The rules-based, multilateral world order that emerged at the close of World War II is now "dead", and Europe confronts "a future in which it risks becoming simultaneously subordinated, divided, and deindustrialized". Former Prime Minister Mario Draghi described a dismal future in a speech at the University of Leuven in Flanders, where he was awarded an honorary degree. According to a former European Central Bank president, the US "is imposing tariffs on Europe, threatening our territorial interests, and making it clear, for the first time, that it views European political fragmentation as serving its own interests". When asked about the European Union's prospects, Draghi responded that only "by acting together will we rediscover something that has long been dormant: our pride, our self-confidence, our faith in our future. And on these foundations, Europe will be constructed". To begin with the Greenland issue, "The decision to resist rather than accommodate demanded that Europe implemented a genuine strategic assessment: mapping our levers, identifying our tools, and contemplating the repercussions of escalation. The willingness to act necessitated clarity about the ability to act". Meanwhile, European Council President Antonio Costa has invited Draghi and former Prime Minister Enrico Letta to an informal summit on competitiveness on February 12 in the Belgian town of Alden Biesen. "I invited them to join us", he says, "to share their visions of European competitiveness and how they have evolved since the publication of their two groundbreaking reports". "I intend", stated Costa, "to feed these informal discussions into the preparation and outcome of the formal European Council in March".