The European Union is in danger of turning into "a hobbled giant distracted by internal bickering and competing national agendas" by 2025, according to a report of the American National Intelligence Council.

The finest US intelligence analysts claim in "Global trends in 2025 - A Transformed World" that Europe's strategic perspective is likely to remain narrower than Washington's, even if the EU succeeds in making reforms that create a "European President" and "European Foreign Minister" and develops greater institutional capacity for crisis management.

The report however says the EU will be in a position to bolster political stability and democratization on Europe's periphery by taking in additional new members in the Balkans, and perhaps Ukraine and Turkey. But "continued failure to convince skeptical publics of the benefits of deeper economic, political, and social integration and to grasp the nettle of a shrinking and aging population by enacting painful reforms could leave the EU less able to translate its economic clout into global influence."

The report also points out there are no easy fixes for Europe's demographic deficits except cutbacks in health and retirement benefits, which most states have not begun to implement or even to contemplate.

US intelligence also pay attention to the situation on the Balkans, saying that the Western Balkans are threatened by Russian mafia clans, which have the intention to take over complete control over the area. Because of influence in big companies, criminals might control the countries and take over control of the market, the report claims.

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