Caught between the US and China, squeezed Europe strives to find its way

In the July heat of the southern French city of Aix-en-Provence, economic and political leaders from across France and Europe packed into vast white marquees – with no air conditioning – for three days of debates about the future of Europe that were heated in every sense of the word. The goal was to find a way out of Europe’s political and economic malaise in “a world without bearings”, the theme of this year’s edition of France’s annual flagship economic forum, Les Rencontres Économiques...