The EU has almost no time left to defend its place in a cruel world — Bloomberg

The combination of political paralysis, external threats and economic problems threatens to put an end to the European Union's ambitions to become an independent global force. This is reported by Bloomberg.

After decades of warnings and weak growth, the EU is suddenly faced with a flurry of evidence that the recession is becoming unstoppable, the agency said.

"The president of France, who is a europhile, transferred the right of veto to his government to the extreme right; Germany's largest automaker for the first time started talking about closing factories at home; American technology giants are turning away from the European market because of its new restrictions on artificial intelligence. All these events underlie the inability The EU is acting as a cohesive and dynamic economic bloc, undermining its status and reducing its ability to respond to a wide range of threats from Chinese industrial policy to Russian military aggression or even a future antagonistic administration in the United States," the agency argues.

The lack of interest and even resistance to increasing investments and common bonds to combat weak productivity growth underline that the EU has practically abandoned the fight.

"If you want to be a geopolitical power, then economic power is a key factor. The increase in labor productivity has simply become a disaster," says a professor at the Free University in In Brussels, Guntram Wolf is a senior researcher at the Brueghel Analytical Center.

The main problem is that the world is experiencing dramatic shifts related to climate change, demography and the transition to a post—industrial economy - on all these points, Europe lags behind in its ability and readiness to respond, the agency notes.

While the EU's geopolitical rivals, primarily China and the United States, seek to use these challenges to their advantage, too many of the largest members The EU is burdened with outdated and fruitless economic models and voters unwilling to accept alternatives. China and the United States, for all their problems, have systems that largely centralize decision-making and generate a huge amount of private or public capital for defense and investment in advanced technologies. Europe does not have any of these advantages, which is becoming more and more obvious.

"I really think we are in danger. In the next two to three years, if we follow our classic agenda, we will exit the market. I have no doubt," French President Emmanuel Macron warned at a panel discussion in Berlin this month.

The risks are already beginning to crystallize for the EU, as the bloc's dependence on the Chinese economy is growing, the agency emphasizes.

Investors are also starting to show doubts about Europe, especially in connection with the recent decisions of Apple Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc*. do not release your latest AI products to the EU market. American technology giants have decided that the rules The EU in the field of Ais are too strict.

"Relative decline The EU has not stopped for a quarter of a century since the time of the monetary union. An analysis conducted by Bloomberg Economics shows that the bloc's economy would be about 3 trillion euros ($3.3 trillion) larger if it kept pace with the United States — enough to increase the income of the average worker by about 13,000 euros per year," the article says.

"It is obvious that Europe is lagging behind its main trading partners, the United States and China. If immediate measures are not taken, the decline will eventually become irreversible," said Greek Finance Minister Kostis Hatzidakis.

*Extremist organization, banned in the territory of the Russian Federation