Brussels, that shimmering necropolis of legislative overreach and artisanal delays, has once again performed its favorite ritual: the tactical retreat into the calendar. The European Commission, a body of un-elected visionaries whose primary export is disappointment, has postponed its grand industrial strategy for the second time. The new date for this miraculous revelation is February 25th, a day that will surely live in mediocrity as the bureaucrats attempt to explain how they will transform a continent of luxury boutiques and over-regulated cafes back into an industrial powerhouse. The goal is as ambitious as it is delusional: they expect 20% of the European Union’s economic output to come from heavy industries like steel and aluminum by 2030. It is a target that suggests the Commission has been huffing the very fumes they are so desperate to regulate out of existence.

Let us contemplate the sheer scale of the hubris involved. In a world where China produces steel with the reckless abandon of a toddler with a blowtorch and no environmental oversight, and where the United States is currently bribing its own industries with the ‘Inflation Reduction Act’—a piece of legislation named with the same level of honesty as a used-car salesman’s smile—the EU believes it can compete by being 'cleaner' and 'greener' while doing absolutely nothing for another month. The proposal aims to re-industrialize and decarbonize simultaneously. It is the economic equivalent of trying to run a marathon while undergoing a lung transplant; they want the muscle of the 19th century with the carbon footprint of a yoga retreat. The result is a predictable paralysis that makes the tectonic plates look like they’re in a drag race.

The delay is, of course, the most honest thing about this entire process. In Brussels, a deadline is merely a suggestion, a faint ghost of an idea that can be exorcised with a simple memo. They are facing 'fierce competition,' we are told. Yet, the response to this fire-breathing competition is to rearrange the seating chart for a meeting that won't happen for weeks. It’s a masterclass in the European style of governance: if you cannot solve a problem, reschedule it until the people who complained about it have either retired or died of old age. The Commission wants 20% of GDP from heavy industry? Currently, the only thing the EU produces at a 20% growth rate is irony. The heavy industry they speak of has been fleeing the continent for decades, chased away by energy prices that make diamond-encrusted watches look like a bargain and a regulatory environment that treats every blast furnace like a potential war crime.

Then there is the 'decarbonization' angle. The Commission is obsessed with the concept of 'Green Steel.' It’s a lovely phrase, much like 'non-alcoholic vodka' or 'honest politician.' It’s something that sounds good in a press release but wilts under the harsh light of physics and economics. To produce steel without carbon, you need astronomical amounts of green hydrogen and electricity—resources that the EU currently lacks because they spent the last twenty years shuttering nuclear plants and pretending that a few windmills could power a G7 economy. Now, standing amidst the ruins of their own energy policy, they are promising an industrial rebirth. They aren't just moving the goalposts; they're trying to move the entire stadium while the players are already on the field and the lights are flickering out.

We must also address the 'February 25' deadline. Why then? Perhaps the stars will align, or perhaps the bureaucratic hive-mind needs more time to find new ways to phrase 'we have no idea what we are doing' in twenty-four different official languages. By then, China will have dumped another billion tons of cheap rebar onto the global market, and Washington will have signed another few hundred billion in subsidies for companies willing to abandon the sinking ship of the Euro-zone. The Commission’s strategy is less of a plan and more of a wish whispered into a hurricane. They are trying to compete in a cage match using the Marquess of Queensberry rules while their opponents are using folding chairs and chainsaws.

In the end, this is the inevitable result of a technocracy that has mistaken paperwork for progress. They truly believe that if they can just get the wording of the proposal right—if they can just find the perfect balance of 'sustainable' and 'competitive' in a PDF document—the factories will magically reappear, the chimneys will smoke (but cleanly!), and the 2030 targets will be met. It is a fantasy of the highest order, a collective hallucination shared by people who have never stepped foot on a factory floor that wasn't being converted into a luxury loft. February 25th will come and go, the proposal will be released, and it will be as effective as a paper umbrella in a monsoon. But don't worry, they can always postpone the implementation until 2040. By then, we’ll all be too busy scavenging for scrap metal to notice.