Blinkered decision-making, clash of values could spur Europe’s disintegration

If a clear signal was needed that the European Union is falling apart at an alarming rate, Hungary’s construction of razor-wire fences along the border with its fellow EU member Croatia is it. The crisis in the eurozone has, of course, fragmented financial flows, caused economies to diverge, eroded political support for EU institutions, and set Europeans against one another. The eurozone and refugee crises have common features that make them tricky to resolve. The EU is hopeless at burden sharing. Resettling the almost 750,000 people who have sought asylum in the EU this year – still only 0.14 percent of the EU population – has thus become an existential crisis.Part of the problem is blinkered decision-making. EU leaders focus narrowly on limiting short-term financial and political costs, rather than thinking strategically about broader longer-term consequences.Restructuring With the EU already crumbling, Brexit could turn that dynamic on its head.

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