Guy Verhofstadt has been taking Trump's nonsensical presidency too seriously. Nearly ten months into office, European leaders know what he has in store for the Transatlantic alliance. Although Trump's political future is much less certain than the fate of the EU and NATO, his protectionist "America First" doctrine serves Europe as a wake-up call: We must stand on our own two feet rather than relying too much on Washington for the current world order.

The author says, the West "risks terminal decline," posing a threat to the "global stability, fortified democracy" that it has upheld for decades. This "malaise" has not only Trump to thank for, Europe bears also its share of the blame for its "inaction" that has led to this "state of affairs." Consequently, now the EU "must contribute to fixing it." Reforms are needed to "ensure the EU’s long-term stability, including a complete banking union to backstop Europe’s finances and a genuine system of EU-wide economic governance."

What the author seeks to "save the Union" by addressing the "ongoing and unresolved economic-governance challenges created by globalization" is a tall order, given the resentment populists evoke towards a globalised economy, rapid change in technology and suspicion of elites and institutions that millions of people still suffer following the 2008 financial crisis. In Europe, governments have been prevented "from fully implementing the reforms needed" to address the fallout.

The challenges that many EU countries face, "are particularly acute," as they have been "plagued by inertia, immobilized by conservatism" etc. Engulfed by domestic problems and various unprecedented crises across Europe in recent years, many leaders feel powerless, "allowing themselves to be taken hostage by populist Euroskepticism."

Fortunately Europe is seeing light at the end of the tunnel . Britain's decision to leave the EU has galvanised support for the Union. While Brexit offers a "window of opportunity to deliver meaningful reform," the author says EU leaders need to get their act together quickly, before this window closes. He accuses them of doing little so far, although they know that the "eurozone’s current institutional setup is flawed."

Despite free trade agreements concluded with Canada, Japan and ongoing negotiations with other regions of the world, the author insists on "fair trade" and urges European leaders not to forget "who stand to gain from it." He also points out the pivotal role Europe has played in combating hidden wealth of taxpayers and cracking down on "tax avoidance by multinational companies within the EU and elsewhere." Recent revelations in the "Panama Papers" and the "Paradise Papers" justify the urgency to redouble the "push for global reform."

The author says the Gothenburg Social Summit next week will discuss about fair jobs and growth, as part of the EU's effort to establish a European Pillar of Social Rights, focussing on "ensuring equal opportunities and labor-market access, fair working conditions, and social protection and inclusion." It is important to show that the EU is not a "club of neoliberal capitalist elites" as populists project.

The EU now has the opportunity to "implement effective reforms" before populist and illiberal forces within the EU - Hungary and Poland - undermine its liberal order. The author also advises EU leaders to offer Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, "a new kind of relationship not based on eventual EU accession." He urges world leaders to "resist the pressure of short-term political tribalism and confront the geopolitical and economic challenges ahead."

The author is seen by many as a federalist who wants an ever closer Union. But the reality on the ground is that many EU leaders have come to believe that a two-track Europe may be more manageable. The eastern enlargement in 2004 has proved unconstructive, given many citizens in these new EU members do not seem mentally ready to join Western Europe. Their inexperience with democracy enables populists and protectionists on the right and left to rise to the occasion, without knowing they "will inevitably fail to deliver on their simplistic promises." Now it's time for "centrist and progressive forces in Europe and elsewhere... .be ready" to retake control and shephard the sheep lost in the era of fake news and anti-liberal propaganda.