THE SICK MAN IS EUROPE


The Ottoman Empire was in the not distant past referred to as the "sick man of Europe". The descriptive phrase has, at various times, been used to describe the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Germany and Russia.

According to ex-German foreign minister Joschka Fischer, Europe is the new sick man:

The rest of the world will not wait for Europe while it bickers over institutional reform and external policy issues, says Joschka Fischer, ex-German foreign minister, warning that the risk of it becoming a "playground" for upcoming super powers grows by the day.

Relating a recent incident where a former Indian foreign minister came to lecture at Princeton and said that the 21st century will see three superpowers – India, China and the US – Mr Fischer said "I was sitting there and I thought, 'why the hell is nobody in Europe realising what is going on!'"

The problem is too much government.