10 years of EU politics and everything we (didn’t) learn from them

I know what you did in April 2015, Europe.

Ten years can be a lifetime in politics, and the last decade is no exception: 2015 saw world leaders signing the Climate Agreement in Paris, the rise of ISIS, and of course, the start of Jean-Claude Juncker’s presidency of the European Commission.

Europe’s biggest problem was the migration crisis — we definitely solved that one by not talking about it anymore and shutting our ports to ships in need. Our biggest ally and truest friend in the world was the United States, which was led by too-cool-for-school President Barack Obama.

Things were so much easier back then.

That’s why POLITICO decided to extend to Brussels to cover European politics: If there’s something journalists love, it’s doing something easy. And so, POLITICO Europe was born.

Making EU policy sexy? Piece of cake. Shining a light on European institutions to make them more intelligible? You got it. Covering overly complex processes to pass laws that most people don’t like, only some understand, and no one will ever hear about in the 27 member states? Sign us up.

We went through the terrible twos with Brexit and Donald Trump in power in the U.S. — never forget the glorious covfefe tweet; we also learned to read and write about pandemics and air-born viruses during our primary school phase — Declassified secretly misses the Covid-19 days when sitting on the couch binging TV shows was considered being a responsible citizen. Finally, some visionary at POLITICO Towers agreed to launch this very column in 2019 — a true sign of bravery.

But we are now officially approaching our pre-teen years: Wish us luck, we’ll need it.

In 2025, the climate is still on fire — quite literally — and no one seems particularly bothered by it; Europe’s fun uncle who will not turn down that drink offer after all — Jean-Claude Juncker — has been replaced by the more stern and sober monarch wannabe, Ursula von der Leyen; and terrorist attacks’ front-page slots have been given to the wars that are still going on in Ukraine, Gaza and many other places around the world.

Here’s to another decade of chaotic politics and not-so-boring policies; hopefully, we’ll manage to have (some) fun along the way.

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Can you do better? Email us at gpoloni@politico.eu or get in touch on X @POLITICOEurope.

Last week, we gave you this photo:

Thanks for all the entries. Here’s the best from our postbag — there’s no prize except for the gift of laughter, which I think we can all agree is far more valuable than cash or booze.

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by Patrice-Emmanuel Schmitz