{"id":409374,"date":"2025-10-21T09:03:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T07:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=409374"},"modified":"2025-10-21T09:03:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T07:03:11","slug":"europes-terminal-decline-the-philosopher-queens-and-their-ruinous-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=409374","title":{"rendered":"Europe\u2019s Terminal Decline: The Philosopher Queens and Their Ruinous Rule"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"723\" height=\"477\" data-attachment-id=\"409382\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?attachment_id=409382\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQMN814E7xOP8SP_-179FwfAfHYLspVO1CQGVZEwQY5BNS2KDQJTVk7aLHD6lZytMFIbbPZA8QlAQbdCFYs5qU1G1a9TWQ-QcvZM2tXG5bwrebGe0Yz0mq2dRlTZyivX-1.jpeg?fit=1503%2C991&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1503,991\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"0AQMN814E7xOP8SP_-179FwfAfHYLspVO1CQGVZEwQY5BNS2KDQJTVk7aLHD6lZytMFIbbPZA8QlAQbdCFYs5qU1G1a9TWQ-QcvZM2tXG5bwrebGe0Yz0mq2dRlTZyivX (1)\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQMN814E7xOP8SP_-179FwfAfHYLspVO1CQGVZEwQY5BNS2KDQJTVk7aLHD6lZytMFIbbPZA8QlAQbdCFYs5qU1G1a9TWQ-QcvZM2tXG5bwrebGe0Yz0mq2dRlTZyivX-1.jpeg?fit=723%2C477&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQMN814E7xOP8SP_-179FwfAfHYLspVO1CQGVZEwQY5BNS2KDQJTVk7aLHD6lZytMFIbbPZA8QlAQbdCFYs5qU1G1a9TWQ-QcvZM2tXG5bwrebGe0Yz0mq2dRlTZyivX-1.jpeg?resize=723%2C477&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Ursula von der Leyen speaking at a podium with the European Union flag in the background.\" class=\"wp-image-409382\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQMN814E7xOP8SP_-179FwfAfHYLspVO1CQGVZEwQY5BNS2KDQJTVk7aLHD6lZytMFIbbPZA8QlAQbdCFYs5qU1G1a9TWQ-QcvZM2tXG5bwrebGe0Yz0mq2dRlTZyivX-1.jpeg?resize=1024%2C675&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQMN814E7xOP8SP_-179FwfAfHYLspVO1CQGVZEwQY5BNS2KDQJTVk7aLHD6lZytMFIbbPZA8QlAQbdCFYs5qU1G1a9TWQ-QcvZM2tXG5bwrebGe0Yz0mq2dRlTZyivX-1.jpeg?resize=300%2C198&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQMN814E7xOP8SP_-179FwfAfHYLspVO1CQGVZEwQY5BNS2KDQJTVk7aLHD6lZytMFIbbPZA8QlAQbdCFYs5qU1G1a9TWQ-QcvZM2tXG5bwrebGe0Yz0mq2dRlTZyivX-1.jpeg?resize=768%2C506&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQMN814E7xOP8SP_-179FwfAfHYLspVO1CQGVZEwQY5BNS2KDQJTVk7aLHD6lZytMFIbbPZA8QlAQbdCFYs5qU1G1a9TWQ-QcvZM2tXG5bwrebGe0Yz0mq2dRlTZyivX-1.jpeg?resize=1200%2C791&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQMN814E7xOP8SP_-179FwfAfHYLspVO1CQGVZEwQY5BNS2KDQJTVk7aLHD6lZytMFIbbPZA8QlAQbdCFYs5qU1G1a9TWQ-QcvZM2tXG5bwrebGe0Yz0mq2dRlTZyivX-1.jpeg?w=1503&amp;ssl=1 1503w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQMN814E7xOP8SP_-179FwfAfHYLspVO1CQGVZEwQY5BNS2KDQJTVk7aLHD6lZytMFIbbPZA8QlAQbdCFYs5qU1G1a9TWQ-QcvZM2tXG5bwrebGe0Yz0mq2dRlTZyivX-1.jpeg?w=1446&amp;ssl=1 1446w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 723px) 100vw, 723px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From <a href=\"https:\/\/tilakdoshi.substack.com\/p\/europes-terminal-decline-the-philosopher\">Tilak\u00b4s Substack<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/@tilakdoshi\">Tilak Doshi<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"517\" height=\"292\" data-attachment-id=\"409380\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?attachment_id=409380\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-425.png?fit=517%2C292&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"517,292\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"image\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-425.png?fit=517%2C292&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-425.png?resize=517%2C292&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Close-up facial images of two women, highlighting their expressions and details of their skin textures, with a focus on their similarities and differences.\" class=\"wp-image-409380\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-425.png?w=517&amp;ssl=1 517w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-425.png?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 517px) 100vw, 517px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>These two \u201cpoliticians\u201d have brought Europe to ruin. The left one is doubly guilty because she brought the right one to power. Open borders plus deindustrialization for the climate. Historians will, in a few hundred years, after the new Muslim Middle Ages, puzzle over what drove European civilization to suicide (An X post by Chris Veber\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ChrisVeber1\/status\/1940673113550659636\">https:\/\/x.com\/ChrisVeber1\/status\/1940673113550659636<\/a>\u00a0)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-twitter\"><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"de\" dir=\"ltr\">Diese zwei &quot;Politikerinnen&quot; haben Europa verendet. Wobei die Linke doppelt schuldig ist, weil sie die Rechte an die Macht gebracht hat.