Looked at quite brutally, Europe has made two, possibly three, signal contributions to world affairs post-1945. First, the Europeans have stopped fighting wars with each other and exporting these wars on a global scale. This is undoubtedly a Good Thing, but manna from heaven it’s not. Second, they have abandoned their colonial empires (Russia abandoning most of its in 1989-91, though showing the usual reluctance to fully let go), letting most of the peoples of the globe rule themselves, rather than appeal to London or Lisbon or wherever for governance. Third, superpower confrontation did not become nuclear conflagration in Europe.

These are all net positive for humanity, but I can’t for the life of me see an “accustomed role” for Europe in them. What does HH expect?