Reheated plans for a multi-tiered Europe revive familiar suspicions

No sporting trophy is of as dubious value as the uefa Cup, handed to the club whose quest for European footballing glory started with failure to qualify for the more prestigious Champions League. Recalling who won this year’s lesser tournament is already the stuff of pub quizzes (Eintracht Frankfurt this month beat Glasgow Rangers on penalties: ten points). In contrast, hundreds of millions across the world will watch Real Madrid and Liverpool vie for one of football’s top prizes on May 28th. Triumph in the Champions League is a career highlight for even the most adulated player. Winning the uefa Cup is an invitation to do better in future: beyond an oversize trophy, Frankfurt’s greatest reward for its success is the right to play in the Champions League next year.

Tiers are a brutal necessity to keep football tournaments manageable in Europe, home to over 1,000 professional clubs from Reykjavik to Donetsk. Now something similar is being mulled to help organise the continent’s politics. Depending on where you draw the line, there are 40-50 countries in Europe. Each is either qualified for the main show in town—the eu, with 27 members plodding towards ever-closer union—or sits outside it. France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Charles Michel, a Belgian who chairs meetings of eu leaders, are among those pushing for a looser continental grouping that could include all those currently outside the bloc. Plenty fear this “European Political Community” would be a uefa Cup-style consolation prize for countries still pining for the top tier. Diplomats are mulling the question ahead of a European summit in June, where Mr Macron will flesh out the idea in France’s last few days in the bloc’s rotating presidency.