It is a collection of US vassal states and is essentially led by US agents. Merkel is not a good example of a sovereign European leader. She supported criminal US wars of aggression in Iraq and elsewhere. She also put sanctions on Russia for responding to the illegal US coup in Ukraine in 2014. Instead of sanctioning her bosses in Washington DC as well, she just sanctioned Russia.this statement once again suggests EU has no brain now days, just a puppy of united states, don't know if EU is missing leaders like Merkel anymore
Maybe Charles De Gaulle or Helmut Schmidt would be better examples of somewhat sovereign European leaders. Merkel definitely was under the thumb of the Americans, like most European "leaders".