The EU prefers to hold its nose and allow business to continue

The EU … prefers to hold its nose and allow business to continue

writes Daniel Altman as he contrasts European business pratices with those of Uncle Sam in the International Herald Tribune. Another possibility, of course, is that the Europeans have lost all sense of smell by now — especially given he fact that it is always America they are railing against and whose sins (if they can be called that) they refuse to forgive.

But the practical effect of a no-sanctions policy is to draw the EU closer to many countries that the United States considers its enemies or holds in low regard. "Whenever they see a country, they try to engage it, unless the going really gets rough," said Andrew Moravcsik, a professor of politics at Princeton University. …

Regardless of its leaders' motives, the EU's appetite for expanding its economic hegemony shows no signs of fading.