The European Union (EU) plays a critical role in preserving peace. Its contribution to safeguarding democracy, stability and security in admitted countries is unquestionable. The experience of two catastrophic world wars has been catalytic in shaping the dogma of Brussels.

Ironically, the same union, which has successfully averted military conflicts among its member states, is nowadays causing a different type of war: an economic one.

This economic war is not fought with traditional weapons. Soldiers do not take part and the casualties do not resemble traditional combat. The main participants are small elite groups and banks. And while their decisions may not kill, they do destroy lives.

The current economic war is threatening the real nature of Europe. Brussels was completely unprepared for bad times during the good times and is imposing cruel austerity measures after the fact.

It has become alienated from European citizens who have different nationalities but share a common distrust. And the principle of solidarity has been largely absent being replaced by hostility between northern and southern states.

Conditions in recent months have been much worse in periphery countries such as Portugal and Spain. Rising poverty and unemployment are the main problems.

To put it bluntly, the majority of young people do not have a job and have few prospects of finding one in the foreseeable future.

"Brain drain" is a natural consequence. Young southern Europeans are moving to settle either in northern countries or in other continents showing their pessimism as well as the lack of real alternatives.

But the drama does not stop here. A feeling of uncertainty dominates the continent. Ordinary citizens do not believe that their bank deposits are safe. Even in Germany, the dominant economic power in Europe, 67 percent of respondents "greatly" or "somewhat" fear for their savings, a recent Forsa GmbH poll for RTL Television and Stern magazine suggests.

The roots of this phobia are not found in the March 2013 decision of the eurogroup to impose a haircut on bank deposits of Cyprus. They go back one year earlier. In February 2012, the same group dictated a 53.5 percent haircut on the face value of Greek sovereign bonds.

Economic losses for bondholders, namely banks, companies, social funds and natural persons, have been unbearable.

Along with these significant losses, however, the principal conclusion of that attempt was straightforward and crystal-clear.

From the moment the eurozone was not able to guarantee the sovereign bonds of one of its members, it was hardly able to protect deposits in private institutions such as banks.

There is no question that the EU has often to deal with irresponsible and incompetent political personnel across member states. Nevertheless, this cannot provide an excuse for the misinformation provided to European citizens and the undemocratic tinge of decisions made.

In the final account, the main challenge for Brussels should not be to punish honest European citizens but isolate the ones who have illegally earned money defying the rules.

But the EU is not prepared to change path.

EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn has spread fear by suggesting that savers with big deposits might suffer from a haircut under planned laws.

In theory, deposits under 100,000 euros ($130,000) will be protected. In the case of Cyprus, however, the initial eurogroup decision did not include any relevant provisions for small savers. This only changed after the "no" vote of the national parliament and the subsequent retreat by the Cypriot government.

The main priority of many European citizens these days is how to preserve their personal savings.

Some ordinary citizens are choosing mattresses over banks. They prefer the risk of personally protecting their savings against thieves and burglars than becoming victims of the eurogroup.

A few years ago that would have seen paranoid. This is not the case any longer.

Savings, investments and assets can be disintegrated almost at will following bizarre decisions on the part of Brussels. The decline of the European ideal has already started.

The author is a research fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn