The EU’s unity over Ukraine has given it surprising heft

IT MAY BE called the European Union, but it has often struggled to live up to its name. Not in recent weeks. Ever since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on February 24th, the 27 member states of the EU have acted as one. Cohesive in its aims and co-ordinated in its actions, Europe has basked in its novel role as a first-rate power. Yet the unifying effects of the original jolt are starting to wear off. Ukraine’s demand that Europe should now do much more to help it is an early test of whether it can stay united as the war grinds on.

The speed and determination with which Europe initially acted startled even old hands in Brussels. Previous crises—whether the euro-zone miasma a decade ago or the bloc’s response to covid-19—had shown it could take months if not years for the union to work effectively. The sight of Russian bombs slaughtering civilians on the bloc’s doorstep, in contrast, shocked the EU into action.