> I hope you're right, but the trend is in the opposite direction:
I think that you are right about the reasonable expectations right now. But I think that there are strong structural reasons (aside from those "wrong reasons" you mentioned) why the project of a unified Europe will bounce back, even if this attempt is led to collapse by Merkel and Sarkozy: Economic geography in the face of trends towards greater integration in other regions of the world. Scale economies.
It is entirely possible for the EU to fail soon. But if a left government takes over France and then Germany, then the EU could (in principle) be re-structured -- re-aligned around the interests of the European working people. I know that there's a sector of the European left that would rather see the whole EU experiment to collapse. That is a function of their estimated balance of forces. But things are in flux. That can change the ambitions of the left in Europe.
Things are in flux, and I'm way too ignorant about the political trends in Europe to make any meaningful statement beyond these generalities. Our hope lies in those so-called "riots."