Are the international financial and economic difficulties a threat to the european integration?

by Michele Tempera

The international economic and financial crisis is damaging the whole European Union. As a whole, the EU is facing a period of low growth which is having an impact on state finances and people's standards of living.
Nevertheless the newest member countries are suffering more in terms of job losses and public accounts imbalances. The main reason of this dangerous trend is the freagile structure of the economies of the area, which are strongly based on foreign investments.
Can this situation disrupt the integration process in the EU, given that it is built primarly on the commercial and financial exchanges between new members and founding states? Many countries recently entered in the Union are not completely integrated yet, despite the membership gained in the last years. Other Eastern european states must stll comply with the institutional and economic requests of Bruxelles.
Can the economic, social and financial crisis be the element which is going to disrupt the European building before it is completed? Can this be the time of an early retreat from the will of building a unified and internationally recognized Europe after centuries of violent divisions?
 
Original title: Le difficoltà economiche e finanziarie internazionali minacciano l'integrazione europea?