clear-cut stance. “We cannot accept this threat of interference in the political life of Europe,” he stated during a public event.
In these 12 months since returning to power in Washington, Trump and his team have progressively raised barriers towards Europe: one need only think of trade tariffs and parallel negotiations on Ukraine and the Middle East. Trump’s motto “America First” seems set to prevail at the expense of European allies, who, moreover, in the logic of the US President, are divided into first-tier allies (nationalists such as Orbán, Le Pen, AfD…) and second-tier allies (those who continue to envisage a democratic, strong and cohesive Europe, a “tool” for citizens’ wellbeing, and an element of peace within and beyond its borders).
These political emergencies should prompt greater attention to two documents that contain valuable indications regarding Europe’s possible role and future.
The first is the “Code for a new Europe”,
made public last September in an ancient Umbrian monastery, written after months of discussion and work by around a hundred academics, experts, and representatives of Catholic and “secular” associations and movements, precisely to envisage a new Europe: integrated, at peace, capable of guaranteeing rights and producing wellbeing, and open to the world. The reference to the July 1943 Code, drawn up in Catholic circles in wartime, which later became a source of inspiration for the Republican Constitution, is clear. The text has the merit of addressing, in three broad chapters, “the present challenges” facing the EU and the “principles and foundations for a new Europe”, before proposing a focus on “policies for a fair, sustainable and peaceful Europe”. The new Camaldoli Code has received strong endorsement from the President of the CEI, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi.
In recent days, the Code has been explicitly cited in the CEI pastoral note “Educating for a disarmed and disarming peace”.
It includes a chapter on the European Union which, besides being recommended, among others, to Italian and European Catholics, ought perhaps to be put on the desk of the White House Oval Office.
The EU, the text states, is today “the target of radical criticism and faces a crisis of confidence among the citizens of its member states. It should nevertheless be remembered that the EU is the result of a long and arduous historical and political journey that started on 9 May 1945 with the end of the Second World War. All that remained of Europe were the rubble of its cities, the wound to moral dignity represented by totalitarianisms and the Shoah, and the appalling effects of a nationalism that led to the destruction of others. Peace was not merely an option; it was a necessity, but the silencing of weapons was not enough to achieve it”.
Thus, “over the decades, first the European Economic Community and then the European Union have given European women and men the opportunity to build solid democracies, which were instrumental in both protecting rights and enabling a material and moral reconstruction of Europe. The logics of conflict between peoples and States were overcome to shape a space where to live, work, study and plan for the future, where individuals are recognised as human persons, with the rights and duties that such dignity entails”.
The process is “unfinished”, the CEI notes; “strong and numerous contradictions remain. And yet, at a time when conflict and war are once again being invoked, and others are seen only as enemies and a threat, the European Union shows us that another path is possible, that the logic of violence is not inevitable. It is no coincidence that many nationalisms turn against it, hindering the process of building a common political entity”. “Labelled as something that compresses the ‘rights’ of individual nations, some would simply abandon it, while others would reduce it to a mere market. For this very reason, it is important today to continue the path of those who, after the war, courageously chose a road of peace to be built together”.
Finally: “The contribution of Christians becomes crucial in affirming a sense of belonging to a ‘homeland’: Europe – built over these seventy years not through claims or acts of domination, but as a shared journey – must be nurtured by expanding all its potential for peace. The proposal of a renewed Camaldoli Code extended to the European level is an important proposal in this regard”.
An authoritative indication, running counter to widespread sovereignist claims and to American readings, that requires the commitment of Christians, in Italy and perhaps also across Europe.
The post European Union under fire. CEI: “A path to be pursued” first appeared on AgenSIR.