<br><br>Offen Grenzen plus Deindustrialisierung f\u00fcrs Klimer. Historiker werden in ein paar hundert Jahren, nach dem neuen muslimischen Mittelalter,\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mNIxsF6VOi\">pic.twitter.com\/mNIxsF6VOi<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Chris Veber (@ChrisVeber1) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChrisVeber1\/status\/1940673113550659636?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 3, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/ursula-von-der-leyen-and-the-polarized-european-parliament\/a-74268990\">faced two more challenges to her position in the European Parliament<\/a>\u00a0last week. She received support from just over half the members of the 720-seat European Parliament in both votes. Neither of the motions of no confidence had a chance of securing the two-thirds majority required to eject the President but still they served as the latest reminder of the increasingly fractured European Parliament and its growing populist factions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Patriots for Europe group, a conservative-populist faction which participated in the parliamentary motion, includes lawmakers from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Fidesz&nbsp;<\/em>party and the&nbsp;<em>Rassemblement National<\/em>&nbsp;(RN) party of Marine Le Pen in France. It criticised the EC\u2019s climate, migration and economic policies. The conservative faction in European politics parallels President Trump\u2019s characteristically blunt&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dailysceptic.org\/2025\/09\/28\/trumps-un-speech-the-climate-emperor-now-stands-exposed\/\">address to the United Nations<\/a>. He had described Europe as \u201cgoing to hell\u201d through its twin obsessions with mass migration and green energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the same week as the challenging votes in the European parliament, one of Germany\u2019s foremost energy experts, Fritz Vahrenholt,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/notrickszone.com\/2025\/10\/11\/german-energy-expert-warns-germanys-energy-supply-madness-energy-security-on-the-line\/\">stated<\/a>&nbsp;that Germany is in the grips of an \u201cenergy madness\u201d. The country in his view is headed towards a supply crisis as early as 2030. With every coal or nuclear power plant shut down, supply security is crumbling as the federal Government continues with its&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dailysceptic.org\/2024\/12\/27\/germanys-economic-and-political-suicide\/\">disastrous&nbsp;<\/a><em><a href=\"https:\/\/dailysceptic.org\/2024\/12\/27\/germanys-economic-and-political-suicide\/\">Energiewende<\/a><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/dailysceptic.org\/2024\/12\/27\/germanys-economic-and-political-suicide\/\">&nbsp;experiment<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ms von der Leyen, alas, is not alone in her&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/385740873_Suicidal_Empathy_The_Danger_of_Compassion_Without_Limits\">suicidal empathy<\/a>, a condition which scholar Gad Saad defines as \u201cexcessive compassion that undermines societal cohesion, values and security when it lacks limits\u201d. The objects of such \u201cexcessive compassion\u201d could be polar bears that&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/wattsupwiththat.com\/2024\/06\/14\/new-hudson-bay-sea-ice-modelling-paper-is-more-utterly-useless-fearmongering-about-polar-bears\/\">refuse to go extinct<\/a>&nbsp;despite the repeated claims of climate alarmists or the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/download\/3yuvalnoahharari21lessonsforthe21stcentury\/The%20Strange%20Death%20of%20Europe%20Immigration%20-%20Douglas%20Murray.pdf\">economic migrants<\/a>&nbsp;from the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere that falsely claim refugee status in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>From Merkel\u2019s Folly to Ursula\u2019s Creed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Plato\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Republic<\/em>, the ideal state was ruled by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/hedgehogreview.com\/issues\/political-mythologies\/articles\/the-first-authoritarian\">philosopher kings<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 enlightened guardians who alone could perceive truth hidden from ordinary folk. Two millennia later, Europe\u2019s fate lies not with kings but with&nbsp;<em>philosopher