1. Portraits. Official photos often say a lot: their actors, by action or inaction, charge them with meaning. Setting: a golf course owned by Donald Trump. Protagonists: the President of the United States and the President of the European Union, Ursula von der Leyen. Subject: a handshake to seal the deal. the trade agreement between the American power and the European alliance. You only have to look at Trump's defiant expression and von der Leyen's shy smile to understand what's going on: Europe's capitulation to the despotism of the American president.
The scene had been sold as a pact for 15% reciprocal tariffs in trade between the two powers. Suddenly, the European 15% has disappeared. And, as if that weren't enough, von der Leyen pledged that Europe would spend €640 billion on energy purchases from the United States. While Trump celebrated "the best agreement ever," von der Leyen asserted: "We've achieved it, and it's good." Word of honor. Achieved, what? Can anyone imagine General de Gaulle laughing at the thanks of an American president, an emblem of the most reactionary nihilism, on a golf course he owned? For von der Leyen, it seems that anything Trump wants goes. The 15% of Europe has been lost, and no one knows how it happened. Will there be any commotion in Brussels? In the current European confusion, which the president's fake smile doesn't belie, what can we expect?
Von der Leyen has long symbolized Europe's capitulation, the channeling of the Old Continent's impulses toward conservative radicalization that is creating a hole among the electorate everywhere, with the far right cornering the liberal and conservative right. Post-democratic authoritarianism is creating a hole and is increasingly finding less rejection and complicity. And European institutions are shamefully accommodating. Europe is not only slipping in the defense of its interests, but is also failing in the defense of dignity. The restraint in the face of the genocide in Gaza—let's stop using euphemisms—is an expression, at the same time, of an insecurity that prevents us from calling things by their name, of calling criminals criminals—Netanyahu no longer has any alibi—of disunity—or, to put it another way, of distrust between countries and of distrust between the humane countries that Europe had championed. The victim status of the Jews—for so long persecuted and scorned everywhere—does not give them the right to impunity when, in self-defense, they embrace the cruel practices of their executioners.
2. The fear of evil. It seems the taboo is beginning to break. It's no longer possible to be singled out as an agent of evil for denouncing the crimes of the Israeli authorities. The defense of basic rights should have no alibis, no boundaries, no exceptions, and Netanyahu has crossed all boundaries. And yet, von der Leyen continues to play with euphemisms. No, there's no room for nuance here. The "yes, however" cannot be accepted when a community is condemned to hunger, when they are denied the basic resources for survival, and when the cadaverous images of children ultimately make their way around the world. Von der Leyen and company seek nuances to blur reality. The European Union isn't taking the step. And even when Presidents Sánchez and Macron or Prime Minister Starmer prudently break the taboo, Trump's followers come out in force. It seems as if we are at a time when it is bothersome to speak ill of evil. And what's needed is always to find an alibi to justify the atrocity.
It's elementary rationality to want to know the causes of what's happening, and no sensible person can deny the atrocities committed by Hamas and company. But this doesn't give way to impunity. Nor does it make mass destruction the appropriate response. Europe, if it truly still believes that fundamental freedoms and rights are worth defending, if it doesn't want to be dragged toward the dissolution of democratic values—in vogue with Trumpism—cannot yield to anyone who raises their voice, nor lay down the red carpet for Trump, nor deny Netanyahu's criminality. On this path, we'll soon have neo-authoritarianism installed everywhere. Yield burns holes in the population. Silence is no good.
