They don’t practice Athenian democracy over in most European states, though. The vast majority of national governments are either constitutional monarchies with a parliamentary system (such as Spain) or Weimar-style so-called “republics” that copy the monarchic parliamentary system but replace the monarch with an elected president. The EU’s central government is another animal entirely: it’s a copy of the USSR’s government, with the only significant difference being the existence of a multi-party system rather than single-party. (And no, the “citizens’ initiative” is not really an example of Athenian democracy, insofar as the European Commission is not obliged to make any proposal into a bill of law.)
The welfare state that the social market economy imposes on the 27 member states of the EU (per Article 3 paragraph 3 of the Treaty of Lisbon, Treaty on European Union section) will certainly be a heavy load to tote; but the only reason that this crisis (it’s artificial) is being prolonged is to get member states to give up more sovereignty to the central government. Rajoy even voiced his support for this
increased centralization back in June. (Not very right-wing of him, is it?)