Western Europe has also not offered aid to Central and East European countries as the latter expected. One reason they joined the EU was to benefit from the bloc's economic resources. Central and East European countries believe that part of the EU budget should be used to support their development. Meanwhile, the debt problem in Central and Eastern Europe is serious. As foreign debts owed by Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic have exceeded their aggregate gross domestic products, these countries could hardly pay off their debts on their own. They looked to the EU as their savior, but their request was denied. During the EU summit held on March 1, Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, who has resigned from office for his failing economic policies, requested 180 billion euros in aid, but his motion was swiftly rejected by West European leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Integration troubles

In recent years, EU integration has not gone smoothly. In the summer of 2005, France and Holland vetoed the proposed EU Constitution during respective referendums. Three years later, voters in Ireland rejected the Lisbon Treaty, a revised version of the EU Constitution. Before EU leaders could negotiate a solution, the financial crisis broke out.

The ongoing crisis has been both positive and negative for EU integration. But on balance, it will make the integration process more difficult.

On the positive side, European countries could unite to cope with the financial crisis. Indeed, the structure of EU integration encourages cooperation, and the financial crisis demonstrates how important the integration process is to Europe's future economic health. The euro, a signature result of the European unification, has shown its value during the crisis. In the 1990s, Europe was hit by a currency crisis. Without coordinated currency policies, the European exchange rate system, a loose agreement to align exchange rates among European countries, fell apart. In the current financial crisis, eurozone members have a common currency and implement the same currency policies. The internal market of the EU remains stable because there are no currency fluctuations between countries. Last October, the financial crisis overwhelmed Europe. But after leaders issued their bailout plans at an emergent summit meeting, major European stock markets stopped freefalling. The euro's excellent performance during the financial crisis has made it even more attractive. Iceland, Britain and some Central and East European countries are showing more interest in adopting the currency.

Moreover, although EU members have no common financial policies, the 200-billion-euro ($264.76 billion) stimulus plan, issued in late 2008, greatly encourages people on the continent. EU countries also made great efforts to make the anti-crisis summit in Washington, D.C. last November a success, and are actively pushing forward international financial system reform.

All this shows that Europe needs to speed up the integration process, because a united Europe will be better able to face future challenges.

On the negative side, the financial crisis exacerbates conflicts inside the EU, pitting "Old" and "New" Europe against each other and hindering European integration.

Two problems have blocked the European integration process in recent years. First, the enlarged EU is too big to be cohesive. The financial crisis has made many countries wary of further expansion. For example, Central and East European countries were eager to participate in the eurozone. However, José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, stressed on March 4 that the eurozone must guarantee stable operation, and that it wouldn't lower the threshold for admission.

Second, there is a big gap between political elites and ordinary people when it comes to the issue of integration. Despite the current crisis, Europe needs to push forward integration to solve issues like energy security and climate change. But it is the public's attitude that will determine the fate of the integration process. People in France, Holland and Ireland, while not rejecting integration outright, have expressed dissatisfaction with their governments through referendums. For example, the financial crisis has not only led to worsening unemployment and low government approval ratings in France, but has also provoked nationwide strikes because people believed the government wasn't doing its best to deal with the financial crisis. Under such circumstances, it will be harder for governments to persuade their people to support integration.

Before the G20 summit in London, the EU intensified internal coordination so as to speak with one voice. The summit was expected to help alleviate divisions between "Old" and "New" Europe that were results of the debt crisis in Central and Eastern Europe. EU members unanimously called on the international community to give more money to the International Monetary Fund, so it can better assist Central and Eastern Europe with the debt crisis. Another topic of interest to the EU during the summit was to strengthen regulation of financial markets in order to prevent similar crises from happening in the future. This is an issue where the interests of "Old" and "New" Europe align.

The author is a research fellow with the Institute of European Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations