Barely a week goes by where there is not another “Make Europe Great Again” event somewhere on the old continent. I just recently participated in one taking place in the European Parliament in Brussels, and yet another one is coming up in Madrid in just a few days. I am generally sympathetic to these gatherings, and I enjoy the vibe shift spilling over from the US as much as any right-of-centre commentator on this side of the Atlantic. But vibes alone will not make Europe great or, for that matter, save it. Donald Trump was elected to be president of the United States, and while he has a soft spot for some European leaders like Italy’s Giorgia Meloni or Hungary’s Viktor Orbán his priority is and will remain America first. The hopes that Donald Trump will save Europe from itself are misguided, and while he certainly would like a strong partner he is not going to do our work for us.

Europe’s right-wing movements need to come to bold decisions about what they want the EU and future relations between European states to look like, and despite the occasional regional victory in Italy, Austria, Hungary, or the Czech Republic there is still a dearth of a cohesive right-wing vision. To be clear, by right-wing I do not meant the lukewarm conservatism of the European People’s Party and their faux conservative leaders like Manfred Weber or Ursula von der Leyen. These people share more in common with the Greens than genuine conservatives, and they have carried out every left-wing lunacy from “Green Deals” to open borders. Yes, yes, in recent weeks there has been some back peddling: The Green Deal should be postponed and maybe borders are not such a bad idea after all. It only took a prolonged economic recession and weekly stabbings by illegal immigrants in Germany.

This all sounds well, but well-sounding proposals have been the only thing emanating from Brussels for almost three decades: For nearly three decades, the European Union has been drafting strategies to enhance its role as a significant player on the global stage. This endeavour began with the Lisbon Strategy in 2000, which aimed to transform the EU into “the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion” within a decade. However, when these ambitious targets were not met, the Lisbon Strategy was succeeded by the “Europe 2020 Strategy,” which aimed for “smart, sustainable, inclusive growth.” Yet again, after another decade of unmet goals, 2025 will introduce a new strategy, the “Competitiveness Compass.” Unfortunately, this compass will end up leading to nowhere just like the previous strategies.