For Europe to Navigate a Stormy International Future, it Needs Détente with Russia

It is becoming commonplace to say that Europe is facing a historic turning point. There is however no guarantee that it will turn in the right direction. We find ourselves in this present mess largely because of three decades of “path dependency” derived from the Cold War and past automatic deference to the United States; European decisions now can lock us into new forms of path dependency for decades or generations to come. This is true above all when it comes to relations with Russia. The Ukraine peace process initiated by Donald Trump gives France and the European Union (EU) a second chance to develop the historic opportunity offered by Mikhail Gorbachev for a Common European Home – that would also, in his phrase, be a “house with many rooms”. Given present circumstances, this will obviously take a long time; but the moment when we can open or close this door is today. If they reject this chance, they risk escaping from dependence on the geopolitical megaloma