Eugénie Bastié: "Will the EU end up like the Austro-Hungarian Empire?"

It's obvious: Ursula von der Leyen does not have the graces of Sissi, Brussels the charms of Vienna and the Eurocrats are not aristocrats.

However, is it not relevant to compare the European Union to the Austro-Hungarian Empire which collapsed in 1918 after six centuries of existence?

This is the parallel that journalist Caroline de Gruyter weaves in her book

(Actes Sud).

An exciting journey where we pass from the cafes of Vienna to the offices of the European Commission, where we come across descendants of the oldest dynasty on the continent and European commissioners, excerpts from writers from Mitteleuropa and essays geopolitics.

Read alsoEugénie Bastié: “Fruitfulness of populism”

The commonalities between the Habsburg Empire, which contained Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Hungary, parts of Italy Poland, Ukraine and Romania, and the European Union and its 27 member states are numerous.

Like the EU, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was a mosaic of peoples…

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