From the Financial Crisis to the Euro Crisis

With the societal model of the EU, the former economic goal of catching up to the income level of the USA was missed, but the EU can claim to have risen to a “Lifestyle Superpower” (Rachman, 2010). The brand “Made in Europe” stands worldwide for goods that combine high technical standards with sophisticated design. The EU has proven itself as a “convergence machine” (Gill & Raiser, 2012), capable of integrating poorer countries and making them wealthier over time. However, the euphoric phase of the EU, characterized by the gradual expansion of the Community, has stalled. The externally originating financial crisis met with internal weaknesses and kept the Union in a state of weak economic and social dynamics for more than a decade due to the measures taken to cope with the Euro crisis.