It almost had to happen. The crisis, which broke out across Europe in early summer 2005 after the French and Dutch people repudiated the proposed federal constitution, had been mounting for years: the European Union (EU) had somehow lost its legitimacy, and no one could do much about it. The EU was never democratic; it had always been a project run by an elite, which in turn justified its existence by results. For most Europeans this was enough. The public had been led to believe that the EU was a new kind of political and economic organization, for which no substitute existed or could be found; it accepted the claim that history had conferred special responsibilities upon this unique institution for directing an irreversible process of development, which would strengthen Europe both morally and materially. This discredited teleology was the foundation of the EU's existence. To save the EU, one must rethink the whole integration process.

The dead certainties of yesterday ring hollow because the EU has long since broken down. The fallout has been widespread. European diplomacy has degenerated into a free for all, revived old grudges, rekindled ancient enmities, and fouled the political atmosphere. Civility has subsequently disappeared. Cooperation, even on simple matters, has become much more difficult. The US-EU friendship has been another casualty. The rise of demagogic public rhetoric and the popularity of a destructive pseudo intellectual literature, on both sides of the Atlantic, strengthen the absurd impression that Americans and Europeans belong to separate and mutually antagonistic civilizations.