Some think that Europe should just muddle through rather than having clearly agreed long term objectives, because the USA, China and India will decide our fate. They say that Europe is too divided with the big countries having leaders with huge egos who are unable to cooperate properly – just take a look at how Scholz and Macron fail to agree on basics…
Somehow these doubters overlook the great achievements of modern Europe. We have managed to organize a democracy over the whole region with the rule of law in most places, a joint currency, a relatively free movement of people and trade that have produced high standards of living. We have relatively gun-free societies where crime and social unrest are far less evident than in many other developed countries…
… but the really big thing, seldom talked about, is that we have a huge population and an even larger population of allies that think like us or understand us in a good way!
I will ignore India, Africa, the Middle East, and China’s populations just now and concentrate on us, on good friends, and on the USA. The latter needs to be a little separate because their politics is in a very bad way just now…
The EU member states have a total population of 450 million people and the Eurozone has 343 million, both more than the USA’s 332 million. If we add on our nearest and dearest friends the numbers soar much more – the UK has 67 million, Australia and New Zealand 31 million, and Canada 38 million.
The numbers jump another 178 million for Japan and South Korea with populations of 126 million and 52 million respectively… Even though they have clearly different cultures, they are still peaceful loving nations with high standards of living.
Altogether that makes 764 million people who are almost as European as any European can be, or, put another way that is more than twice the weighting of the US population!
With that type of clout, a lot can be achieved to make this world a better place…
… and there are more countries that could soon be added to the list like Turkey and the Balkans and in North Africa. They are already geographically close neighbours.
Some say that Europe and other “friendlies” are too different to be closer comrades compared to the United States of America – but perhaps you have not been looking recently. Is not there a big divide in the USA in politics and between many of the big states. I would hazard a guess that the USA is as divided as Europe, and if Trump comes to power these divisions will grow and not heal fast.
India and China do not want to go to war with others. They are too big and too complex to move against any foe. There are sporadic and geographically limited fights across moving borders, but their populations want a better life, not war and strife that only leads to death or poverty…
… and Russia like North Korea will become less relevant because their populations will revolt one day. Their people have nothing to lose because they already have next to nothing while their Great Leaders live the life of luxury!
And finally we have our defence force, NATO, where the combined population is 975 million…
So it is worth repeating:
With our sprawling population of some 800 million, we have the clout that should allow us to raise our ambition to make this world a better place.
Numbers talk…
