The EU has a very aging population and a lot of benefits that it owes them. Every publication that I've read (including the Economist and the FT) predicts dire times ahead for the EU. Also, the EU is not a country. It's an economic block composed of members with competing self-interests (as the latest Barnier fiasco demonstrates). Another example is that the UK and France won't give up their security council seats in favor of an EU seat. Also, unlike the US, it does not issue EU bonds because stable countries, like Germany, don't want to underwrite risk for weaker ones, like Greece. If and when an EU country defaults on its debt, which will become a real possibility as more eastern European countries enter the EU (let alone Greece), will Germany and France bail it out? I doubt it. Lastly, while I would not have expected China's meteoric rise to have been a zero-sum game for the rest of the world, it appears that Europe is being marginalized at China's expense.