The European union was formed by a consortium of over 14 countries to give a collective fight to the mighty US many years back. And over the last two years almost every European country is in trouble and few of them like Greece and Spain are on the verge of collapse.
But for the special efforts of the stronger EU partners, these countries could have failed long time back. And it is only a matter of time before the EU member countries start taking unilateral action to protect themselves from the severe regional collapse.
Only a strong US recovery can change this or delay this, which does not look feasible at the current juncture.