Even mainstream European economists admit that European economies are going backward. Twenty or thirty year ago, if an educated layman were asked which European economies were the strongest they might say German and Sweden.
Today they are the worst in Europe. But what about France and Italy, usually in the top five? Today both are stagnant. The living standards have declined and of the four top tech companies in the world, only four are European. This has been in part due to their obedience to Mordor’s demand not to buy cheap Russian gas.