The EU actually has a great track record, it has been a massive unifying force. I think people tend to forget how shit things were even 30 years ago. I really hate this constant shitting on the EU for no concrete reasons.

It is crippled because nation states want to retain control, it is one of the main reasons. People act like 'EU politicians' should solve everything overnight, but the reality is that it is out of their purview in many cases. Only federalization would resolve this issue.

> I think people tend to forget how shit things were even 30 years ago.

About thirty years ago a European family could survive on a single salary and get by decently. Now they can't. So, I'm not sure what are you talking about.

> It is crippled because nation states want to retain control, it is one of the main reasons.

IMO it's crippled by the amount of poor decisions making and complete inability to handle even small-scale crisis somewhat successfully.

> Only federalization would resolve this issue.

On this, I agree. But given the decision making the last 15-20 years, that option is dead on arrival.

30 years ago life was more prosperous in western and southern Europe. I don't know about eastern Europe.

Still pissed over the fact the EU made Greece pay their debts when they thought they never had to repay their debts and could just get free money?

I'm sure you consider yourself a clever person, ever consider that the situation was more complex than your one line comment? That maybe it's possible the German banks were so happy to see a country that suddenly had the backup system of the European Central Bank, i.e. a country full of customers they could lend to, that they flooded it with offers of loans? That Greeks, like the sub-prime borrowers of the USA, thought "Well, if everyone is saying the future looks bright, why not borrow money and pay it back with the promised future income?".

That, if I knew my friend was going to be irresponsible with money but their parent was going to bail them out, why shouldn't I lend them money with interest? Is that irresponsible of me? Do I deserve to get all my money back, instead of suffering some of the losses as well? (In this highly simplicized example, I = German banks, my friend = the Greek society, their parents = the ECB. Not saying all of Greek society was irresponsible, but in aggregate, it was a risky "investment")

A lot of the Greek bailout could be summarized as the German government bailing out German banks with EU taxpayers' money...

Here's a long article about what happened when Germany got flooded with money in the 1870s: https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/02/michael-pettis-syriz... . It's longer than your one line, maybe you'd rather hold on to your more succint (and maybe more intelligent) summary...