EU, in the wake of the US, is prosperous because it exploits other nations natural and human resources effectively. Using the IMF, the World Bank and other tools. If these exploited countries don't listen and do exactly as they are told, then they use the other 3 letter agencies and finally NATO as the stick to beat them with. Not very different from the slavery rackett and colonialism they used to run before.

Read Stiglitz's "Globalization and Its Discontents" and Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism"