The procurement scandal that erupted in early December has undermined the credibility of EU institutions for three main reasons. First, it involved a key EU body, the European External Action Service (EEAS), with suspicions that a tender may have been rigged to favor a specific private entity.

When the United States topples the leader of another sovereign nation and frames it as a show of strength and a point of pride, the world takes notice. If America openly disregards international rules it helped to create, why should…