121–130 of 182 posts
Based on my recent experience of visiting Europe - yes, it is. I stayed mostly in France, was there during the Brexit vote, and everyone I spoke to was pretty keen on exiting the EU, voting right-wing, and seeing it all crumble. They also have several separatist movements, especially in Brittany, which seems to be more anti-EU than anti-French...
Question: what is the primary grievance against the EU?
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> un-elected and un-accountable bureaucracy So tell me, what is this? http://i.imgur.com/zhVYPwN.jpg And what is this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhafgcPeXes Or is it maybe actually elected, actually held accountable? > The idea that 20 or so different people with different languages, religions, mores, histories, frames of reference, economies could somehow achieve monetary or much less political union Aha, so h…
The US did it by virtue of it being a lot more homogeneous when it was first created. Last time I checked they didn't need any translators when they were debating the constitution, nor is the US constitution printed in 17 official translations like all EU documents and treaties are. Also, most people actually came to these shores having nothing but bad memories (if not outright contempt) for the countries they left b…
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Articles_of_Confe...
You can't have short-term, mass migration without having something happen or change. We will see a huge change in European political landscape within the next few years. People have to slowly assimilate into a culture in order to allow for a gradual, peaceful change in that culture. Shocking these types of systems with any sort of migration is a recipient for instability. Please keep in mind that this isn't any sort…
> You can't have short-term, mass migration Well, luckily, we don’t have that, eh? In the 90s and 2000s, Western Europe took over a million refugees from the balkans – by 2005, all of them were deported back. There was no wave of nationalism back then, no political change. Even today, in Germany, most are in favor of the current refugee policy. I don’t see why any of what you said has to happen. It hasn’t happened th…
The various eastern European migrations subsequent to the fall of communism did not come with terrorism.
Integrating all countries of eastern Europe at once and much too early was the beginning of the end. The countries that had been members before were getting so close economically and culturally that I think the current situation would not have been possible and a real united state might not have been only a dream. Politicians wanted too much and too early and did not take the population with them. I love my polish co…
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It is not the EU telling these countries what to do. It is other EU countries telling other EU countries what to do, just because they have more votes. What if one EU country wants to do something else? Can't different EU countries just choose to do their own thing, and be ruled by their OWN population, instead of people in Germany deciding what happens to people in Poland? If greece doesn't want to deal with these i…
Ugh. No, it's like a group of people deciding to do something together. Sometimes you don't like what the group is doing,but it's usually better to be in it than outside of it. I personally would love for EU to unite even further,just call it United States of Europe and stop saying that it's German people telling Polish people what to do or vice versa - it doesn't matter, or at least I wish it didn't. And I'm sure yo…
It doesn't matter to you, but I am sure it matters a whole lot to the people of Poland (but fuck them, I guess?). Apparently they've changed their mind about this deal, and just want to be left alone.
The EU isn't a suicide pact. People can and will change their mind, and will change the deal along with it.
"You just can't send people back to active war zones, and that has nothing to do with EU regulations."
Then send them to Germany or Sweden. They love the refugees! It is a win win situation. If they really do believe all the things that they say, then it should be no problem, right?
Interesting article. I do believe that the EU will collapse, and that it is only a matter of time. First of all, there is not a single instance in History where a common currency, such as the Euro, succeeded. It always has collapsed. Different people in France have developed about this exact subject. I believe that more and more people are in favor of existing the EU. In the case of France, the first thing that peopl…
European laws exist mostly for matters that concern everybody. Every member state can have its own set of rules. >Not to mention that countries who are not in the EU, but are in Europe, are doing way better on a lot of aspects This does not mean that being part of EU has something to do with it. For example, if you want to say Norway, you should compare it with Sweden or Finland, not with Portugal or Bulgaria.
The problem is that those laws are not modifiable because you need the unanimity of all the countries in the EU. Which is extremely difficult because, again, all the 28 countries have different interests in all areas of the treaty. It's basically stuck.
As far as you saying that every member state can have its own set of rules, no. We had this issue multiple times and found ourselves having to pay insane amount of penalties because we were not, for example, accepting to grow GMO in France. If the EU says "You guys should do this and that in that matter", we can't have a rule that goes against that. That is the real problem, I think that the people of each individual country do not decide anymore, and the people in charge have no power, since they cannot take their own decisions.
You can't have short-term, mass migration without having something happen or change. We will see a huge change in European political landscape within the next few years. People have to slowly assimilate into a culture in order to allow for a gradual, peaceful change in that culture. Shocking these types of systems with any sort of migration is a recipient for instability. Please keep in mind that this isn't any sort…
> You can't have short-term, mass migration Well, luckily, we don’t have that, eh? In the 90s and 2000s, Western Europe took over a million refugees from the balkans – by 2005, all of them were deported back. There was no wave of nationalism back then, no political change. Even today, in Germany, most are in favor of the current refugee policy. I don’t see why any of what you said has to happen. It hasn’t happened th…
> For now there is crisis and disintegration wherever I look: the eurozone is chronically dysfunctional, sunlit Athens is plunged into misery, young Spaniards with doctorates are reduced to serving as waiters in London or Berlin, the children of Portuguese friends seek work in Brazil and Angola How much truth is there, to this statement i.e. "young Spaniards with PHDs are serving as Waiters in London or Berlin." Anyo…
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Why not? We can change the law. The people don't want open borders. So change the law to get that. If the EU doesn't, then the whole thing will collapse as we get more brexits. Brexit wouldn't have happened if Britain was allowed to have border controls.
> The people don't want open borders The people don't want a lot of things. > If the EU doesn't, then the whole thing will collapse And then the people won't even have the option of going to Berlin and work as waitress, while people from Africa or middle east will continue to come here, undisturbed, without a super state trying to control the situation. It's so obvious that the single states can't control immigration…
Britain can. Breaking into there is MUCH harder than anywhere else. Island nation and all.
"and then the people won't even have the option of going to Berlin and work as waitress"
Orrr..... they will just negotiate and change the deal, so something like this CAN work. This is not all or nothing. There are better solutions, and they will be negotiated.
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I see an overall trend of of authoritarianism and nationalism as a response to immigration and an increasingly changing world. There's also a pretty heavy streak of anti-intellectualism as voters were encouraged to fundamentally reject experts that gave (IMHO well-founded) warnings about the ill-effects of Brexit and Trump. In short: Nationalism in, Globalism out.
My own country, Canada, seems to be doing a good job, and I'm not sure but I think we have even higher immigration rates than Europe or the United States and we're still a fairly liberal, progressive and integrated society. I think our secret is selective immigration, we are much more selective than Europe in regards to who we let into the country and we don't have the illegal immigration issue on the scale that Amer…
If all your immigrants turned into Muslim refugees overnight, what would happen? I'm sure you guess it.