One in four French youth, one in three Portuguese youth and one in two Spanish youth are unemployed. Euro-zone GDP registered zero growth in the second quarter. Russia is violently revising Europe’s post-Cold War map. But the Continent can rest easy now that the European Union is tackling the menace of high-powered vacuum cleaners.

Consumers are only now noticing Regulation 666/2013, adopted by the European Commission last year and taking effect next month, which bans the manufacture or importing of vacuum motors whose…