BRUSSELS — The European Union has no coherent strategy on many issues. It has only sketchy economic policies toward Russia; ambitions, but no game plan, to become a player in the Middle East; and, despite its original leadership on the Kyoto Protocol, no successor program on climate change.

And the biggest question of all — how to engage with China, India and other giants of the future — has received virtually no attention from EU-level policymakers.

These issues require attention now, and an integral part of the EU's search for new global strategies should be to invite, rather than avoid, criticism of its activities.