Europe is in one of its periodic funks about its future. In spite of the spectacularly high quality of life for the vast majority of the people who live in the European Union, its inhabitants seem obsessed by the region's relative decline in the world.

Slow economic growth rates and high unemployment, rancorous wrangling between the region's leaders over the EU's priorities and budgets, and the rejection of the EU's constitutional treaty in 2005 by French and Dutch voters have all reinforced the impression that Europe is unhappy with today and unsure of tomorrow. The looming presence of an authoritarian energy-rich Russia and the stunning dynamism of Asia's economies have alarmed the inhabitants of western Europe. China will eat our lunch and India will eat our dinner, as one British business leader cheerfully puts it.