The European Council should be called National Council
Blog post, 11/02/2026, by Sven Franck (en français , in Deutsch) -
TL;DR – Tomorrow, national leaders retreat to a castle in Belgium to discuss European competitiveness. Real European leaders are not expected to attend. It will thus be up to European evangelist Mario Draghi to foil the plan of Germany and Italy: Both seek for the EU to become more competitive by kowtowing to the demands of Trump, Musk & Co and wrestling competences away from the European Parliament and Commission. What's not to like?
You don't even need to be the Bürokratiemonster to understand: there are studies showing why EU supranational regulation makes Europe more competitive - notably because it's more independent from business interest, like Blackrock in the case of Friedrich Merz or Starlink for Georgia Meloni.
EU regulation, like the DSA, can be so effective, it gets its authors "kudos" in the form of sanctions - see the recent travel ban for Thierry Breton. And while some member state governments test the limits of the DSA, others like Germany and Italy seek to dismantle it. Which brings me to the point:
The people want more Europe, not more nationalism
The recent Eurobarometer showed a staggering 89% support for more European integration - yet the EU Council seems hellbent on dividing Europe. I admit the Council is needed in today's Europe, because France will never be Kentucky in no matter what dimension of the federalist multiverse. Should it play the defining role of evolving or burying the European project though? Surely not.
Keep in mind, the EU Council isn't criticizing a Commission coming out of the Parliament. It criticizes the Commission President, it appointed itself. If the Council dubs this Commission its "secretary", then the current miserable state of the European Union should also fall back on who is asking this secretary to run Europe into a wall.
What can we do? It's national governments blocking co-creating the regulation, it passes, blocks or now complains about. How about:
- We should start calling a space a spade: the EU Council is a "National Council"
- We need to move from national leadership to European leadership
- We should use the next elections in 2029 to make sure to build a counterweight to the National Council
We need a Commission that is as hellbent on European integration as national leaders meeting tomorrow are on trying to prevent it. Time to #jumpstartEU?