Manages to acquire European symbols (5)
I believe the answer is:
runes
'symbols' is the definition.
(rune is a kind of symbol)
'manages to acquire european' is the wordplay.
'manages' becomes 'runs' (I've seen this in another clue).
'to acquire' is an insertion indicator.
'european' becomes 'E' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'runs' going around 'e' is 'RUNES'.
(Other definitions for runes that I've seen before include "Old letters" , "Small stones bearing symbols with magic significance" , "Mysterious letters" , "marks on old tablets" , "old characters" .)