Nobody seems happy with the European Union these days. Eurosceptics are perennially unhappy with what they believe to be an elite-led project lacking popular support and legitimacy. Supporters of the EU are inclined to agree, though they might add that the issue is rather that European governance is too weak, a problem exacerbated by the selfishness and short-sightedness of national governments.
Whether arguing for ‘More Europe’ or ‘Less Europe’, the one thing that most people can agree on is that today’s Europe is struggling. From the lethargic economy, to chronically high unemployment, to mountains of public debt, to the ongoing refugee crisis, there seems to be no end to the challenges facing the continent.
Can the European Union be changed? Some believe that there isn’t enough political capital to do anything but ‘tinker around the edges’, sticking to the current treaties and implementing small changes. But has a fundamental reform of the EU become unavoidable? For example, is the Schengen system of passport-free travel (which seems to be on life support in many countries) just going to wither away in the face of the refugee crisis without a major shake-up?
Is the European Union broken beyond repair? Or can the EU be fixed? Let us know your thoughts and comments in the form below, and we’ll take them to policymakers and experts for their reactions!
479 comments Post a commentcomment
It just needs to be more democratic and less german
Good luck with that ;) I say lets learn our lessons and end it once and for all. I want my country back, and EU unelected politicians fired.
No, MORE GERMAN because they are democratic and less corrupt.
@Michael Hales
Please refer to a dictionary regarding the word ‘democratic’.
[eo] Mi, kiel Germano, kunsentas, ke Euxropo devus esti malpli Germana. Germanio havas tro multan forton en tiu unio. Parenteze: Solvi tiun problemon ne estas granda problemo; ni simple devas eksigi kapitalismon.
[de] Ich als Deutscher stimme zu, dass Europa weniger Deutsch werden sollte. Deutschland hat zu viel Macht in dieser Union. Im übrigen wäre das Problem nicht schwer zu lösen; wir müssen uns nur vom Kapitalismus lossagen.
Michael Hales, Germany is the Corruptor mate !
and since the joining with east Germany i have serious doubts about the Democracy to !
Elect a more powerful and outstanding leader of your country to head the EU.
It’s not unified enough to be really broken.
Exactly!
Hopefully…..let’s go back to economic cooperation and stop destroying indigenous European nations with forced immigration of uneducated illegals!
You mean human beings?
No wonder this world is screwed up…
Politicians thought they were ready for European identity, but people weren’t. They need to assume an identity like Americans for EU to be successful.
Do you mean by waging a civil war against those state that want to quit the union? Using another Hollywood to produce European hero to shape behaviour and belief how great Europe is, how strong Europeans are, to build an European media empire, and to give lots of scholarship to boost one single perspective, etc. like the US?
people are not kept in the loop. The EU is not transparent. The communication towards the electorate is complicated, the participating nations see only national interest and refer to the Brussels administrations as “the others / the EU”. The structure is incomplete with a powerless Parliament and a council of nations. The problem seems the nations seem to be content with the status quo.?!
The European Union is dying, but not dead. But even if it would die physically, I know for myself that it’s existence has offered me the joy of union, to be unified with all other countries in it. I started feeling European, and this feeling is me. I have become more than the country I was born, and grew up, I am more than the countries I visited, and I am so deeply connected with this feeling that I do understand also that Europe WITH Turkey does not feel right.
Europe has to reconsider what is the European spirit, not economically, not politically, as countries, united, but the spirit. All who cannot or do not want to agree with this spirit of values and ethics, are not fitting in the European concept of unity.
You were never just someone from the country you were born. You are a human being and part of the human family. Why create blocks and differences? Those are all artificial mental walls. Just like borders…
I completely agree with Johanna Maria
@Johanna Maria
“Europe WITH Turkey does not feel right” = RACISM!!
@Tarquin Farquhar
It’s not about racism! We have to stop generalising. You’ll have to admit that our understanding of certain values in the EU differs from the Turkish. Maybe today even more than 15 years ago. And let’s be honest, there are countries that have entered the EU and that also don’t share all these values (thinking especially of Hungary these days). The EU is already having so much troubles with a lack of solidarity amongst the member states, before thinking about accession (of any country) we need to improve our way of working together. If it’s not too late anyways, which I fear most
Very true! Europeans always identify themselves with fellow Europeans when they are outside Europe. Europe has always been a region where people, goods and knowledge have been moving across boundaries long time ago. When people are talking about the America, China, India and they frequently refer people from all European states as Europeans. Europeans do share some norms and values which are quite different from the Americans, another Western world.
@Jane
INCORRECT. I identify with the commonwealth than say the corrupt/bankrupt Club Med countries.
I totally agree with Johana Maria. The problem is not about European citenzens but our politicians in Brussels.
