State of the (European) Union - To be or not to be
By Anders Månsson, Senior Advisor at Ventures Accelerated
March 18, 2026
A Continent in Turmoil: Europe in a Changing World Order
Inspired by the custom for a State of the Union address in the United States, such as the one delivered by Donald Trump a few weeks ago, I challenged myself to examine the state of the European Union in these times of turmoil. It is clear that the European Union (and I am tempted to include the United Kingdom in this collective description, despite its formal outside status) is experiencing shocks and convulsions as a result of what has been described as the “new world order”. This new global state has been largely ushered in by revised US policies and bold geopolitical actions, as well as by the continuous encroachment on the European eastern border caused by the merciless war fought in Ukraine, with casualties approaching one million.
A Young Union in an Old World
My first observation, as I try to gauge the state of the union, is that although Europe is obviously part of the “old world”, and although Europe can be said to have given birth to modern America, it is clear that our union — the European Union — is much younger than the American union of states. The EU has existed as a political union for only a few decades, which amounts to little more than “puppy age” in geopolitical dog years. Still, the EU has fared reasonably well, expanded considerably, and grown in popularity among its citizens, despite pockets of nationalistic opposition. Even the EU’s greatest failure, the inability to retain the United Kingdom, did not create the rift many predicted. Ironically, in today’s conflict-ridden world of tumultuous change and eroding stability, the EU and the UK appear more united and aligned on key issues than when they were politically joined, just a few years ago. It would seem that the bonds of friendship, trade, geography, and above all common values continue to tie us together, even after political shackles break. That is, at least, hopeful.
The Sovereignty Trap: From Consensus to Action
For I think that now, perhaps more than ever before in my lifetime, we need a strong Europe centered around its core values, and we need it to have a clear voice on the world stage. But how do we ensure this? I think the European Union faces an existential question: will it remain a loosely held-together house of many separate rooms, or finally become one home built around a shared foundation of purpose and power?
Three key themes capture the heart of this question:
How Europe makes decisions ?
How it protects itself ?
How it builds fairness and coherence across its vast economic landscape ?
On decision making, few features of the European Union’s architecture have caused more friction than the right of a single member state to veto collective action. Designed originally as a safeguard of sovereignty, the unanimity rule has too often become a tool of paralysis. In a world where crises unfold in days, not years, consensus has turned from virtue to vulnerability.
Moving decisively toward qualified majority voting (QMV) across more policy areas, particularly in foreign affairs, energy, trade alliances, and matters of defense, would mark a historic turning point. It would not erase national voices but amplify the collective one. Europe’s strength lies not in every member pulling equally, but in all pulling together.
There can of course be legitimate concern that smaller nations could lose influence. But that risk can be mitigated through transparent negotiation, guarantees of inclusion, and through a strong reaffirmation of subsidiarity, letting decisions rest at the most local level that makes sense. But without a shift toward majority based governance on matters of global concerns, the Union’s most worthy ambitions will remain hostage to the narrowest objections, to tribalism, and notably to outside pressure and scare-tactics targeting its weakest points. In a world where foreign initiatives on economic coercion and geopolitical domineering do not wait for defensive action based on unanimous consent, standing still does not preserve the status quo, it produces decline.
Beyond Dependence: Europe’s Path to Strategic Autonomy
On defense, the EU must also consider its geopolitical dependencies when it comes to critical goods and services. The EU’s large dependence on external powers for semiconductors, advanced software, energy sources, and defense infrastructure has become untenable in the long-term.
The lesson of recent times is plain: increasing strategic independence is not isolationism; it is maturity in facing a new geopolitical reality. Change in this regard is not quick and easy, but that is no excuse for not getting started. Europe's collective security, like its prosperity, depends on reducing reliance on others for the technologies that frame tomorrow’s world. If that requires new treaties or the pooling of sovereignty in previously unthinkable ways, so be it. The alternative is a Europe forever “strategically autonomous” in words but not in deeds.
European Inc.: Completing the Single Market
Finally, on harmonization across the economic landscape, the EU was founded on the promise of free movement - of goods, capital, people, and ideas. Yet even now, entrepreneurs across the continent navigate a maze of national company laws, tax systems, and compliance regimes. The fragmentation impedes innovation, especially for small and mediumsized enterprises that should be the engines of Europe’s next wave of growth, like for example the biotech business.
A “European Inc.” legal identity could be the next major step toward genuine economic integration. It would allow firms to operate under one unified corporate statute across all member states, recognized equally in Paris and Prague. Such a model would simplify crossborder investment, harmonize employee rights and governance standards, and strengthen the EU’s internal market as a single business space, not 27 overlapping ones. And this harmonization would also attract capital; “for sure”, as President Macron would put it!