While the rest of the world races and the geopolitical blocs recompose themselves with a speed that does not admit of distractions, the European Union decides to take another waltz through the dusty corridors of bureaucracy. The European Parliament’s decision to refer the agreement with Mercosur to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is not an act of legal prudence, nor a necessary compatibility check: it is the death certificate of EU geopolitics. It is the victory of parliamentary ‘melina’ , the triumph of a ruling class that prefers the security of a bureaucratic stamp to the uncertainty of a strategic vision.

The politics of ‘can’t’: outsourcing responsibility

Throwing the ball into the stands – or rather, into the halls of Luxembourg – is the last refuge of a political class that has lost its mission. The European Parliament has officially abdicated its role. Instead of deciding on the commercial and strategic future of the continent, taking responsibility for an ambitious ‘yes’ or a bold ‘no’, Brussels has chosen limbo.

It is called procedural immobilism: it is the art of hiding behind a legal opinion that will take months, if not years, so as not to have to face the public, the markets or, even worse, one’s own consistency. It is decision-making paralysis disguised as technical scrupulousness, an elegant way of declaring that Europe is no longer an actor capable of governing world processes, but a mere spectator taking refuge in codicils. While the judges flip through the files, the world will continue to spin, ignoring a continent that has turned its democracy into an assembly line of delays.

The geopolitical paradox: serving South America to China

While we question the conformity of commas, our competitors are wasting no time. The expansion of the BRICS is no longer a statistical projection, but a reality that is redrawing the routes of world power. Postponing the agreement with Mercosur means, in effect, hanging a sign saying ‘Closed due to red tape’ over a market of over 260 million people.

The result is an assisted suicide of our influence. In foreign policy, there is no vacuum: every inch of space that Europe cedes through sloth is instantly occupied. While Brussels signs appeals, Beijing signs cheques and infrastructure contracts, tying Latin America’s economic fate to itself for decades to come. We are pushing Brazil and Argentina into the arms of the Dragon on a silver platter, all so as not to disturb the sleep of those who fear confrontation with the global market. History will remember this postponement as the moment when Europe chose to be a museum instead of a power.

The International of immobility: the Lega-M5S axis

But the real ‘masterpiece’ of the voting day took place in the ranks of the Italian delegation. In a moving as well as grotesque throwback, the League and the 5 Star Movement found themselves united in voting for the postponement. A ‘yellow-green axis’ in Strasbourg version marching compactly towards international irrelevance, rediscovering an understanding that seemed buried since the days of the first Conte government.

The M5S confirms its nature as the ‘bureaucrats of no’. The paladins of direct democracy, those who wanted to ‘open Parliament like a can of tuna fish’, today take refuge in judicial technocracy. They are hoping that it will be the judges of the Court of Justice who will pull their chestnuts out of the fire, preventing them from having to explain to the voters why a party that claims to be ‘progressive’ prefers isolationism to coordinated development with democratic partners. This is the populism of perpetual doubt, where not deciding is the only form of political survival left.

The League and ‘beach sovereignty’

But it is on the Lega that sarcasm risks becoming bitter resignation. The party that flies the flag of ‘Made in Italy’ every day has voted against the agreement that would eliminate duties on over 90% of our goods, opening the door wide to the excellence of our mechanics, design and quality agri-foodstuffs. Why? Because, according to their narrative, protection means closure.

It is the sovereignism of small things: the Lega makes a big voice against international treaties, against theEuro (in alternating phases) and against the ESM (out of pure ideological flag-waving), but it becomes minuscule and servile when it comes to touching the privileges of taxi drivers and bathers. They are the giants of anti-Brussels rhetoric, but they barricade themselves behind the privileges of corporations that have been blocking the country for decades. They fiercely defend Cervia’s bathing beach and Rome’s blocked taxi licence, but scuttle the export industry in the North that is the nation’s real economic engine. For the Carroccio, sovereignty is not Italy’s ability to weigh in the world, but the defence of an immobile economy made up of dusty concessions and position rents.

The Hypocrisy of Standards and the Labyrinth of Daedalus

The postponement is presented as a noble defence of the environment and human rights. Let us call it by its name: agricultural protectionism masquerading as virtue. It is intellectually dishonest to use the ECJ to resolve issues that are purely economic and political. If the EU applied this supposed moral rigour to all its trade, we would have to stop importing gas, oil and rare earths from three quarters of our current partners. Instead, it prefers to give a gift to the most reactionary agricultural lobbies, sacrificing opportunities for our most innovative companies on the altar of immediate consensus.

Who will want to sit at the table with the EU in the future?

After 20 years of gruelling negotiations, ending up in appeals limbo is an insult to international diplomacy. Europe appears today as an unreliable partner, trapped in its own crossed vetoes and byzantine procedures. We have become a Daedalus Labyrinth: treaties enter it alive, full of promise, and leave years later in the form of bureaucratic dust, while our partners have already changed their phone numbers.

With today’s decision, the European Parliament has not protected citizens’ standards: it has simply confirmed that the Union has become a giant with feet of clay, unable to move for fear of tripping over its own quibbles. And Italy, represented by those who dream of a country enclosed in an enclosure between a beach umbrella and a taxi ride, risks being the first victim of this collective suicide.

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