Experience from a past crisis suggests Europe should shake off any complacency

Consider the start of 2009 and see if it sounds familiar. A swathe of Europe was wondering how to keep itself warm after Russia cut off gas supplies over a dispute with Ukraine. A global shock the previous year had threatened economic meltdown, but was starting to look manageable. Europe wondered how to respond to a vast subsidy programme designed to mollycoddle American carmakers without destroying its own single market. France’s president demanded an end to unfettered free trade. A first-term German chancellor stood accused of putting national interest ahead of the European kind. Foreign policy wonks wondered how to engage with Russia in the wake of its attempts to invade its neighbour. Taylor Swift topped the charts. Recep Tayyip Erdogan looked to be dragging Turkey ever further from democracy. France was crippled by strikes. History may not repeat itself—but it can come pretty close.