Some significant events in 2017
If we wish to outline a future scenario for Europe, it is useful to first recall certain significant events that took place during 2017. The first was at the beginning of the year, on January 31, a few days after the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States. On that date, the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, sent a letter to his colleagues – the 27 heads of state and government – in which he wrote that “The challenges currently facing the European Union are more dangerous than ever before in the time since the signature of the Treaty of Rome.”[1] He was referring to three threats the EU must face.
The first is an external threat that is linked to the new geopolitical situation in the world and around Europe: the heightened role of China which is increasingly determined to play a leading role in the word; the Russian policy toward Ukraine and its neighbors; terrorism, war and anarchy in the Middle East and Africa where radical Islam plays an important role; and also the worrying statements by the new U.S. administration.[2]
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