queens<\/em>&nbsp;\u2014 women of unimpeachable confidence, certain of their own virtue and contemptuous of dissent. Angela Merkel, Ursula von der Leyen, Annalena Baerbock and Kaja Kallas together form a sisterhood of hubris that has guided the continent into its gravest crisis since 1945. Their vision \u2014 green utopia, open borders, perpetual warmongering \u2014 has produced instead economic decay, social fragmentation and geopolitical irrelevance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Germany\u2019s \u2013 and by extension, Western Europe\u2019s \u2013 long descent began under Merkel\u2019s dual obsessions: shutting down nuclear and coal power in favour of windmills and solar panels and opening the borders to mass migration from the Middle East and North Africa. Germany\u2019s&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Energiewende\">Energiewende<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;(energy transition) promised a cleaner, safer future but delivered only intermittent electricity, astronomical energy prices and deindustrialisation. When Merkel welcomed over a million migrants in 2015, the \u2018doctors and engineers\u2019 she promised as an antidote to Western Europe\u2019s low fertility rates&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomsbury.com\/uk\/the-strange-death-of-europe-9781472942241\/\">failed to materialise<\/a>. What Germany and the EU at large received was an influx of fighting-age, crime-prone males and their dependants, few employable, many hostile to assimilation and all eager clients of an already overstretched welfare state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The social consequences were predictable: crime surges and parallel societies in the streets of Cologne and Berlin, as in many other cities of Europe ranging from&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gatestoneinstitute.org\/5195\/sweden-rape\">Malmo<\/a>&nbsp;in Sweden to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spectator.co.uk\/article\/the-strange-silence-around-the-southport-attacks\/\">Southport<\/a>&nbsp;in England. The economic consequences were equally dire. As industry fled to the United States and Asia in search of affordable energy, Germany \u2014 once Europe\u2019s workshop \u2014 now faces&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/europe\/2024\/09\/26\/germany-economy-stagnation-ing\/\">stagnation<\/a>. Yet Merkel\u2019s reward was canonisation by Brussels and the pliant media as the moral conscience of Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In stepped Ursula von der Leyen, whose earlier career as Germany\u2019s defence minister was a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/eutoday.net\/ursula-von-der-leyens-troubled-tenure-as-german-defence-minister\/\">masterclass in incompetence<\/a>. By 2018, the&nbsp;<em>Bundeswehr&nbsp;<\/em>possessed barely a handful of operational tanks and aircraft. What mattered, however, was not readiness but rectitude: gender quotas and diversity seminars counted for more than functioning tanks and helicopters. Her promotion to the presidency of the European Commission \u2014 unelected, unaccountable and serenely self-assured \u2014 was little surprise. In Brussels, failure is the ultimate credential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Von der Leyen has since elevated the&nbsp;<em>Energiewende<\/em>&nbsp;to the continental scale. In her \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/commission\/presscorner\/detail\/en\/SPEECH_25_2053\">State of the European Union<\/a>\u2018 address delivered last month, she doubled down on the \u201cgreen transformation\u201d even as Europe\u2019s industries collapse under electricity costs triple those in the United States. Germany\u2019s deindustrialisation accelerates; Britain (under both Conservative and Labour governments)&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/tilakdoshi.substack.com\/p\/starmers-eu-reset-tethers-the-uk\">tethers itself<\/a>&nbsp;to the EU\u2019s climate and immigration policies and shutters steelworks, refineries and offshore oil and gas operations. Yet von der Leyen\u2019s Orwellian sermonising continues, invoking economic competitiveness and energy security while throttling the very fossil fuels sector that would deliver economic growth and affordable energy. In effect, Europe has become a civilisation offering to sacrifice its productive capacity at the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/tilakdoshi\/2023\/08\/13\/the-not-so-strange-death-of-europe-cultural-sacrifice-at-the-altar-of-gaia\/\">altar of Gaia<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Von der Leyen\u2019s climate fundamentalism is matched only by her zeal for moral policing. Hungary\u2019s Viktor Orb\u00e1n is denounced as