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Europe’s race for economic self-defense has moved from white paper to red alert. Mario Draghi warned in 2024 that, “for the first time since the Cold War, we must genuinely fear for our self-preservation.” A year later, with Donald Trump’s 15% tariffs on EU goods in force and a deteriorating global backdrop, Brussels is scrambling to convert a decade of stalled ideas into hard law and money. The stakes are stark. Global trade is slowing. Cheap Russian energy is gone. The EU, Draghi argued, needs to mobilize up to €800…