A banking raid in Europe kicks up an unseemly nationalist defence

Move from one European Union country to another and most of your stuff will continue to work quite well. A car bought in Poland will still be considered roadworthy in Portugal, thanks to a single set of regulations (though new plates and insurance will in time be needed). Much the same appliances are sold in Sweden as in Greece, given standardised plugs and voltages. With a little fiddling, a Spotify subscription can be made to work too. But using a bank account opened in one EU country while living in another is surprisingly troublesome, even if both use the euro. In theory Europeans, like their American cousins, live in one large single market, free to contract services from business based anywhere in the bloc. In practice payment systems sometimes accept only cards issued by local banks—and good luck getting your Finnish bank to fund a Spanish mortgage. Finance is where the European ideal of a seamless union often falls shortest.