[inglor_cz]

First, Nordic households are taxpayers, not a third party just watching the EU giving someone's elses money to yet someone else.

Second, European middle class is already pretty juiced. Total level of taxation is pretty high and real estate is becoming unbearably expensive. This is a huge problem; with some exceptions (Germany), Europeans think of themselves as middle class when they own at least one home or apartment, and this used to be well possible until at least 2015. But a combination of overregulation (not enough being built) and cheap capital is killing this dream.

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Individual home ownership is not a good metric for the state of the middle classes, and the exception Germany illustrates it well: With renter-friendly regulations and high shares of public or semi-public (cooperatives etc.) ownership of homes, there often is no need to own housing, neither for financial nor for security reasons. In fact the rising home ownership rates in Germany are a symptom of the detoriating situation of the market, leading to more gentrification and rising rents in many regions.