Merkel watches from the sidelines as the EU slowly falls apart

The EU world, at least from Brussels, appears to be falling apart.

The euro, the union’s most successful and binding element, is under constant attack, and all those who are part of it are suffering as a result.

The future of the union is being shaped by default as the devil details of the Lisbon treaty are being filled in in a way that owes more to which institution is strongest at the moment rather than to what Europe in a hostile world needs.