The title comes from a very interesting and entertaining post by Gonzalo Lira on the subject of EU debt, how they got there and what the potential and probable outcomes will be.

Damned good stuff and well worth a read.

As a taster (and the inspiration for the title) :

If the European Union is to be saved, then this EU-redux that I’m positing would seem to be the only way ahead—and its something everyone who cares about Europe should want: The EU is essential for Europe’s long-term peace and prosperity.

One has to remember the original rationale for the Common Market, which underlines the rationale for the European Union of today: To bind Germany closer to France, and thereby prevent internicine aggression, and the possibility of another continental war.

See, for all their patina of civility, culture and civilization, the French and the Germans are at heart a couple of barbarian tribes who have hated one another since before Roman times. They still hate one another, truth be told. It’s why they have fought one another so relentlessly over the centuries. You see that level of deep-seated hatred bubbling over into periodic, startlingly violent wars in either North, Central or South America? No you do not. But the French and the Germans? No different from African tribesmen—only with nukes and pretentiously refined table manners

The EU is how France has managed Germany, and therefore how both countries have been able to save on wasteful military spending to protect against one another.

If France wants to continue to have a manageable Germany, then France has to stay married to Germany in the EU. Therefore, the EU cannot be dissolved. The EU has to be saved.

Do go read the whole article.