Our Europe

I'd like to see Europe change in several ways. It is an old continent with an anemic economy and regulation-heavy bureaucracy. It is very slow and undetermined when it comes to managing urgent problems. It doesn't have a common foreign or defense policy, and it's highly unlikely that it will in the near future. All that and much more is currently missing from Europe. At the same time, though, I'm very glad it exists - for the international system and for us here in Greece.

For all the criticism which can be made of Europe, it has a welfare state that is far superior to any other worldwide (barring Canada's). It sounds obvious, but it isn't. This is a continent without guns, fundamentalist ideas on religion or abortion, or issues of obesity, hunger or functional illiteracy. Sure, it's plagued by contrast and contradiction and, occasionally, internal conflict.

But it...