Article provided by: Middle East Discovery / Registered reporter: Reporter Joseph Kim[
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Europe had its longest winter this year. Ukraine’s gunfire has not stopped for four years, and a fever with an unfamiliar name, extreme rightism, has swept through the streets of Paris and Berlin. Germany, its economic engine, ground to a halt, and the Mediterranean Sea remained a massive graveyard of refugees. However, in the gap of this great collapse, humanity began to question the place of ‘faith’ and ‘ethics’ again.
1. Four years of war in Ukraine, ‘frozen front’ and Western fatigue: The front line was deadlocked, and Ukraine was approaching a cease-fire, with part of its territory under effective control amid reduced support from the West. After the inauguration of the Trump administration in the United States, public support cooled sharply and economic difficulties within Europe put pressure on ‘forced peace’.
2. The birth of France’s Marie Le Pen government and chaos in the EU: After an early general election and the resignation of the president, the far-right National Rally (RN) took power, shaking up the France-centered EU order. The foundation of European integration was shaken as public sentiment, angered by the immigration issue and high prices, chose the ‘France First’ policy.
3. Negative growth of the German economy, which has become the ‘sick man of Europe’: The German economy has shown negative growth for two consecutive years, leading to an economic downturn across Europe. It is a structural crisis caused by rising energy prices, a shrinking Chinese market, and the auto industry’s failure to transform digitally.
4. Pope Leo XIV’s declaration of ‘digital fast’ and Vatican reform: The first American Pope, Leo An unconventional spiritual move to restore religious essence in a reality where technology alienates humans.
5. EU ‘AI Act’ fully implemented, world’s first exercise of control over artificial intelligence: The European Union is the first in the world to implement strong AI regulation laws, clashing head-on with big tech companies. Europe’s unique ‘value-based’ regulations to protect human dignity and privacy have put the brakes on technological hegemony.
6. UK-EU ‘New Cooperation Treaty’ signed, post-Brexit reconciliation: The Starmer government’s United Kingdom has signed a new treaty with the EU that significantly strengthens cooperation in the economic and security fields. It is a pragmatic choice to break away from the economic isolation that has worsened after Brexit and jointly respond to the threat from Russia.
7. Strengthening the Mediterranean ‘sea wall’ and refugee human rights controversy: As Italy and Greece introduced strong maritime blocking policies, the influx of refugees plummeted, but deaths increased. Internal conflict reached a peak as right-wing European governments sacrificed humanitarian values in the name of security.
8. European nuclear renaissance, reorganization of the definition of ‘green energy’: Many countries in Europe, led by France, have declared a return to nuclear power by formalizing the construction of small modular nuclear power plants (SMRs). Nuclear power has reemerged as a realistic compromise to break dependence on Russian energy and achieve carbon neutrality goals.
9. Mystery of the theft of the Louvre Museum’s ‘Napoleon’s Crown’: The French cultural community was shocked when Napoleon’s relics disappeared from the world’s largest museum, the Louvre. It was an intelligent crime that broke through the state-of-the-art security system and left a huge scar on Europe’s cultural pride.
10. Climate catastrophe in Eastern Europe, Danube flood: The Danube River overflowed due to the worst heavy rain since meteorological records were observed, devastating areas such as Hungary and Austria. It is a painful warning that the climate crisis is no longer someone else’s problem, revealing the limits of Europe’s infrastructure response.
The Illusion of Peace Collapsed The biggest driving forces that permeated Europe in 2025 were ‘fatigue’ and ‘fear’. The grand experiment of ‘one Europe’ that has been maintained since World War II has run into the reality of physical threats from Russia and economic inequality. In particular, the background to the birth of the far-right government in France is a deep distrust that elite-centered EU politics does not represent the lives of the common people. In addition, Germany’s industrial downfall collapsed the economic bastion that supported Europe, and each country entered its own path of survival.
The human place erased by numbers Behind the news, there are screaming people. A 20-year-old man chanting a prayer while looking at a drone in a trench in Donbas, Ukraine, skilled workers left on the streets after a factory in Berlin was closed, and nameless children who disappeared in the cold waters of the Mediterranean Sea. In 2025, Europe boasted brilliant cultural heritage and cutting-edge technology, but it was failing to protect the people within it. Pope Leo
The truth I encountered on a foggy street Last October, right after Napoleon’s crown was stolen, an artist I met in front of the Louvre Museum in Paris said this. “It was not the jewels that were stolen, but our history and pride. What should we believe and protect now?” Also, in Budapest, Hungary, which was flooded by floods, an elderly couple the reporter met looked at their burnt household items and whispered, “The earth is taking revenge on us.” What was heard all over Europe in 2025 was not rhetoric about fancy policies, but the faint groans of humans in the face of a fundamental existential threat.
The road to ask on top of the collapsed castle wall The news from Europe in 2025 is depressing. However, as a missionary and reporter, the Europe I see is a continent that is still finding its ‘way’. Making laws to prevent the runaway of technology, considering realistic alternatives such as nuclear power plants, and once again evoking religious values are Europe’s last intellectual resistance. The walls of Europe are collapsing, but the cracks that have collapsed make us ask again what ‘humanity’ is and where the ‘eternity’ we have lost is. 2025 will be remembered as the year that taught Europe that it must leave its glorious past behind and start again from the lowest and most humble position.
