Opinion | Can Europe survive its crippling paralysis?

The brutal reality is that the European Union is failing to get its squabbling nations to work as a coherent group Reading Time:3 minutes Why you can trust SCMP Published: 5:30am, 3 Jan 2026 By any measure, 2025 will be remembered as a tipping point. Violent armed conflict escalated in many areas, notably Ukraine, Israel-Gaza-Iran-Lebanon, Pakistan-India, Thailand-Cambodia, Venezuela, Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar. It was also among the three hottest years on record and one of the most expensive for natural disaster costs. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump’s tariff wars inflicted trade uncertainty and strategically shifted global supply chains. Technology witnessed…