Introduction
Medics try to revive a demonstrator injured during a 48-hour protest by Greek unions outside parliament in Athens on Feb. 11, 2012. The government was meeting to approve a deeply unpopular EU bailout plan for the debt-ridden Greek economy calling for wage and benefit cuts for workers. (Reuters/Yannis Behrakis)
|
Europe's ongoing debt crisis is causing many to worry that the 27-nation European integration project, launched out of the ashes of World War II, may be doomed. At the center of this unfolding drama are Germany and Greece, two countries that epitomize the culture clash taking place between austerity-prone northern Europeans and their more spendthrift Mediterranean counterparts. Greece is on the verge of bankruptcy, weighed down by its vast sovereign debt burden, which some experts think could lead to the failure of the euro — the common currency used by Greece and 16 other EU members. Fiscally strong Germany, which led the EU bailout of Greece, has become an increasingly dominant decision-maker among the current EU-27. Amid the economic drama, the EU itself is changing: Its center of gravity has shifted markedly eastward since 10 former communist-bloc countries joined in the 2000s. And despite the union's current financial woes, Muslim Turkey and several volatile Balkan nations also want to join the EU.
|
|
|
 |
Apr. 05, 2019 |
European Union at a Crossroads |
 |
Dec. 16, 2016 |
European Union's Future |
 |
Jan. 09, 2015 |
European Unrest |
 |
Apr. 17, 2012 |
Future of the EU |
 |
Aug. 2007 |
The New Europe |
 |
Oct. 28, 2005 |
Future of the European Union |
 |
Nov. 27, 1998 |
European Monetary Union |
 |
Jun. 28, 1991 |
Europe 1992 |
 |
Jan. 13, 1989 |
Europe 1992: Danger or Opportunity? |
 |
May 11, 1979 |
Electing Europe's Parliament |
 |
Jan. 17, 1973 |
European Security |
 |
Sep. 03, 1969 |
Benelux Cooperation |
 |
Jun. 15, 1966 |
European Realignment |
 |
Sep. 19, 1962 |
Political Integration of Europe |
 |
Mar. 27, 1957 |
European Economic Union |
 |
Jan. 02, 1952 |
European Unification |
 |
Jan. 08, 1951 |
Defense of Europe |
 |
May 21, 1947 |
Federation of Europe |
 |
Nov. 16, 1939 |
Federal Union and World Peace |
 |
Apr. 12, 1933 |
European Political Alignments |
| | |
|