By Hedelberto López Blanch on January 13, 2026
graphic: Adán Iglesias Toledo.
The European Union is experiencing its most unfavorable economic and political period since its founding in 1993 because it has obeyed all the guidelines imposed on it by the United States and has had to renounce its former ambitions of world hegemony.
Likewise, in European countries that are members of NATO, there has been an increase in feelings of protest in relation to the deterioration of the internal socioeconomic situation. The main causes of these problems are increased military spending, the allocation of significant resources to support Ukraine, the refusal to buy cheaper oil and gas from Russia, and the introduction of restricted trade measures with Moscow.
Under these circumstances, the United States has achieved one of its most cherished desires: to stall the European Union as an economic and political competitor and weaken the main countries in that group: Germany and France.
If in 2000 the European Union was almost on a par with the United States, 25 years later it is falling further and further behind in all economic areas, and its decline is linked to the political and economic decisions of a continent that has renounced all ambition to be guided solely by the US regime and the market.
In August last year, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen smiled broadly at a meeting with convicted President Donald Trump as she accepted a totally unbalanced, one-sided trade agreement that will long remain another moment of European humiliation.
Under the agreement, EU products entering the US will be subject to a 15% tariff, while EU members will not charge anything on US goods entering their countries. It’s as simple as that, as they say, the law of the funnel.
As part of the agreement, the European Union agreed to purchase $750 billion in US energy products, mainly liquefied natural gas and nuclear energy, reject those purchased at much lower prices from Russia, invest $600 billion in the US economy, and obtain large quantities of military equipment from the US.
At the end of June, under strong pressure from Trump, NATO members agreed at the summit in The Hague to allocate 5% of their gross domestic product (GDP) to security and military spending by 2035, which will represent an erosion of €500 billion per year for those countries.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said that with this action, Trump destroyed the European economy, which “is completely humiliating for Europeans, as it only benefits the United States: it eliminates protection for the European market, reducing tariffs on US products to zero.”
By rejecting Russian gas at Washington’s behest, the EU has had to pay a high price. A Eurostat document indicates that the value of imports rose to an average of €15.2 billion per month: €7.7 billion for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and €7.5 billion for pipeline gas, up from €3.6 billion and €2.3 billion, respectively.
The report adds that in two years, expenses amounted to €304 billion, an overpayment of €185 billion, while the United Kingdom and the United States, by selling more expensive fuel, benefited by earning €53 billion and €27 billion, respectively.
A report in The New York Times indicates that European companies that announced their withdrawal from Russia after the start of the Special Military Operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine suffered losses of more than $123 billion.
As for the total losses for the EU, according to agencies such as Eurostat, they amount to $185 billion due to the 12 packages of “sanctions,” or extortion, that Brussels has already imposed on Moscow.
The departure of European companies from the Eurasian giant was motivated by pressure from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who claimed that it would be a way to destroy Russia’s economy and, consequently, its political stability.
As a result, Eastern European countries that had strong trade links with Russia lost important markets and faced disruptions in the supply of raw materials, while borrowing costs have risen as it has become more difficult for them to obtain advances due to increased geopolitical risks.
There is no question that the continuation of the Ukrainian conflict will exacerbate the European Union’s problems and lead to a serious delay in the organization’s progress with respect to the major economic and political powers.
Hedelberto López Blanch is a Cuban journalist. He writes for the daily newspaper Juventud Rebelde and the weekly Opciones. He is the author of “La Emigración cubana en Estados Unidos” (Cuban Emigration to the United States), “Historias Secretas de Médicos Cubanos en África” (Secret Stories of Cuban Doctors in Africa) and “Miami, dinero sucio” (Miami, Dirty Money), among others.
Source: Cuba en Resumen