RE: Should the European Union end?
July 26, 2014 at 6:39 pm
(This post was last modified: July 26, 2014 at 6:40 pm by ManMachine.)
(July 25, 2014 at 10:32 pm)Blackout Wrote: The question is pretty clear:
Should the EU end? And why/why not?
What's the best option? - Complete federalism, keeping the EU as it is with it's current characteristics or abolishing it completely?
This poll is aimed at Europeans but Americans are free to answer as long as you know enough of the EU's composition, powers and current affairs
I'm a euro skeptical so I'll go with 'yes'.
The forerunner for the EU, the Common Market in the 1970s, was originally a trade area set up to combat US protectionism that stifled trade in Europe in the years following WWII, by creating market conditions that were favourable for US exports to the EU but unfavourable for EU imports into the US.
So the EU set up its own market, the European Common Market. This has been running since the 70s, to dismantle it now would be devastating from some countries that rely heavily on imports, ironically, those countries that are facing problems now would be much worse off. At least now they have some protection. Of course having never adopted the Euro in the UK we don't have the problems of struggling to establish some kind of economic parity between wealthy member states like Germany and France and the poorer member states like Greece and Ireland, but still get the advantages of trading throughout the Eurozone. I suggest we do away with the single currency but maintain the trade links internal to the EU.
MM
"The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions" - Leonardo da Vinci
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
