"Europe cannot confine itself to the cultivation of its own garden"

The metaphor of a garden evokes order, care, and the patient tending of a shared space, Europe’s prosperity, social model, and democratic institutions. To confine oneself to such cultivation implies a retreat into domestic preoccupations. Yet the soil of that garden is fed by rains and winds that come from far beyond its fences. Trade routes, energy flows, migration, technology, public health, and climate systems ignore borders. Stability in the Sahel, the security of the Black Sea, the governance of cyberspace, and the price of a chip or a grain shipment all shape the well-being of households in Lisbon, Kraków, or Athens. Isolation is not prudence; it is a slow erosion of security and influence.

There is also a moral and historical dimension. With a past intertwined with empires and decolonization, Europe bears particular responsibilities toward its neighbors. Engagement with the Balkans, the Eastern Partnership, the Mediterranean, and Africa should be grounded in partnership rather than paternalism: fair trade, investment in human capital, support for democratic resilience, and humane, orderly migration policies. Such relationships are not charity; they are a strategic investment in a wider ring of stability.

Geopolitically, a world of renewed great‑power rivalry demands European agency. Strategic autonomy is not isolation but the capacity to act with allies and, when necessary, independently: diversifying energy, securing critical minerals, strengthening defense and deterrence, protecting sea lanes and digital infrastructure, and sustaining a rules‑based order through credible diplomacy. Supporting reconstruction and sovereignty where aggression occurs, while remaining open to mediation and de‑escalation, preserves both principle and pragmatism.

The alternative is a “fortress” mentality that invites strategic irrelevance and economic fragility. Cultivation, properly understood, extends the garden’s irrigation channels across boundaries: cooperative science, green transitions shared with neighbors, cultural and educational exchanges, and joint crisis preparedness. Engagement undertaken with humility and reciprocity enlarges the space where Europe’s values can breathe, and safeguards the very garden it seeks to tend.