I came across the Solvay story and thought it perfectly illustrated one of Europe’s biggest problems. It has little to do with oil, chemicals or plastics, but the underlying issue is familiar: Europe has strategic ambitions, yet increasingly struggles to finance them itself.
Solvay is discussing a partnership with Abu Dhabi-backed OneIM for its rare-earth business. That is striking. Europe says it wants independence from China in critical minerals and technology, yet one of its strategic industrial assets may need foreign capital to scale.
My diagnosis is simple: government has become too heavy. Private capital is taxed, regulated and redirected so aggressively that Europe weakens the very investment base it needs for industrial sovereignty.
This is becoming more than an economic problem. Europe increasingly looks trapped in an existential, political and institutional crisis: ambitious on paper, strategically dependent in practice, and less capable of financing or defending its own priorities.
The EU keeps raising expectations — and failing to meet them.
The EU is mismanaged.
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