The United Kingdom; The European Union; NATO: which is the primary sense of identity?

[Franconicus]

The EU allowed Greece to join the Euro despite it not meeting the prerequisite economic conditions, they then imposed regime change as a condition of a bailout when the Greek economy collapsed. When the Greeks later regained a democratically elected government they held a Referendum rejecting the punishing terms of the bailout so that the EU and IMF then imposed even more punishing terms as a condition of continuing Aid monies which were glossed as a loan.

Isn't it funny that the same people who say that the EU has too much control are also blaming the EU for believing the Greek numbers.
I am not saying that the way the EU or Germany acted was good, but the root of the problems lies within Greece. And it is a simple facts that if your borrow money you give away freedom.

The EU is not essential for peace, unless the alternative is Germany enforcing its political and economic hegemony by force.

It is.
Last thing Germany wants is to become leader in Europe. However, it has the biggest population, the strongest economy and lays right in the middle. Germany really hesitated to lead in the financial crisis and was driven by the others. Now it is blamed for everything that is not good.
One of the reason the EU was founded and still has to be is that the EU is a system of balance between the big countries and the smaller ones. Without the EU that would not work and Germany would dominate - something nobody wishes.