Well, currently "industrial policy" inside the EU is largely against EU law. At least if the EU is dismantled, the periphery could try to rebuild their economies. Without that they are sunk.

So I guess I agree, the European Union is a dead man walking.

More interesting is the realisation that there's no reason to believe that Chinese and Indian economic growth will not start to bite into the low end of Core country manufacturing.

And without the captive market of the periphery, it's hard to see how they prosper. They'll be on the sharp end of trying to out-mercantile China, but with much reduced influence at the WTO.

I'm not normally a purveyor of doom, but I don't see how things get better without some realisation that what will be needed is a rebalancing of world trade and Europe can only be part of influencing that if they stand together...