Why bullshit rules in Brussels

BULLSHIT IS AEU surprisingly rich seam of philosophical inquiry. “On Bullshit”, a short essay by Harry Frankfurt, an American philosopher, became a bestselling book. Since its publication in 1986, the essence of the stuff has been chewed over, with thinkers ranging from Wittgenstein to St Augustine invoked to help understand it. The field of inquiry was even given its own name: taurascatics. Examining the theory of bullshit—“indifference to how things really are” in Mr Frankfurt’s formulation—is now a well-trodden path. To see bullshit in practice, head to Brussels.Consider the ’s Global Gateway initiative, launched on December 1st. It is a sprawling scheme that will supposedly result in €300bn ($340bn) of investment in infrastructure across the developing world by 2027. Diplomats compare it to the “Belt and Road Initiative”, which China uses to expand its influence. Beneath the spin lurks bullshit. It is not just the language (the scheme is based on “a Team Europe approach”) but the content. The €300bn is mainly a mixture of existing commitments, loan guarantees and heroic assumptions about the ability of the club to “crowd in” private investment, rather than actual new spending. Even the threat it is designed to counter is overdone: Japan quietly invests far more than China on infrastructure in Asia, for example. It is a perfectly good idea; but it is simply caked in bullshit.