If there’s one thing we can all, perhaps, agree on it is this: We live in messy times. The global order is changing, our societies are becoming more polarized and something should be done about it.
The trouble is no one really knows what to do. Here’s one solution: To make space for the new, get rid of the old. If Europe wants to face this new world, what better way than to first put its own house in order?
Call it the Marie Kondo approach to European reforms. Europe’s house, after all, is cluttered and disorganized — no one can find what they need, and everyone’s yelling at each other to tidy up.
So let’s let go of what we don’t need, rearrange what we have and maximize its beneficial use — all in six easy steps, Marie Kondo-style.
1. Commit yourself to tidying up
Any attempt to tidy up — whether it be your house or political institutions — will take longer and be more uncomfortable than you anticipated. (Just remember what happened the last time you tried to alphabetize your CDs, or go through your closet.) Only a strong commitment to see the project through until the end will get you through. The same holds true here: No European-scale reform can be successful without leadership, vision and the backing of everyone involved.
2. Imagine your ideal lifestyle
Have your goal in mind before you start. Reform for reform’s sake makes no sense. It needs to be tailored to the result you wish to see. Formulate a vision of where Europe should be in 2030, and then implement the steps to lead you there. Identifying the goal won’t mean that it won’t be a formidable task, but you’ll know what all the hard work is for. In our case, that’s halting climate change, improving Europe’s social protections for the old and vulnerable, protecting multilateralism and trade, and stopping populists from overturning our democratic systems. Also on the to-do list: Keep up with the galloping speed of new technologies and future-proof our cyber and defense capabilities.
3. Discard first
Getting your house in order is not just about moving things around; it is chiefly about letting go of things that no longer serve you. In Europe, that might mean an attachment to national prerogatives when it comes to certain policy areas — such as defense, foreign policy or even border control. Or it could mean conflicts we refuse to handle or reforms of international institutions we keep postponing. We might also need to relegate to the dustbin certain procedures we’ve grown used to, such as consensus-based decision-making, or even political styles that are now old-fashioned. Discarding items does not mean they haven’t served us well: It simply means their time is up.
4. Tidy by category, not by institution
When you de-clutter your house, the natural instinct is to do this room by room. Marie Kondo takes a different view: Handle all items from one category at the same time, no matter which room they’re in. This applies to Europe, too: Rather than reform by institution, look at every unit, department and institution dealing with a certain aspect of policy — from municipal councils to ministries, from European bodies to regional ones. This way, you’ve comprehensively reformed an area of responsibility rather than superficially tidied up hierarchical pockets.
5. Follow the right order
In Marie Kondo’s world of tidying up, the “right order” is clothes, books, papers, then miscellaneous and sentimental items. In the political world, the analogy is strategic vision, institutions, and then the procedures we need to put in place to realize our goals. Think about it: What good are reformed institutions if they don’t fit the vision Europe has for its future? All too often, we replace strategy with bureaucracy — but the latter should serve the former.
6. Ask yourself if it sparks joy
At the end of the day, whether we’re talking about our belongings or European institutions, they have the same purpose: to make our life easier and better. As with belongings, an institution or other EU mechanism that does not “spark joy” — as Marie Kondo would put it — has lost its meaning. At the political level, this means reinvigorating our political life with vision and aspiration, rather than with small, incremental measures that fail to inspire.
Our democracies are in crisis because they have pursued growth but forgotten equality, wellbeing and happiness. To quote Thomas Jefferson, “the care of human life and happiness … is the only legitimate object of good government.”
Or to rephrase in more modern lingo: What doesn’t spark joy must go.
Florence Gaub is deputy director at the EU Institute for Security Studies.