How did it come to this?
The agreement signed by the long-serving President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, with U.S. President Donald Trump may be the clearest indicator of the current economic state of the European Union. According to this agreement, tariffs on most European products in the U.S. market will be 15%. The EU has committed to purchasing American energy and weapons. On the other hand, the United States has not committed to anything.
After months of reading delusional articles in the media, where unnamed European commissioners announced revenge projects and mentioned a “trade bazooka” and other cosmic nonsense, this should come as a cold shower for anyone who still believed that the European Union was a significant player on the global trade map. Fifteen years ago, it might have been—but not anymore.
Yesterday’s event marks the capitulation, or even a complete admission, of Europe’s dependence on the U.S. Europe simply has no cards to play in negotiations.
European officials continue to embarrass themselves and all of us with statements claiming that this agreement is good because, supposedly, it could have been worse. Ursula repeats that Trump had threatened with tariffs of up to 30%, so she is convinced she managed to extract something. She simply has no clue about negotiation or the skill of securing a good deal. Trump deliberately started with such a high rate precisely so that 15% would seem like a victory for both sides, which was his goal from the beginning.
Unlike the naïve Europeans, who believe in the Commission’s media tricks, no propaganda could influence Trump. He did not back down from his demands, no matter how bad they were for both sides, and in the end, he got everything he wanted. All these months spent assuring us that the EC would “respond” were wasted. What the two of them agreed to yesterday could have been settled long ago, had the EU commissioners not put on a false show of strength.
Now we need to be honest and realistic and ask ourselves how Europe fell so low. How did it come to this? Back in 2008, just before the global recession, the EU was close to the U.S. by almost all economic indicators. But something fundamentally changed since then: the U.S. made significant progress, while the EU stagnated.
This isn’t just about the economy. The economic situation is merely the consequence of an overarching paradigm that the European Union has aggressively pushed through the media for the past 15 years. If someone doesn’t understand what I’m talking about, just look at the social media posts from the European Commission and the European Parliament in Croatia. Look at the kinds of questions they push, what they focus on: gender equality (i.e., enforcing quotas), DEI nonsense, climate action, the “right to housing.” Everything you’d expect from modern neo-Marxist textbooks is present in their posts. These people are completely obsessed with ideas that are undoubtedly leading Europe straight into economic ruin, and they seem to have no intention of stopping.
At this pace, it won’t take long before we find ourselves in a situation where everything is funded by public money—and that money won’t be worth a dime. This is a path already experienced by the people of Eastern Europe, including us in Croatia. I hope that precisely because of this, the Eastern nations will notice it in time, recognize it, and stop it—because those in the West clearly have no idea where it leads.
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