There were 2 main reasons to start the Eurpean Union (initially differently named) after WWII:
1) To form a cartel for agricultural goods, steel and coal.
2) To bind together the Europoean Nations, namely France and Germany, so that another war could be avoided.
Many bad things can be said about the EU but those primary aims were reached very successfully. Successful to an extent that war between members of the EU seems even no longer imaginable and this is not only due to the economic interdependence but also very much due to the cultural exchange.
Cultural diversity
A 3rd success evolved during the 2 last decades almost as a side effect: the concept of European Regions. Most borders in Europe were almost drawn as harshly as colonial borders in Africa, right thru the people and their languages and cultures: the Irish, the Basque, Tirol, Alemanni and many more. Many of them led to civil wars, independency movements, suppression and terrorist activities until very recently. Some of it is still going on but to a much lesser extent and brutality than it used to be. There are several reasons to this, a major one is that as a side effect of the introduction of free movement, living and working within the EU, people bound by history, language and culture but divided by borders, no longer felt like divided.
The general feeling within the EU is that the EU is NOT a melting pot like the US but a place where it is possible to keep your culture and identity. Languages are taught again which were forbidden and suppressed for decades, sometimes centuries.
The ability to keep and to even widen/rebirth the cultural diversity of old Europe within the EU is, from my experience, what people worldwide found the most thrilling, interesting about the EU. It gave hope to so many struggles that there is a way, a political solution to live in peace AND cultural freedom... without loosing your identity.
I agree completly that not Greece or Spain or Portugal are the problem in the EU but Germany. And Germany is the problem because it is the capitalistic most successful country within the EU. Capitalism has given us an incredible high productivity and some an enormous wealth but it comes at a high price to be paid by others. Capitalism alone without political guidelines and restrictions is not the friend of the people. Most posts above are plain examples of it: lower wages, less holiday, longer work and so on. Harsh poverty is on the agenda again right within the wealthy EU and I am not only speaking about Greece but even about Germany: as successful as Germany's economy is, a parallel development is the impoverishment of wide parts of the society.
The EU, as a great experiment, so far has shown
* ways how countries can live in peace together who have fought each other for more times than anybody can count
* ways how the different cultures of people can be embedded without them loosing their identity
But it failed to solve the old problem how to embed an economical system like capitalism in a way that it doesn't behave like the fiend of culture, diversity and prosperity for all. And at the moment this old problem threatens everything good what the experiment EU has achieved so far.
What we urgently need is a political fix... not a mainly economical although it may involve quite some changes to the economy.
It's a challenge which looks even more difficult than lasting peace in Europe looked about 60 years ago.
If the EU, or rather the people in the EU, can find a solution even to this, the EU is again the place where many in the world look hopefully for as an example for a better future.
edit: typo
Another old bloodstained Harkonnen.