Its become too big its lost control and its ideology
I also think that the Union has wanted to extend itself too fast and not for good reasons (including east countries to control them, whether their usages and ways of living weren’t the same as western countries, instead of seeing them as allies and equals). I still think that a system as ambitious as the European Union cannot work correctly being so extended first. I’m also persuaded that the European institutions are too numerous and complicated for people to have an efficient and democratic Union. I believe in local implication to intercultural exchange. People don’t want to be uniformed by Europe but they still are curious to discover different ways of living: discovering others without being ‘invaded’ in their own nationality. As an Erasmus student: Europe isn’t dead as long as there will be some people to dream about it. We just have to find collectively a way to reform EU so that it can adapt itself to present issues.
Big? If is only the size of one third of the USA. I thought we had more ambitions than this.
I am European – then French, but I am first a European.
@Fabrice Bordier
Ah France, the country that propagated REVOLUTIONARY DEMOCRACY, CIVIL/NAPOLEONIC LAW and OVERLY POWERFUL PRESIDENTS – If I was French I would consider myself European first too!
Simple: No. The various economic crises have shaken the EU violently, but in no way it is going break. The Union has also learned from all of this, many new mechanisms have been created and loopholes corrected, so that crises like the Greek one won’t repeat. The Union is still a work in progress, but I’m certain we will come out of this stronger and wiser than before.
agree
Simple, yes.
The politicians have decided about things beyond political level.
Together with the banks and industry they think they control the money inside the EU.
Never have their been more alternative coins in the EU countries as currently.
I `am an international truckdriver, I `ve got coins for app 15 different regions in the EU.
The politicians believe, we push the people in a bucket and control it.
Forget it.
The economical, bank, and social crisis have proven it. The politicians are not moving towards a succes, but faillure.
The latest migrant crisis proves it also. Schengen is loosing it too.
This crisis in Greece is a direct result of a system that is not working for all!! The EU and all its policies have allowed some countries to prosper at the expense of others!!! Greece just got slapped silly in an attempt to show member states what will happen if you rise up and say NO MORE!! The EU has definitely failed Greece and others are feeling the same pain!!! Unification can never mean dominance by one over another!!! We are a sovereign country, the seat of democracy with a deep seated cultural heritage!!! Just because we’re a small nation doesn’t mean we can be bullied into submission!! With or without the EU, we will rise like the Phoenix!! You can’t keep a Greek down for long!!!
Perhaps it’s to do with the conservative teachings/ belief system/ conducts in dealing with humanity and in human affairs, which is damaged and broken beyound repairs. Once conservative in Europe who held and distributed powers amongs them selves go humanist with socialist government in power, in “THE REAL SENSE”!!!!, then we would have a UNITED WORLD, not just United europe!
Devided but not broken yet
The EU is not broken, it’s just poorly designed. Not democratic enough.
EU must discontinue its grandstanding projects and concentrate on simpler and more down-to-earth things.
[en] On the contrary! It and other states and federations as well have to finally address the big problems of today, e.g. the destruction of our society, our culture and our planet by the rabid captitalism. The states in Europe have to strengthen their sovereignty (e.g. Germany and others towards the United States of America).
I dont think its broken, what is considered superior seems like a broken state of affairs most of the time
No, not really. Despite the differences between the countries it still seems beneficial to keep together. I think that this is the key to the future of the Union, an even stronger bond between the countries including foreign (therefore military) and internal affairs.
Could the 47 member of the “Council of Europe” not be a (better) alternative?
Military: you have 26 European NATO members- plus you want another EU army- for what? You mean- Mondays to Thursdays a EU soldier fights for NATO, Friday to Sunday he fights for the EU- or what?
The union was never a union to begin with. It’s a collection of individual states whose individual interests still far outweigh the collective ones. It only took one crisis to start talking about kicking some of its members out.
That’s fairly false. Many interests are kept, particularly in agriculture, but mutual benefits far outweigh nation interests.
“but mutual benefits far outweigh nation interests” …Unfortunately this is something the EU has continually failed to prove to the taxpayers since its conception, if there were so many benefits I’m sure they could have come up with some hard evidence after over 20 years of the EC?….and since you mention agriculture, which country benefits most from the CAP?..certainly not the UK and that is exactly why we deserve a rebate
Thanks for asking… Why don’t you ask Herr Schoubleu and his friends who want something different for the EE that kohl, Mitteranh, Smit, Pronti, planned for EE OF THE EUROPEAN PEOPLE WITH SOLIDARITY, DEMOCRACY AND A EUROPE WITH NO FRONTIERS… It is their Own Personal policy that will destroy The EUROPEAN SPIRIT!
@Chris Alexander Zervas
Democracy and solidarity sound good BUT the ‘c*nt’ and the ‘coward’ manipulate said concepts in the EU to their own ends.
In my opinion, the European Union will emerge stronger than ever after the current crisis. :)
You don’t live in the UK.
