THE CORRUPTED IDEALS OF THE EU

   Along the way, membership expanded far beyond those original six countries. The EU now consists of 28 member states with a far more diverse mix of ethnicities and cultures than was originally envisaged.
   And as the EU has expanded, so tensions have emerged – perhaps inevitably, given that many of its member states have little in common, culturally and historically.
 The first fault lines were exposed during the global financial crisis, which highlighted disparities between the rich industrial countries of Northern Europe and less resilient member states such as Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal.
  Resentment of their subservience to dominant economies such as Germany was a key factor in the emergence of populist nationalist parties in Greece and Italy.