an \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/ursula-von-der-leyen-attacks-viktor-orban-support-russia-speech-eu-european-parliament-hungary-ukraine-war\/\">ally of Russia<\/a>\u201d for daring to continue importing affordable gas supplies and to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/eus-von-der-leyen-slams-100431183.html\">reject mass immigration<\/a>&nbsp;in defence of Christian traditions of family and nation. Slovakia\u2019s Robert Fico earns similar scorn. Their refusal to embrace unvetted mass migration and the latest \u2018woke\u2019 gender dogmas while not supporting the EU\u2019s escalating war rhetoric marks them as heretics to the European creed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/HungaryBased\/status\/1978483863514148903\">remarks to the EU parliament<\/a>&nbsp;delivered on Wednesday, a clearly exasperated Mr. Orb\u00e1n said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>So unity [in the EU] does not mean that I as a Hungarian President should \u201cshut up\u201d always. \u2026 It is not written anywhere. I am here to represent the national interest of Hungary. And on that basis, I would like to make deals, agreements, compromises, whatever with the other country leaders who represent their own national interests. So I don\u2019t represent the globalist elite here or the European bureaucrats. \u2026 I am standing firmly on the basis of national interest. \u2026 Hungary first, I suppose for you Germany first. That\u2019s right. So lets sit down and understand what is good for Germans, what is [good] for the Hungarians. You are big, we are smaller. Let\u2019s make a deal on how to cooperate. That\u2019s European politics. Not to say that \u2018you should follow the Unity, shut up\u2019. That\u2019s what you are saying. It\u2019s impossible.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The globalist intolerance for national interests extends beyond rhetoric. Brussels seeks ever-greater control over national politics,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.romania-insider.com\/jd-vance-romania-elections-annulment-feb-2025\">nullifying elections in Romania<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheOtherSideRu\/status\/1972441371408764957\">meddling in Moldova<\/a>&nbsp;under the pretext of \u2018Russian interference\u2019, providing remarkable parallels to the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheRealStockMom\/status\/1978071664198918235\">Russian collusion hoax<\/a>&nbsp;operation run by Presidents Obama and Biden to undermine President Trump during his first term in the US. The Commission now flirts with rules granting government access to private internet communications, effectively outlawing encrypted speech \u2014 the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/pfriesen.substack.com\/p\/the-right-to-whisper?publication_id=4018824&amp;post_id=175991762&amp;isFreemail=true&amp;r=gr4yl&amp;triedRedirect=true\">right to whisper<\/a>\u201d, as one commentator called it. The self-anointed defenders of democracy have become its most efficient undertakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, von der Leyen&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/my-europe\/2024\/08\/21\/china-launches-anti-subsidy-probe-into-eu-dairy-products-as-trade-spat-escalates\">lectures Beijing about state subsidies<\/a>&nbsp;even as the EU\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iatp.org\/files\/Dumping_on_the_Poor_The_Common_Agricultural_Po.htm\">Common Agricultural Policy<\/a>&nbsp;remains the world\u2019s largest distortionary scheme adversely affecting farmers everywhere. She admonishes China for trading with Russia while her own member states import record volumes of Russian LNG via intermediaries. In Moscow, the hypocrisy provokes derision; in Beijing, it elicits contempt. As the&nbsp;<em>Wall Street Journal<\/em>&nbsp;noted some time ago, the EU is long used to \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/the-european-union-is-punching-below-its-weight-in-world-affairs-11576578603?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=AWEtsqdjH8VpUxE2WdX1VCq5BgZt4LmT8QEfQgXRLreKJdGltrb0MBpinwMw&amp;gaa_sig=w1zCS55yNeZLGKwW-gxLRhCpzyz36N2mdbVbW6UT32jq35PQebkZfbW8MOcn4gsPyAj23n5Qar253fD7IpgyNg%3D%3D&amp;gaa_ts=68f02bd8\">punching well below its weight<\/a>\u201d in global affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kaja Kallas \u2013 former prime minister of Estonia, newly anointed as the EU\u2019s foreign-policy chief \u2013 brings ideological zeal to match Ursula\u2019s sanctimony. She openly advocates&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/naapuriseura.fi\/en\/viron-paaministeri-ehdottaa-venajan-hajottamista-pieniksi-valtioiksi\/\">the dismemberment of Russia<\/a>, oblivious to the historical