Democracies Anonymous, a new mutual aid fellowship?

Renaud Lassus, minister counsellor for economic affairs at the French embassy in Washington, D.C. recently suggested that the US and the European Union (EU) need to join together in a shared effort that revolves around “common answers to existing challenges within their democracies”. It’s an exceedingly diplomatic suggestion because it moves the focus from the more contentious issue of China to something that should be a whole lot easier — navel-gazing.

Ah, but is navel-gazing that much easier? Can we really envisage the US and EU signing on to some sort of mutual aid fellowship for democracies in trouble? Would that Democracies Anonymous (DA) really work like a branch meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), helping troubled democracies right themselves through the political equivalent of AA’s Twelve Steps programme?

Mr Lassus seems to think there is a lot to be gained from the US and EU joining together for a democracy rejuvenation exercise. But then he would, wouldn’t he? The English ve…