May 14, 2010 4:00 A.M.

The Other European Volcano

When Greece started to erupt, the volcanic ash spread over the social democrats’ smug vision of a perfect European Union.

Five years ago, the European Union’s account of itself resonated with end-of history triumphalism. In organic fashion, democratic socialism would spread eastward and southward, recivilizing the old Warsaw Pact and the Balkans through cradle-to-grave entitlements, state unionism, radical environmentalism, and utopian pacifism. No wonder that Turkey begged — and often humiliated itself in the process — to get inside this more perfect union.

Over here, we were often lectured by “progressivesâ€