(Greg Cooke is chairman of BNPParibas Real Estate UK. As GlobeSt.com reported inMarch,Transwestern have entered intoa global services alliance giving the Houston-based firm a30-country reach while it provides stateside services to BNPclients. Views expressed here are the author’s own.)

Much like the brilliant but dysfunctional family in the movie“The Royal Tenenbaums,” the European Union considers itself afamily (of nations), but is also somewhat dysfunctional. And withthe Euro, the EU has its own crisis with which to deal. TheTenenbaum children’s early success ends up in difficulties, so itis good to ask how the EU ended up in a mess when it all started sowell, and what it means for real estate investors.

The EU, born out of a desire to prevent wars, began in 1957 withsix countries. Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy and theNetherlands are the original family members of the current 27. Manyfamilies, even dysfunctional ones, like to establish ground rulesto live by. The EU is no different; it is a rules-basedorganization.