Putin, Xi, Trump… The barbarians are at the gate but Europe’s leaders are too busy infighting to notice | Simon Tisdall

Amid threats to its reason for being', the EU must stop squabbling and take a stand

Fiddling while Rome burns fairly describes the antics of party leaders in the European parliament last week. The EU is under siege from present-day descendants of the Goths, Mongols and Vandals. But what were top MEPs doing? Haggling over who gets which well-padded seat in the European Commission - as if it really matters in a chaotic, predatory world where Europe is a tethered, bleating goat surrounded by wolves.

Vladimir Putin's Russian horde is advancing from the north, devouring Ukrainian territory and setting the stage for more illegal annexations. To the east, Xi Jinping's China, leveraging a whopping 292bn (244bn) annual trade surplus, is playing European divide-and-rule while running aggressive covert intelligence and hacking ops. To the west, after an electoral clean sweep, America's Vandal-in-chief is itching for a fight.