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BRUSSELS – The European Union, a hope for peace that rose from the fires ofWorld War II, paused Wednesday to honor its past and ponder itsfuture — and how it can ensure it still has one in light ofthe anti-austerity anger expressed this week by voters in Franceand Greece. May 9 is Europe Day, a commemoration of a key events that led tothe creation of the modern EU. It was on this day in 1950 thatFrench Foreign Minister Robert Schuman issued a declaration callingfor an integrated Europe. Tens of millions of Europeans had perished in twin cataclysms ofWorld Wars I and II. At root, Schuman's dream was simple: He wantedan economic union, a sharing of strategic resources in Europe thatwould "make war not only unthinkable but materially impossible." By that measure the project has been a resounding success. The EUhas grown to 27 members and the economic union has grown everdeeper, including a common market and, for 17 countries, a sharedcurrency. The interlocking interests have helped to shield the blocfrom any possibility of war. But on Sunday voters in France and Greece voted in droves againstthe strategy of harsh budget cuts leaders contend is necessary topreserve the economic union that is at the heart of the EuropeanUnion. The question then arises: Is the European dream in danger? Could itall come unstuck? "The current situation is extremely fragile and extremelydangerous," said Zsolt Darvas, a research fellow at Bruegel, aBrussels-based economic think tank. Greece's two major parties, both of which backed a drastic packageof budget cuts in order to secure a desperately needed bailoutloan, were so thumped by voters that even put together they wouldnot command a majority in Parliament. That's alarming because it raises the prospect of protractedpolitical paralysis, in which market panic could trigger a Greekfinancial meltdown and possibly force the country out of thecurrency union. That would endanger the viability of the entireEuropean project. And what of the Franco-German cooperation that was key to the EUduring its inception, and more recently instrumental in chartingEurope's course through its crisis? French voters ousted Nicolas Sarkozy as president on Sunday andreplaced him with the Socialist Francois Hollande, a leader not atall committed to swallowing more doses of the EU's bitterausterity. That raises questions about the continent's key alliance, sinceGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel is the staunchest champion ofEurope's strategy of belt-tightening. However, some see the unraveling of the Merkel-Sarkozy pairing aspossibly a good thing. The two were so close they were collectively dubbed "Merkozy." Theymet before each EU summit to make decisions that, critics say, theother EU heads of government were simply expected to endorse. Europeans increasingly saw a democracy deficit in which the topplayers were bullying weaker members into submission. "That was not the right thing to do for Europe," said Paul DeGrauwe, an economist with the London School of Economics. "This isthe reason the union might break up." Or one of the reasons. The other is the potential catastrophe of Greece breaking away fromthe euro. If that were to happen, virtually every Greek with euros in thebank would rush to withdraw them and deposit them abroad, saidDarvas of Bruegel. The country's financial system would collapsewithin days, and the country would suffer a terrible financialcrisis — far worse than the one it now endures. Beyond that, analysts say that Greece's exit from the euro wouldleave investors wondering which country would be next, raising theprospect of a financial contagion worse than any that has been seenin the course of the crisis. "The European project will be in danger," Darvas said. The irony is that Greek voters are not rejecting the EuropeanUnion, just an EU strategy of unrelenting budget cuts that haspushed struggling economies deeper into the hole. Antonis Samaras, the leader of Greece's Conservative New Democracyparty, has called for the terms of the country's bailout loans tobe re-negotiated to put more emphasis on stimulating growth. Some experts say that slowing down the push for budget balancing— though not abandoning it — while stimulating theeconomy could form the basis of a more successful EU approach tothe crisis. But there are more radical voices on the rise. Alexis Tsipras, theleft-wing politician now trying to form a government in Greece,wants to pull out of the agreement under which the country isreceiving bailout funds. Samaras said that would bring catastrophe. "The Greek people have not given a mandate to destroy the country,nor to leave the euro," Samaras said. "Quite the opposite. Andthose who understood something like that are altering andmisinterpreting the electoral result." As the political wrangling in Greece continues, the question ofwhether the union will hold together, whether Robert Schuman'sdream will survive, hangs in the balance. EU leaders, while they have been accused of often being a half-steplate in their responses to the series of crises, have neverthelessshown strong and durable political will in their efforts to savethe European project. They have faced down other crises that felt more immediatelythreatening, such as in December, when it was unknown whetherGreece would fulfill the conditions to receive a 130 billionrescue package. But De Grauwe says Europe is today entering more treacherousterrain. "This is in away deeper, because it's more political," he said."It's testing the political viability of the project." ____ Elena Becatoros in Athens contributed to this report. 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