Pat Doesn't Think Much of the EU

[Ben Davis]

Absolutely wrong - The EU, politically, has powers that differ significantly from the American system - The Federal government in the US has powers the EU doesn't have, and vice-versa - I would say that the EU's powers are much reduced in terms of influence compared to the USA's federal government.

I didn't claim that 'Europe has the same powers as the US', I claimed that the principles on which the EU are founded are as solid a basis for inter-state cooperation as the 'federal' model is for the US. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

As for fixing it - That's something I'm still waiting for but I don't see many solutions.

Remove the corrupt politicians and properly apply the existing principles of democratic representation. Much easier said than done, I know but the solution seems clear to me.

I have an honest question for people who want a federation - How do you think this would work when the tendency is actually for regionalism like what's happening in Catalonia (Spain)? If those people don't even want to be a part of Spain, why should they be a part of a federation? What about Italian separatism and independence movements?

Each of those movements has a different rationale. Some are rightly unhappy with the way that their 'regional ethnicity' is represented in the national context (a symptom of tribal nationalism, the cure for which is federalism!); others are nothing more than right-wing nutters, yearning for special rights. One could argue that these 'regionalists' may not even oppose federalism if their ethnicity were to be properly represented. One thing is universal, however: they represent a tiny minority of the European population and are not part of a growing 'tendency'. I'm not aware of a single 'regionalist' movement whose basis of existence is opposition to the EU.

Would every country be able to democratically say yes or no? What about countries like Switzerland that are not a part of the EU but find themselves in the middle of EU countries?

That's a good challenge and one which was true for the regions of the US before it was formed. The answer has to be that each country would have to say 'yes', via public referendum to ensure proper democratic representation of a potential member state. That's what I'd do because anything else would be unfair. In the meantime, the EU is, on paper, a good compromise and if it can have the corruption driven out, it might be a vehicle which demonstrates the value of state cooperation, such that other countries might want to join.