EU should work harder to foil US disruptive policies

After learning that my new assignment is to cover the European Union, an economist friend, who holds Dutch and US dual citizenship, told me that the EU, with all its current problems and uncertainties, remains one of the more hopeful and positive political forces in today's broken world.

That was my hope, too, when I landed in Brussels on Wednesday. The border control and customs officers at the airport were very friendly and efficient, disproving frequent complaints about EU inefficiency.

The local weather, which I had also heard a lot about before coming to Brussels, changed from beautiful fall sunshine in the morning to strong winds and rain in the afternoon - synonymous with the world we are living in. I was thinking about heading to Paris this weekend to cover a possible meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will be among many world leaders attending an event in Paris to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.