The eurozone economy, which until recently seemed doomed to sluggishness despite the European Central Bank’s injections of hundreds of billions of euros, is suddenly expanding faster than either Britain or the United States. [...]
Part of the changed mood can be ascribed to the disruptive impact of Donald Trump. His nationalist, protectionist U.S. presidency has given the EU a new sense of purpose as a global leader in open trade and the fight against climate change — and new responsibility for its security and the stability of its neighborhood.
And some of it can be attributed to natural swings of the political pendulum and the economic cycle. France’s economy was never as dead as it sometimes looked. Britain’s Euroskeptic campaigners always overestimated their country’s economic performance and its ability to prosper without guaranteed access to the EU single market for its goods and services.
The Brexit shock focused voters’ minds around the Continent on what they stood to lose if the EU fell apart, helping turn the tide against anti-European populists in Austria, the Netherlands and France. Whether it will eventually pull the Poles and Hungarians back from Euroskeptic nationalism remains to be seen. [...]
A cross-party majority may exist arithmetically for a softer Brexit — with continued membership in the Customs Union and perhaps in the European Free Trade Association that includes Switzerland and Iceland — but no such majority looks politically plausible in this new parliament.
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