Shrinking the EU

One of the greatest barriers to the growth and progress of the European Union is its structure—that all 27 member nations must agree on nearly every decision. A good example of just two nations blocking internal progress can be seen in the power of Poland and Hungary to block EU coronavirus recovery plans (Euro News, November 27, 2019). Simply put, there are too many people making decisions and they cannot all agree. Because of this, some analysts believe that the EU must create a “coalition of the willing” in order to truly advance (Carnegie Europe, September 17, 2020). A “coalition of the willing” would involve a small number of member states with resources to deploy and motivation to act together to effect change. Experts are trying to figure out how to make this happen without destroying the EU in the process. As one think-tank writer recently noted, “France and Germany must press forward with smaller ad hoc constellations of member states to advance particular issues where more action is needed… To be successful, these ‘flexible coalitions’ must involve the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy to ensure legitimacy and to not undermine the cohesion of the twenty-seven EU member states.”

Today, EU member nations cannot agree on even simple matters—like who should take the lead on the Conference on the Future of Europe (Politico, September 21, 2020). Because they cannot agree or even “go along to get along,” there have been calls to remove “troublemaking” nations like Poland and Hungary.

Will the EU create a coalition of the willing? Will the Union shrink? Or will the bloc dissolve and nations go their own way? Bible prophecy gives us some insight. In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John wrote that an end-time European “beast” power will be composed of ten kings (possibly nations or political entities) who will be of “one mind” and “give their power” to a central figure for a brief time (Revelation 17:12–14). The details of how this will play out remain to be seen, but prophecy is clear that Europe will move in the direction described in the pages of the Bible. To learn more about Bible prophecies that pertain to Europe, read or listen to The Beast of Revelation: Myth, Metaphor or Soon-Coming Reality?