What is confusing here is Europe for a visiting American is the fear over debt by member states. The fact that Greece, Iceland and Spain have spent more than they can pay as members of the Eurozone seems almost quaint to an American. In America following the Civil War most southern states have been net gainers from the Federal treasury. THey routinely pay less in taxes for services and benefits they receive from the Federal budget. This has been a moral and fiscal concern in America for more than 150 years, excepting the costs of Reconstruction. It has been a moral concern as once Reconstruction failed(see my discussion of the Failure of Reconstruction:http://www.dailykos.com/...) , southern politicians used Federal funds to benefit the white minority by the Black Codes and Jim Crow laws and discimination in a systematic racism. The fiscal concern was that southern senators especially constantly manipulated Federal budgets to gain more and more tax money paid by other states out of the Federal tax revenue.
Another aspect of the fiscal side was a lack of accountability where Federal funds for projects for education and infrastructure were not equally available due to racism and corruption as anyone could see visiting the south in the 1960s. The history of this manipulation of the Federal budget can be found in a paper, "The President and the Distribution of Federal Spending"
CHRISTOPHER R BERRY, BARRY C BURDEN, WILLIAM G HOWELL. The American Political Science Review. Menasha: Dec 2010. Vol. 104, Iss. 4; pg. 783, 17 pgs.
This American history should be seen as a background upon which an integration of the EU can take place. At least the EU does not have the institutional racism America has had to deal with that has been at the core of inequalities in budgets and distribution among the states. Added to this problem is the fact that many states are perpetually broke as is California, which is not the worst, that would be Illinois. California, due to more than two decades of political deadlock and Republican anti-tax philosophy carries more than 30 billion in debt and liabilities and routinely has to rely on "warrents" or promises to its employees and vendors until tax revenues can arrive or temporary lending be arranged.