Why the EU is becoming more like a Chekhov play

“IF IN THE first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired.” Anton Chekhov’s rule on writing is a good one. The Russian author would have despaired at the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. At 154 pages in its consolidated version, it is a bit long. The prose lacks punch. More importantly, it is littered with unused firearms. Powerful weapons gather dust in the EU’s legal gun-cabinet. Article 222 obliges all EU states to pile in and help if a desperate national capital triggers it, which no one ever has. National capitals can sue each other in the European Court of Justice, although no one has tried it properly. Even the outlines of an EU army are there, if the members want it, which so far they do not.