20/05/2026
Last week in Strasbourg, the European Parliament inaugurated its first-ever European Order of Merit – a brand new distinction meant to celebrate exceptional contributions to European integration.
Among the 20 inaugural laureates: Zelenskyy, Wałęsa, Matviichuk. Hard to argue with those.
But also Angela Merkel, who deepened Europe’s dependence on Russian gas. Wolfgang Schüssel – who first brought a far-right party into government in the EU, normalising what is now a continent-wide template. And José Manuel Barroso – who walked straight from the Commission presidency into Goldman Sachs, triggering a formal ethics investigation and redefining conflict of interest for a generation.
It’s a bit like dinosaurs handing out trophies for excellence in the Jurassic age. Powerful, yes. Historic, certainly. But perhaps not quite what Europe needs to celebrate right now, especially on the very same day the Parliament voted to shield one of its own MEPs from anti-corruption prosecutors.
Honours are never neutral. They tell us what a polity chooses to remember – and what it chooses to forget.
Read the full analysis by Prof Alberto Alemanno
European Question Time · May 20, 2026