The situation we live in is showing that Europe needs to rethink its political strategy. To this extend it is necessary to frame a long term vision that can ensure a real European weight in the future.
It is to this extend terrible to say that Europe lacks champions. For instance Alcatel was a kind of super Huawei but now has disappeared. That is the reason why it can be said that the western world, especially Europe, lacks a real sense of prospective. It looks that the European Union lacked real long term investments. That is the reason why Emmanuel Macron made a speech concerning the Investment plan 2030, which is targeting to position France in the coming years in strategical industries, for instance in space. He did the same in a speech to the armies, saying that France must not miss a war, and must not win intellectually the previous war, but instead prepare the future. This mentality is very relevant : it is really necessary to think again in the long run, to put in place again plans, as it existed during de Gaulle or Pompidou.
That is the reason why it is necessary to build long term actions. Maybe inspiring from China can be, to some extend, a real solution. China looks to think in the long run, to create real champions. Huawei is an example of this : this company benefitted from massive investments from the government. This cooperation between the state and companies among long term strategies look to be really efficient. The neo liberal system the Western world is dominated by doesn’t look to sustain the competition with this system. There is a competition, in this context, between the neo liberal system stemmed from the School of Chicago in the 1970’s and the Keynesian system in the economy put in place by Deng Xiaoping. It looks necessary to rebuild massive investments. Obama, but Trump and Biden as well, are putting themselves in this long term competition, especially the technological one.
Europe risks to be a big loser of this competition. To this extend it is possible to say that Europe is on the verge of putting itself in a great dependency, in many sectors of the economy. It concerns cars for instance. The lack of strategy, once again, put Europe dependant on China concerning this sector, which can extend to the plane sector in the coming years : the C919 will be able very soon to compete with Airbus and Boeing. That is the reason why it looks necessary to adopt the strategy of massive investments, aiming at preparing the future.
The current situation looks similar to England and Germany at the end of the XIXth century. England was dominated by an ultraliberal power, while Germany was associating more the state and companies, which was in a way an ancestor of the Keynesian system. The rise of Germany has been able to threaten the power of England. It is, to some extend, the same today : that is the reason why the Western world needs to adapt and adopt again a Keynesian system which is more efficient in the long run. Europe must also follow this path. But is looks that this approach is not taken enough yet. That is the reason why this situation looks to be pretty dangerous. And Europe has the ability to change, but it doesn’t have so much time to do so.
The observer 