Europe’s weight in the world is decreasing – 3 big changes

The European Union started the five-year term of the new Commission and Parliament with a setup marked by three major drivers of change.

They are the legacy of the crises of recent years, the changed political power relations and the weakening role of the EU in the world, sees a senior researcher at the Foreign Policy Institute Tuomas Iso-Markku.

The crises of recent years, primarily Russia’s illegal war of aggression in Ukraine, have brought security and defense policy strongly onto the EU’s agenda.

Citizens have also been worried about the rising cost of living.

The crises and their side effects have also led to the fact that the EU recognizes the need for quick and immediate policy actions.

“Now we aim for quick reactions, which leads to the fact that politics can be more short-sighted than before,” says Iso-Markku.

New power relations

Political power relations have changed both in individual member states and in the European Parliament.

“The political field is even more fragmented, which leads to the building of even more diverse majorities. They can have very different political forces,” says Iso-Markku.

In the European elections, both the center-right and the far-right won the election. It has brought new priorities to the EU’s activities.

The rise of the center-right can be seen in the fact that competitiveness has become a key part of the new commission’s agenda.

“The rise of the far right, on the other hand, affects the fact that strict immigration and asylum policies have become mainstream.”

The third big change factor is the EU’s decreasing weight in the world and the tightening of great power politics. Europe’s economic, political and demographic importance has been shrinking for a long time.

“Europe is simply a smaller factor in the world than it has been before. It has been seen quite tangibly in the limited role the EU has played so far in the conflict in the Middle East. The EU has been more of a bystander than an actor,” says Iso-Markku.

The leaders discussed Niinistö’s report

Thursday’s EU summit in Brussels discussed the president Sauli Niinistön Preparedness report written for the EU. Niinistö did not participate in the summit itself.

The European Council urged the Union to strengthen preparedness and crisis resilience based on Niinistö’s report. The commission was refused to prepare a strategy for preparing for crises.

According to Iso-Marku, Niinistö’s report is an attempt to bring Finland’s overall security model up to the EU level.

“It emphasizes preparation for very different threats, not only military ones, but also crisis situations brought about by, for example, climate change.”

Iso-Markku states that the report provides a good snapshot of the EU’s operating environment, and it is extensive and detailed.

On the other hand, the report proposes few new measures and does not offer raffley withdrawals.

The report’s biggest challenge is that it may be difficult to bring the Finnish model to the EU level, because it is based on Finland’s own historical and geographical context.

In Iso-Marku’s opinion, the report would have been more impressive if it had taken a more detailed position on what should be done about preparedness at the EU level.

“The report states that citizens need to be more strongly involved in preparedness. But is the EU the right operating environment to do it, because the EU is often perceived as a distant and foreign actor.”