The European Union was a construct of infinite prosperity

The USA is also collection of disparate nation states that will hold together as long as prosperity lasts. Without oil-fuelled prosperity the USA will fall apart into six or seven independent nations.

But that prosperity is now propped up by infinite debt, to sustain the original illusion.

It is not just a European problem, but a global problem, where world commerce is supported by infinite debt.

While we might think of money as supporting our economy, only energy can support the solvency of a nation, and only surplus energy can fulfill the aspirations of its rulers and the desires of its citizens. Until the advent of the industrial revolution, and in particular the universal availability of cheap oil, that energy could only come from territory that could produce sufficient food and other essentials for any level of civilized living. We might ‘demand’ that our leaders provide new hospitals, schools, roads and all the other things that make life comfortable, but without the necessary surplus energy to do it, it is impossible. No political posturing or promises or taxation can change that.