“It is time for the world’s biggest economy to rise from its slumber and play a global rôle,” or so you claim in your main leader (“Wake Up, Europe!” October 10, 2009). To begin with, Europe is not the world’s biggest economy; rather, it is the world’s biggest common market. Or, as you like to put it, economic club. Much remains to be done for Europe to become an economy, let alone a political entity with some teeth. Military teeth, mind you. And chances are that this is how things will remain in spite of the belated Irish approval of the Lisbon treaty. Put differently, your wake-up call and your cheerleading is bordering on the ridiculous. A president and a foreign minister will not change Europe’s slumber, no matter who takes these positions. The twain will be mere figureheads perpetually embroiled in pointless struggle with all the other presidents and foreign ministers lording over their corners of the common market. Sleep well, Europe!