Germany is horribly caught in their union, government guaranteed nightmare. And as for hanging chards, they have no distinct political leadership right now. You can't give a national population guarantees, and then say...WTF, time out. It's happening here, but because we are so large, the impact is diminished by scale.
Not to go Machiavellian, but going back to original thoughts - the EU is ripe for picking, for someone with an agenda. Has anyone here bothered to look at European export restrictions or immigration rules since the Soviet Union went south?
Didn't think so. It's enlightening.