2026 and 2027 will decide as much about Europe's political future as 2020-2022 did. Most major EU states will go to the polls during that period, and the stakes are structural. European polarisation driven by geopolitical strain and economic pressure is making European foreign policy weaker, because unanimity-based instruments (sanctions renewal, common defence commitments, a shared reading of the "common European home") all depend on a political centre that polarisation erod