2 Issues at Stake

2.1   Some Relevant Developments
Prehistoric civilization came from Asia,and via the Arab world, to southern Europe. On the way being enriched by new knowledge and insights. From ancient Greece, these achievements were exported by the Romans, as southern powers penetrated northern European regions. Interestingly, with special attention. As Pörtner and Tadema put it: the best legions, the most successful warriors, and the best officials were sent to the Rhine and Danube area. Southern civilisation was spread, not by acculturation, but by military force.
Thus, administrative order, cultural issues, and normative ethics came to the river regions of Donau, Rhine, and Scheldt. Archeologic discoveries show the advanced way the Roman legions penetrated the north, and colonized its inhabitants.However, after the demise of the Roman Empire it took centuries for a new European era to emerge. That was, when Charlemagne did reign over a large part of Europe,
Remarkably, in so doing, he established a sort of separate northern administrative and intellectual center at Aachen, Although, it could not match the grandeur of southern capitals, it contributed an interesting feature.While symbolism was primordial in the southern culture, in Aachen of Charlemagne we already see, that the sober, unadorned 'word', so text as such, becomes a basic cultural issue, eventually leading to the discovery of printing in the north, separately by Gutenberg and Coster..Aachen was the embryonic typical northern European intellectual unity.
Next to Frankish, Charlemagne was speaking latin, and understanding Greek. After his crowning of an Emperor in Rome, he has been reported to say, that he would not have entered St Peter's had he known what the Pope intended to do. He disliked the Pope's implied arrogation of authority. The Pope, in those days, also reigned over a vast area of southern Europe. (J.M.Roberts, in History of the World)..
In later centuries, two main southern powers would control the larger part of  Europe - The Roman Chrurch, and the Spanish Monarchy. Both these powers were successfully.challenged in the north. Preceded by the Magna Carta of Great Britain,.it was firstly the reformation, starting with Luther, that questioned the power of the Roman Church. Secondly, the Spanish monarchy lost the freedom struggle with the Republic of the Seven Provinces, under Willem van Oranje.The result was not just political. At the time the Republic urbanized far more than other nations, featuring hardworking, sober, objective citizens, although rather restricted in their outlook.
It did entail a shift from feudal to centralized management. The economy was enriched with new approaches. In a multinational way, large scale production evolved in shipbuilding crossing borders from Scandinavia to Holland and Zeeland..The entire range from raw materials to end product became covered. In this sense an entrepreneur as De Geer can be seen as one of the first, or even the very first of capitalists. Resilting tensions between the patricians and the population at large brought about conflicts of interest, which took a large periode to resolve politically.
People came from abroad to view the economic miracle, and thus, provided later sources of meticulous description, the Dutch failed to produce deliberately, themselves..Nowadays, on a much larger scale, and as a result of worldwide developments, Europe is gradually on its way to some sort of unity, but politically still in a comparable state of 'nascendi'. As will be argued, this process stumbles severely nowadays. Its course of action may prove to be harmful to its own and the world economy for a long time to come..Serious problems did arise, as the euro crisis exemplifies..

2.2   Problems
Historic problems of Europe lay in many wars fought between European nations. William Penn, himself actually providing a major contribution to the US-constitution, already coined in 1670 also a European concept, that aimed to prevent wars. However, the US had no such troublesome past, that could have hampered its rise. Thus, when immigration was apparently leading to a disruption of its society and civilization, it closed its boundaries in 1924.
The European Union is now a body of some 27 nations, in which internal economic boundaries have been reduced substantially, to the benefit of all  participants. Thus, little resistance was met, and even strong support of the various populations was apparent for the breaking down of market barriers. It is safe to assume, that the implementation did not clash with the opinions of most of the Europeans.  
People saw in the Common Market a reassuring, war preventing, mechanism, that promised and realized prosperity. However, mainly outside the scope of people, Brussels evolved into a beaurocratic administration, seeking to extend its powers above the realm of economics, internally, and externally.
The intermediate result cannot be considered positive, as the implementation of the European currency of the euro led, rather unexpectedly for most users, to a deep crisis.
In that crisis, which may sustain for a long time, opposing opinions are emerging, resulting in a stalemate situation. The northern nations not willing to pay for the enormous debts of the southern countries, while the southern nations expect them to do. Internal tensions are growing, while the Brussels' power-based, top-bottom reaction, aims at collecting more money to be transferred.

2.3   Opposing Forces in Progress
On the one hand we see northern powers growing more reluctant to money transfers by a centralized bureaucracy, while, at the same time, Brussels is trying desparately to gain substantial control over the national finances of the eurozone. However, although the Constitutional Court of Germany approved the Germasn contribution to the European Monetary Fund, it stated at the same time, that if exceeding € 190.000.000.000 will occur, a new treatment is necessary. On top of it, the important CSU political party does not want to exceed the mentioned amount of support. Yet, it has already been stated, that a far larger sum is called for, some ten times the amount at stake.
In the hope to nullify member state measures, Van Rompuy, EU-chairman, aims for a common European budget. Within such a European budget, a large part of the national finances are transferred to, and brought under the control of Brussels, and thus under central, mostly invisible control.
Evidently, it sees as its primary task to try and greatly facilitate the transfer of money to monetary unbalanced economies, without having to ask for the consent of the payers.