resonance of such fantasies. Annalena Baerbock, Germany\u2019s former Green foreign minister and now President of the UN General Assembly, even declared that her commitment to Ukraine&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/geopoliticaleconomy.com\/2022\/09\/02\/support-ukraine-german-voters-baerbock\/\">outweighed her duty to German voters<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 a statement revealing the mindset of Europe\u2019s managerial class. Democratic accountability to constituents and their material needs is a nuisance when one possesses \u2018noble intentions\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Decline by Design<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Europe\u2019s malaise is not merely policy error; it is civilisational. For decades, the continent has elevated sentiment over reason, appearance over substance. The same impulse that replaces engineers with activists in energy ministries now promotes failed ministers to international office. Baerbock moves from Berlin to New York; Kallas becomes the face of EU diplomacy. Incompetence is no obstacle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The economic cost of this virtue signalling is catastrophic. Europe\u2019s electricity and gas prices remain among the highest in the world, crippling its manufacturing base. Automakers, fertiliser plants, aluminium smelters and chemical giants relocate to China, the Middle East and the United States where energy remains abundant and policy rational. Europe\u2019s share of global industrial output shrinks yearly; its debt-laden welfare states consume ever more of the shrinking pie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"723\" height=\"449\" data-attachment-id=\"409377\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?attachment_id=409377\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-424.png?fit=980%2C608&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"980,608\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"image\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-424.png?fit=723%2C449&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-424.png?resize=723%2C449&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Line graph depicting Europe's declining share of global manufacturing output from 2000 to 2050, showing a significant decrease from over 24% to approximately 10%.\" class=\"wp-image-409377\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-424.png?w=980&amp;ssl=1 980w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-424.png?resize=300%2C186&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-424.png?resize=768%2C476&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 723px) 100vw, 723px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: UN and World Bank; projections from 2023 onwards based on Oxford Economics outlook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In geopolitics, the EU supported the US strategy of expanding NATO eastward following the collapse of the USSR and the reunification of Germany. This was against the advice of figures of America\u2019s own analysts such as George Kennan \u2014 hailed as among the greatest US diplomats in the post-war era. As an astute Russia observer, he&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cato.org\/commentary\/ignored-warnings-how-nato-expansion-led-current-ukraine-tragedy\">described<\/a>&nbsp;NATO expansion as \u201cthe most fateful error of American policy in the entire post-cold war era\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">John Mearsheimer \u2013 an international relations scholar of repute \u2013&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zPkkaF3kbh0\">observed<\/a>&nbsp;in 2015 that Western policymakers led Ukraine \u201cdown the primrose path\u201d to self-destruction. Now, as Ukraine heads to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=m8-NRj7MLgk\">inexorable defeat<\/a>, Europe faces the consequences of its own delusions. Yet the unhinged rhetoric in Brussels grows only shriller \u2014 contradictorily warning of imminent Russian invasions into East Europe and beyond while casting the Russian economy as simultaneously weak and about to collapse and President Putin facing regime change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The male counterparts of Europe\u2019s philosopher queens are no less absurd. Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary General, is famous for having&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/trump-daddy-nato-mark-rutte-israel-iran-b2777173.html\">referred to Donald Trump as \u201cdaddy\u201d<\/a>&nbsp;in an episode of cringing obsequiousness. Emmanuel Macron \u2013 who began his presidency&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/europe\/jupiter-no-more-macron-learns-art-compromising-hard-way-2022-06-19\/\">comparing himself<\/a>&nbsp;to the Roman king of gods Jupiter \u2013 now presides over a nation wracked by debt, riots, industrial unrest and a fourth prime minister in under two years. Friedrich Merz, the German Chancellor who is equally&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/why-is-germanys-friedrich-merz-so-unpopular-with-the-public\/a-72355492\">unpopular<\/a>, issues belligerent warnings of war with Russia with a puny German army and a rapidly shrinking economy. Things are as bad if not worse across the English Channel as the UK\u2019s Keir Starmer faces humiliation as the \u2018least popular PM of all time\u2019 since records began; the same ignominy holds for the country\u2019s Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves. The European stage resembles an operetta \u2013 all pomp, no power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hubris, however, always meets its nemesis in reality. The laws of physics do not entertain Europe\u2019s green fantasies. Wind and solar cannot power a continent;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/wattsupwiththat.com\/2025\/06\/19\/2-billion-uk-hydrogen-plant-cancelled\/\">hydrogen<\/a>&nbsp;remains an expensive chimera;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dailysceptic.org\/2025\/08\/23\/britains-quixotic-carbon-capture-crusade\/\">carbon-capture projects<\/a>&nbsp;collapse one after another. There are increasing signs of Brussels retreating on several fronts in its quest for green utopia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was only just over two weeks ago that von der Leyen&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/committeetounleashprosperity.com\/hotlines\/even-europe-reversing-green-energy-blunder\/\">boasted<\/a>&nbsp;at the Global Renewables Summit in New York about the EU\u2019s green agenda: \u201cThe momentum in Europe is real\u2026 with our Clean Industrial Deal we are helping industries innovate and adapt.\u201d But last week, the EU\u2019s Net Zero agenda suffered a major blow when the centre-Right political parties in the European Parliament agreed to roll back a range of green mandates and regulations on businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/socialists-liberals-epp-eu-green-rules\/\">Politico<\/a><\/em>, there is an \u201cemerging rightward rupture that is reshaping European policymaking\u201d. The European People\u2019s Party lead negotiator on climate issues declared that \u201cIt is very clear for all the political groups that the majorities have changed in the Parliament, and all the political groups have to adapt to the new reality\u201d. The EU will now pare back sustainability reporting and supply chain due diligence obligations for businesses after pressure from industry and foreign investors. As&nbsp;<em>Bloomberg<\/em>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2025-10-13\/european-lawmakers-agree-to-drastically-curtail-esg-directives\">reported<\/a>, lawmakers voted to \u201cdrastically curtail\u201d ESG directives once trumpeted as non-negotiable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the ideological fa\u00e7ade cracks in Germany, the AfD surges in the polls despite Government attempts to outlaw it. In France, Marine Le Pen has been disqualified to hold office, yet her party gains ground. In Britain, the Reform Party has been surging in popularity and threatens the duopoly of Labour and the Conservatives. Across Europe, the populist Right articulates what the Establishment will not: that policy choices over energy security, mass immigration and escalating war efforts are bankrupting the continent both morally and financially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Europe\u2019s decline is not inevitable, but it is self-inflicted. A civilisation that once charted the seas, mapped the heavens and electrified the world now cannot keep its lights on without imported gas. It lectures Africa on solar panels while&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cdxnpzzjed1o\">burning imported American wood pellets<\/a>&nbsp;in place of coal. It decries nationalism while erecting bureaucratic fortresses devoted to globalism in Brussels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Behind the rhetoric of progress lies an ancient impulse \u2014 the search for moral purity through sacrifice. The Aztecs tore out human hearts to appease the sun; modern Europe sacrifices its industries, borders and freedoms to sustain the illusion of environmental virtue. The climate cult functions as an \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eugyppius.com\/p\/climatism-as-an-oligarchic-strategy\">oligarchic strategy<\/a>\u2018 \u2014 a mechanism through which elites amass power under the guise of planetary salvation. The