Thus The New York Times today. “The European project needs a grand unifying ideal,” the argument goes, “or it will fail.” Well put. The only unifying ideal so far has been that Europe should never see war again. Worthy as it is, it is becoming ever more abstract to most Europeans. We are close to three generations since the end of World War II. Memories are fading. So, what would Charlemagne do under the circumstances? I bet he would start hinting about new wars between the enemies of old. He would start threatening in vague but persistent ways. Sooner or later, that would focus European minds. And it would turn out that a grand unifying ideal in existence is perfectly sufficient for the European project to survive. Funny enough, all this comes to my mind exactly a year before Croatia’s accession to the European Union. More important, the Balkans still remains the powder keg it has been for centuries. New wars in the region are hardly a flight of fancy.