The two countries doing the most to define the European Union this year are two that are not in it. At the outer edges of a fierce battle over who gets to design the new architecture of Europe sits Ukraine to the east, negotiating a European accession amid war, and Canada to the west, constructing a new form of European partnership. Canadian prime minister Mark Carney said this would take the shape of “a unique alliance”, after the Wall Street Journal revealed his desire for Canada to become an “associate member” of the bloc. EU officials are reportedly open to the suggestion.

European integration began as a civilisational and political project to create co-operation and became, after the Cold War, a political-economic bloc that talked endlessly about strategic autonomy – even if it did little to achieve this.

For three decades, the European project existed with the support of the Pentagon’s military power, Silicon Valley’s technology, Russia’s cheap gas and China’s low-cost manufacturing. The notion of strategic autonomy only worked as long as it was not challenged.

What is now emerging is a different Europe that is rapidly drawing up new economic, military, technological and institutional plans for survival. It is being reorganised on a war footing, with its political elite concluding that war will be the organising condition of new European politics.

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