Europe continues to behave like a drunk staggering down the high street, tripping over a kerb, falling against a parked car and bouncing back to lean on a wall desperately trying to remain upright. The problem is that Europe, like the drunk, cannot remain upright for much longer. The only question is how bad will the damage be when the fall comes?

The Greek crisis seems insoluble and Italy looks to be next on the list in spite of the removal of the “Buffoon” Berlusconi, a title bestowed upon him by his disenchanted electorate. Sarkozy, the Little Napoleon, could be next since he too appears to lack popular support and France is looking especially vulnerable to the spreading Euro disease. Maybe Germany can hold it all together but the question is, do the German people want to? Merkel is hardly top of the popularity stakes and she may be one parliamentary vote from obscurity. What then for the European monolith?

The annoying thing about this crisis is that it was all too predictable. European integration, like the doomed Euro itself, was built on sand. The European Union has never benefited from majority support within its member states and it was always just a matter of time before the proponents of European unity were called upon to face the consequences of their undemocratic policies.

It’s quite incredible that politicians in a continent which prides itself on its enlightenment and democratic traditions can have behaved in such a manner. European leaders have never missed an opportunity to lecture other countries’ leaders, the Chinese for example, on the way their countries are run, conveniently forgetting their own actions. Politics and hypocrisy are not exactly strange bedfellows though, are they?

Events in the Middle East this year have quite clearly demonstrated that eventually the voice of the people will be heard and the strongest of regimes can be made to topple. Our continent is no different; the problem is what will be left of Europe once the Union falls and how can we recover from the economic turmoil still to come?