Several Western European Countries -- Led By Austria -- Bow To Putin's Ruble Demand -- April 27, 2022

 What defines a country? What does a country need to maintain autonomy? Integrity? What makes for a "healthy" country?

• control of its own borders;
• a common language; perhaps a common and relatively unique language;
• its own currency;

That's where I would start. 

Countries in the EU are losing much of their "individuality" / identity and a year or so ago, a number of countries were thinking of breaking away (think Brexit for others).

Of course, border integrity was lost a long time ago, and humanitarian crises in eastern Europe and Turkey and the Mideast made the border issues worse.

Several EU countries -- led by Austria -- have now blinked and will meet Putin's demands to buy natural gas with rubles. They will use convoluted processes to change Euros / US dollars to rubles with some folks starting to talk about going back to their own currency.  

What this means for the EU is anyone's guess.