As a casual observer, it seems Europe is run like a family with the Germans playing the whipped husband continuously writing the checks for the wife, France, and the wife passing along some of the money to the kids, PIGS.
Very casual. And very ignorant of history.
There was a time when the husband went psychotic and tried to kill the whole family.
As a Brit watching this from the sidelines, I’d say that you’re pretty much exactly right as to how the EU works :-)