"The idea that the world can unite without being regulated is clearly an illusion"
About this Quote
Verhofstadt’s line lands like a cold splash of Brussels water on the dreamy faces of borderless idealists. “Unite” is the bait word: it flatters the listener with the promise of harmony. Then comes the pivot - “regulated” - the unglamorous machinery he insists must follow if unity is to be more than a photo-op. The sentence is built to puncture a fantasy: that globalization, trade, tech, or shared values naturally knit the planet together. For a European federalist who spent years watching the EU lurch from crisis to crisis, “illusion” is doing heavy lifting. It’s not just wrong, he implies; it’s childish.
The intent is political triage. Regulation here isn’t a bureaucrat’s hobby; it’s the shorthand for enforceable rules, shared standards, and institutions strong enough to arbitrate disputes and absorb shocks. In EU terms: monetary union without fiscal coordination, open borders without common asylum policy, energy interdependence without collective strategy. He’s arguing that “unity” without governance produces the worst of both worlds - interconnection plus vulnerability.
The subtext is a warning aimed at two audiences at once. To nationalists: your sovereignty is already constrained by reality; pretending otherwise just hands power to unaccountable markets, platforms, and authoritarian states. To libertarian globalists: the absence of regulation doesn’t mean freedom; it means the strongest actors write the rules anyway.
Context matters: post-Cold War optimism curdled into financial crises, pandemic scramble, and geopolitical coercion. Verhofstadt isn’t selling utopia. He’s selling the price tag of cooperation, before chaos sends the bill.
The intent is political triage. Regulation here isn’t a bureaucrat’s hobby; it’s the shorthand for enforceable rules, shared standards, and institutions strong enough to arbitrate disputes and absorb shocks. In EU terms: monetary union without fiscal coordination, open borders without common asylum policy, energy interdependence without collective strategy. He’s arguing that “unity” without governance produces the worst of both worlds - interconnection plus vulnerability.
The subtext is a warning aimed at two audiences at once. To nationalists: your sovereignty is already constrained by reality; pretending otherwise just hands power to unaccountable markets, platforms, and authoritarian states. To libertarian globalists: the absence of regulation doesn’t mean freedom; it means the strongest actors write the rules anyway.
Context matters: post-Cold War optimism curdled into financial crises, pandemic scramble, and geopolitical coercion. Verhofstadt isn’t selling utopia. He’s selling the price tag of cooperation, before chaos sends the bill.
Quote Details
| Topic | Justice |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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