They also have by far the biggest proportional military spending in the EU (or did a few years ago, they might have reined it in a bit since then), an economic elite that makes the UK's multimillionaires look like amateurs in the sport of tax avoidance, a colossally bloated civil service and loads of jobs from which you can retire on full state pension at 50.
Basically it's not hard to see how they've got into the situation they're in. The problem is that while there are obvious ways big money could be recouped (cutting military spending, taxing the rich) these are naturally going to be resisted by powerful people and, as usual, it's going to be ordinary people who get it in the neck.