Last week, when the financial system threatened to unravel in the United States, European Union leaders called an emergency summit to devise a common approach to the crisis. In Washington, unseemly bickering between political parties had already defeated one attempt to pass a $700 billion rescue package. The American political and economic system looked seriously wounded. This might have marked the moment for a unified Europe, viewed by many as a counter-balance to the U.S., to act decisively and effectively in a time of peril. As it happened, however, the "fraternité" long dreamed of by some in the EU vaporized under the pressure of the growing emergency. Before long, European efforts to contain the growing crisis degenerated into an embarrassing spectacle of every country for itself, and erased whatever was left of the mirage that the EU is anything resembling a single country. By Tuesday, the embarrassment -- and danger -- caused by a union in disarray prompted another urgent push for common action. But much of the damage had already been done.
World Citizen: No European Unity in Financial Crisis Response
