This borders on a nervous breakdown. There is hardly a French person today who does not believe that their country is heading towards the dark depths of an inevitable abyss and that Europe is on the verge of disappearing, weakened, drained of life, wiped off the map.

Well, no! Dear French people, no, not only are France and the rest of Europe not dead yet, but on the contrary: our continent is regaining its political vitality. When faced with Vladimir Putin’s imperial nostalgia, Great Britain is standing firm with the European Union. Europe has never been as united as it is today and, when faced with Donald Trump’s excesses and his attempts to come to terms with Russia, Europeans have managed to form a new power bloc with Australia, Canada, Japan and others.

It could still fail. It would be almost certain to fail if the far right came to power in Paris, London or Berlin, but for now, Europe and the Coalition of the Willing seem to have begun to open Donald Trump’s eyes. Humiliated by Vladimir Putin’s refusal to compromise on Ukraine and, above all, concerned about the strengthening ties between China and Russia, the American president is coming to realise that the United States needs its long-standing allies to face up to major new challenges.

Largely inspired by France, the Europeans’ proactive approach is beginning to change the situation. Even if Donald Trump does not ultimately move closer to Ukraine and the Europeans, Europe has regained some political muscle. Europe is at work, but what do the French see, at least the vast majority of them?

What the French see is that Hungary and Slovakia (with less than 15 million inhabitants altogether) are missing from the call for European unity, but what they do not see is that Warsaw and Berlin, London and Paris, Rome and Madrid, Lisbon and Helsinki are united in their refusal to let Putin win. The French see their governments collapsing and social unrest rumbling, but they do not see that France is playing an essential role in this affirmation of Europe.

The reason for this is that they are seized with fear.

The French believed they were a great power, magnificent and solitary. They now find themselves forced to draw their strength from European unity. Since the French Revolution and General de Gaulle, they believed they had a unique genius. They are discovering that they, too, have to reinvent a whole new political scene becaue the old one has been devastated. They believed they were at the heart of the world, but have now realised that the world no longer has rules or balance, that it needs to be rebuilt and that war is looming.

It would be easy to become depressed, but it is time for the French to remember the three words attributed to Bonaparte: ‘Impossible is not French’.

Photo: © Graeme Churchard @Flickr