The Yugoslav crisis since 1991 at first posed a threat to the steady and painless evolution of consensus in Europe. It eventually contributed to the emergence of the wrong kind of consensus, the one that deepens the Schism and makes its eventual bridging less likely. Beneath the surface there have been streams of disagreement, but the political language remained that of the consensual judgment of violent events. If there is no plausible solution to a problem indicated by the consensual language about it, no solution is attempted until and unless reality breaks up normality.
International discussion is crude.
Little countries still count for little, but they do have votes that are not strictly worthless. Danish and Belgian soldiers patrol hills once thought unworthy of bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier. The New Europe cannot agree on as much as it pretends, but its political culture requires deference to majority opinion. This makes a powerful force out of what may be called the lowest common denominator. There is little conviction and often no strategy in the words and votes of European leaders, but they love the ceremony of international decision-making.