Europe is once again confronting a familiar but increasingly dangerous paradox: its political leaders are attempting to manage an expanding list of geopolitical and social obligations while its economic foundations show signs of stagnation. Across Brussels and the European capitals, there is no shortage of summits, strategies, and declarations. Yet there is a growing shortage of coherent prioritization. The result is a continent that is strategically ambitious but economically constrained-an imbalance that is becoming harder to ignore.

At the heart of Europe’s current predicament is not a single crisis, but a convergence of structural pressures. Security threats from Russia, uncertainty in transatlantic relations, demographic decline, weak productivity growth, and high public debt are all interacting at the same time. Each would be difficult to manage in isolation. Together, they form what can reasonably be described as an economic emergency-not in the sense of sudden collapse, but in the more serious sense of long-term erosion of capacity.

The European Union’s institutional response, however, remains fragmented. Policy discussions frequently oscillate between urgent geopolitical concerns and long-term structural reforms without successfully integrating the two. As a result, Europe risks underinvesting in both its security and its economic competitiveness.

The most striking feature of Europe’s current policy debate is the relative absence of sustained focus on economic growth. While defense spending targets, climate commitments, and regulatory reforms dominate headlines, the question of productivity and long-term growth potential often receives secondary attention. This is despite the fact that growth is the enabling condition for nearly all other ambitions.

Without stronger growth, Europe cannot simultaneously expand defense capacity, maintain extensive welfare systems, and manage rising debt burdens. This is not a matter of political preference but of arithmetic. Fiscal space is finite, and Europe’s demographic trajectory is tightening it further. A shrinking........

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