Paris Attacks Reveal the Outlines of a New Europe

A smaller EU with its own army can already be seen on the horizon.

“Europe will be forged in crises and will be the sum of the solutions adopted for those crises.” Those famous words from one of the European Union’s founding fathers, Jean Monnet, explain much of what is happening in Europe. The economic crisis is forcing the political union that EU leaders could not get voters to agree to. And now, in the aftermath of the Paris attacks, new, major changes are afoot.

Externally, Europe is being forced into the Middle East. France’s decision to invoke the EU’s self-defense clause instead of nato’s will have major implications for the union’s defense arrangement.