It was Napoleon Bonaparte who said, “The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies.”

That quote sums up what European executives must be feeling today. I think one would be hard pressed to find another window in time to match the pace of change in this period of constant chaos.

Maybe we can go back to the fall of communism, that coincided with the lowering of trade barriers and the rapid adoption of the internet, which created a high level of uncertainty and intense globalisation. Today the geopolitical factors at play may be different, but there are more of them to juggle:

• A record number of refugees coming into Europe, putting immense pressure on German Chancellor Angela Merkel who has suffered two political setbacks in local elections in less than a month.

• A six-year war in Syria that rumbles on. At least 400,000 people have been killed and seven million Syrians displaced.

• An attempted coup in Turkey, followed by a government purge of over 70,000 workers in all layers of society.

• Donald Trump’s run for the White House. Among his bold assertions, he has talked about pulling the US out of the World Trade Organisation and cancelling bilateral trade agreements with China. Talk of protectionism is never a confidence builder in financial markets.

• A lack of clarity over Iran’s nuclear agreement with the P5+1 countries. It raises doubts whether the so-called “Germany of the Middle East” will get the chance to realise its full potential.

• The “new normal” in this state of constant chaos includes terrorist attacks over the past year, in Munich, Paris, Nice, Brussels, Miami and, most recently, in Minnesota and New York.

Perhaps it is not surprising then that those factors weigh heavily on the thinking of executives polled by the Munich-based Stern Stewart Institute.

Nearly two-thirds of them said that Europe needs a greenfield approach or a fresh view to developing growth, one that focuses on reducing bureaucracy and over-regulation. The same level, some 63 per cent of those polled said their biggest worries include a disintegration of EU members and a weak economy. Luxembourg, a smaller member, even suggested that Poland should have its membership suspended due to its refusal to take in refugees.

Real concerns from leaders of industry are meeting a European Union that has witnessed only tepid growth ever since the 2008-09 banking crisis. The challenge is, if there is another recession, there are really no tools left for central bankers to boost growth.

Interest rates are hovering around zero and in the case of Switzerland well below that. Executives are still trying to manage their operations and future investments not knowing what impact Brexit will have on the European landscape.

“Business has always dealt with uncertainty. Maybe this time around it is more pronounced than it used to be and some of that may translate into even more inertia when it comes to investing,” said Gerd Hausler, chairman of the Supervisory Board for Munich-based Bayern Landesbank.

But since many of the factors behind the constant chaos will be with us for some time, corporate stalwarts have no choice but to soldier on, according to Hausler, who is a former German central banker and IMF executive.

That is not the case for the man or woman on the street. Constant chaos has sparked a high level of political populism with swings to the far left and right in Europe and some pretty angry members from the southern flank of the European Union.

Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo vented his frustration in an interview after the EU leaders summit last weekend in Bratislava. “If we want to pass the afternoon writing documents without any soul or any horizon, they can do it on their own,” Renzi told the Italian daily “Corriere della Sera”.

A similar tone was recently expressed by Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras over the lack of flexibility to address the country’s near 180 per cent debt-to-GDP ratio.

The economic divide will remain. Germany will be pushed to use its surplus funds to spend and boost demand. Those in the south — like Italy, Spain and Greece — will be asked for even more structural reforms.

Last year, Chancellor Merkel was named “Time” magazine’s “Person of the Year” and applauded for being bold for her willingness to welcome refugees into Europe’s largest economy. She declared, “wir schaffen das” or “we can do this” when the crisis reached a boiling point. Absorbing up to a million refugees is a big task, but with a population of 81 million she is correct, it can be done.

The problem is a lack of cohesiveness on the refugee crisis is representative of the challenge of getting 28 disparate countries, soon to be 27 with the exit of Britain, to make some bolder decisions.

— The writer is CNNMoney’s Emerging Markets Editor