Stay informed with free updates
Simply sign up to the EU economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.
“Economic giant, political dwarf” — the epithet so often used about Japan and Germany — has been used about the EU, too. Many of its leaders nowadays see their challenge as finding the political influence to match the bloc’s economic heft.
But even in economic terms, the EU still punches below its weight. That, in essence,…