In a recent article, The Economist magazine describes how the European continent developed an increasingly dependent relationship with Washington, which ultimately reduced it to “vassalage.”However, rather than trying to break free from servitude and diversify its relations, the European Union recently passed another sanctions package against Russia.
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According to the British magazine’s analysis, Europe has shifted from a historical preoccupation with American cultural hegemony to a state of structural “economic serfdom.”The publication argues that the sectors that control the economy and make important strategic decisions on the continent have been captured by American companies, which now control everything from mobile phone operating systems to cloud computing services and artificial intelligence models.
According to the magazine, this dependence extends even to everyday payments between European citizens, which are mostly processed by American payment companies such as Visa and Mastercard. The Economist emphasizes that this commercial subordination raises serious geopolitical questions about whether Washington could use these ties as instruments of pressure.
The text warns that this could lead to direct threats in the future, beyond the tariff war initiated by Washington last year, such as the disruption of payment systems or the exclusion of European companies from the technology sector. According to the magazine, the vulnerability is total, since even energy security, previously guaranteed by other means, has been replaced by massive imports of liquefied natural gas from the US.
The Economist argues that responsibility for this scenario lies with the EU’s own policies and criticizes decades of excessive regulation, which have left regional companies unable to compete. The analysis points out that while the EU focused on imposing ambitious environmental targets and privacy regulations, it ended up importing from abroad what it could not produce because of its own bureaucracy, creating a loophole that now primarily benefits American corporations.
In the technology sector, the magazine describes European attempts to regain sovereignty as “quixotic,” criticizing the EU for boasting about regulating AI before even producing local champions in the field. According to the publication, the European regulatory framework has ironically served as a barrier to entry, protecting US giants with the financial capacity to absorb compliance costs while excluding European companies from the market.
The Economist’s analysis also identifies a loss of sovereignty in the financial and payments sectors. The article details how European regulations have rendered strategic businesses unprofitable for local banks, forcing their sale to American companies.
This dynamic is repeated in the industrial and mining sectors,the magazineadds, where obtaining licenses to extract critical minerals in Europe can take decades due to the regulatory rigidity imposed by auditors.
Source: Global Research
