Some thoughts on the crisis in Greece.

The recent financial crisis in Greece could be an illustration of the "fragility" of the EU as an economic, political, and social entity.
Long before the effective circulation of the Euro in Europe(late 1999)
the treaty of Maastricht (1992) has established strict financial criteria for countries who wanted to be part of the European currency.
These criteria related to the percentage of the public deficit to the national GDP and the ratio of the national debt to the GDP. Countries who met these criteria were welcome to join and those who did not, were asked to work their finances and come back at a later date.
As of Today, the Euro is the currency in 16 European countries.

The current debt crisis in Greece might have been rooted in the history of the
European Union and the Euro itself. The treaty of Maastricht has put too much focus on the financial criteria to qualify for the Euro and not enough attention to social criteria that are equally important. As a matter of fact, no one would argue that the economic, financial and social structures in a country are independent from one another. The lack of definition of the "social" pillar of the European Union has also led many convinced Europeans to call for voting against Maastricht. The late Philippe Seguin (Speaker of the French Parliament) was an ardent opponent to that treaty and he had a memorable debate with the late French president Francois Mitterrand in the days preceding the French referendum on the ratification of the treaty of Maastricht.

The lack of "social homogeneity" across Europe could have led to the economic troubles that Europe is presently going through. Disparities in areas like retirement age, unemployment benefits, social services and labor laws have a direct impact on the economic and financial situation of any country.
For instance, one could easily understand why the Germans are reluctant to jump in and help Greece when we know that people in Greece can retire as early as age 57 while the minimum retirement age in Germany is 63.

As they debate the most adequate way to help Greece, European leaders should look more broadly on the underlying causes and put forward a plan towards a better harmonization of European policies. Such harmonization would strengthen the EU and make crisis such as the current one less likely to occur in the future.