victims are the working and middle classes who pay Europe\u2019s highest energy bills and the future generations who inherit spiralling debts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Von der Leyen recently&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/sustainability\/cop\/eu-push-development-banks-climate-focus-despite-us-opposition-draft-shows-2025-10-07\/\">urged<\/a>&nbsp;multilateral development banks to focus on climate change rather than poverty despite US opposition \u2014 a statement that perfectly encapsulates the inversion of priorities. For Europe\u2019s elites, the problem with the poor is not lack of opportunity but insufficient decarbonisation. Yet as empirical evidence shows, economic growth \u2014 not emissions cuts \u2014 remains the most reliable path to environmental improvement and human welfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Coming Reckoning<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The geopolitical humiliation of Europe is already manifest. The continent once balanced the world\u2019s powers; it is now a mere appendage of American strategy. Its energy policy is dictated by Washington\u2019s sanctions; its foreign policy by NATO\u2019s dictates. Even as the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/geopoliticaleconomy.com\/2024\/12\/25\/brics-expands-9-partner-countries-population-economy\/\">BRICS bloc expands<\/a>, embracing Gulf monarchies and Asian economic giants, Western Europe clings to a worldview in which moral posturing substitutes for realpolitik.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As President Trump ends&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/newsukraine.rbc.ua\/news\/trump-says-us-no-longer-funds-ukraine-but-1756231687.html\">US financing of the Ukraine war<\/a>, Brussels faces an existential test. Without American financial support, the fa\u00e7ade of unity will crumble. Energy shortages, fiscal crises and social unrest will expose the fragility of Europe\u2019s post-Christian, post-industrial experiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Plato\u2019s philosopher kings were to rule by reason; Europe\u2019s philosopher queens rule by emotion. They conflate compassion with competence, signalling with substance. The result is a polity unfit for purpose \u2014 moralistic, militarily impotent, economically stagnant and socially fractured. One hopes that the physics and economics of energy, the arithmetic of national debt and the instincts of ordinary people will, in time, reassert themselves. If that were so, Europe may rediscover the virtues it once taught the world in its Age of Enlightenment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>A version of this article was first published in The Daily Sceptic (<a href=\"https:\/\/dailysceptic.org\/2025\/10\/19\/europes-terminal-decline-the-philosopher-queens-and-their-ruinous-rule\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/dailysceptic.org\/2025\/10\/19\/europes-terminal-decline-the-philosopher-queens-and-their-ruinous-rule\/<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Dr Tilak K. Doshi is the Daily Sceptic\u2018s Energy Editor. He is an economist, a member of the CO<sub>2<\/sub>&nbsp;Coalition and a former contributor to Forbes. Follow him on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/tilakdoshi.substack.com\/\">Substack<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/tilakdoshi\">X<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen faced two more challenges to her position in the European Parliament last week. She received support from just over half the members of the 720-seat European Parliament in both votes. Neither of the motions of no confidence had a chance of securing the two-thirds majority required to eject the President but still they served as the latest reminder of the increasingly fractured European Parliament and its growing populist factions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":409382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"Explore the decline of Europe under the leadership of Ursula von der Leyen. 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Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen said out loud what the climate alarm movement has been trying to keep under wraps for a decade: That economic de-growth enforced by authoritarian governments is a fundamental element of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/06b6421fb-2ddd-4f47-8e32-3fd83ad86575_1920x1080.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/06b6421fb-2ddd-4f47-8e32-3fd83ad86575_1920x1080.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/06b6421fb-2ddd-4f47-8e32-3fd83ad86575_1920x1080.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, 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