Europe was united by those who Jesus cast out of the temple, having previously That ravaged the continent by wars. Do not be fooled that it comes to values in the former colonizers and evil empires like the British, French, etc.
Needs magour clean up and needs to adopt a toughf pollicy on migration
Europsceptic, just think about that term, obviously a sceptic is not per se a bad person or someone with bad or wrong opinions or even dangerous opinions, being sceptical is in essence being carefull and this is surely a best practice but in these types of discussions about EU topics the term Eurosceptics is thrown about as a derrogatory term, a term which is abused to put down 100% legitimate dissenting opinions which do not support EU membership or in the case of a EU member the ever closer Union through more and deeper integration in EU Laws and systems.
I am a Swiss, the majority of Swiss Citizens do not want Switzerland to join the EU, a recent poll said 85%are against EU membership, I personally always thought that number to be closer to 65% but whether its 65 or 85 the point remains that the overwheling majority simply do not want to join the EU, not out of hatred for the EU but out of Love for Switzerland because we know what a great country we have, the Freedom, the Democracy, the Peace and Prosperity, we do not need a EU to give us what we already have and chances are that the EU would endanger our Freedom and our way or life as even today when we vote on some issues were told that the EU wants a certain result, by the MEI the EU even made threats,I can only imagine what trickery politicians would come up with in the case of Swiss EU memberhip to invalidate a Direct Democratic Vote, maybe a Veto right or to force us to vote until we get it right as happened with Ireland, and for us Swiss who dont plan on ever going to war the recent events in Paris provoked by French bombing of a War Zone where it had no business poking its nose in and the subsequent activation of Article 42 section 7 of the EU treaties which demands other EU Members give military support to a EU Member just confirmend how dangerous EU membership can be for a peace loving country like Switzerland which doesnt aspouse Empire politics, worst case scenario other EU members will go to outright war based on this treaty to support France, best case they will ignore this call and simply offer police support, or very minimal military support like reconnaissance.No Swiss Soldier should ever have to fight and die for something that has absolutely nothing to do with Switzerland.We wish the EU success but we do not want to be part of a EU Empire, with a huge army that almost certainly will fight wars one day in some far away parts of the World like the Middle East, Asia etc. as the US does and the most powerull European countries support with troops,money,political support etc.
God Bless.
You don’t want to be part of the EU, but Switserland does have all the economical profits of the unification thanks to all the agreements between the EU and CH. Your talk is the same as that of all the eurosceptics. They don’t want to become real Europeans, but they do not realize how much poorer they would be without the economical community. And the Euroregion now needs a political union, if they want the Europ to survive. TINA.
Luc Sabbe countries have treaties to deal with things of importance there is nothing strange, good or bad about this, but the EU treaties are about integration in the EU and we dont want this so if this makes us Swiss people sceptics bad or all of the above then so be it because we really dot care about your opinions on a matter that we must decide on,and freely use all the ugly names but MARK MY WORDS that will not make anybody in Switzerland more likely to say yes to EU membership if anything it will create negativity and anymosity. All countries benefit from eachother economically, look at you almost certainly you wrote your nonsense comment filled with euphelia and eu nationalism from a electronic device that was manufactured under much cheaper conditions in China, this is why the price is affordable for you and the Chinese worker has a job maybe not the best paying job maybe no dental inssurance but he has a job and you have a product that is cheaper as a result, we cover ourselves in products made by china and other cheap labour countries but this economic benefit doesnt mean that we should think to join with china etc. in some World Union or something like this based on the EU model even though the logic behind it and the justification would be almost identical, and we Swiss are proud Europeans, we Love Europe but thats not what you EUphiles mean when you say European, you equate the word Europe with EU and the EU ist not all of Europe no matter how much you EUphiles claim this, Switzerland is Europe but NOT EU, Liechtenstein is Europe but NOT EU a bunch of other countries are Europe but NOT EU as well, and what or who is TINA,acronym?
@Sabbe, I just researched the acronym TINA, I found 9 meanings, but only 2 that fit the current debate one meaning says ”There is no alternative” and the other says ”Think in New Areas”, almost certainly you meant there is no alternative as EUphiles so often repeat when they have no good arguments, to tell a Democratic thinking person that there is only one right path and all others are unacceptable and basically all roads lead to EU membershp no mater what no matter if the peope dont want it etc. like resistance is futile from the Borg in Star Treck is for me the definition of fascism, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT to tell anybody that they must allow their nation to be EUized bit by bit until that ugly blue yellow Star spangled flag goes up, a Flag that by the way has not history compared to the Swiss flag that has stood for Freedom and Democracy for the better part of 600years, who the hell do ou think you are, how dare you.
Are you actually in the UN now? And I dare say you did rather nicely out of your 1939-45 neutrality, not to mention those Banks.
Michael Hales the UN is not the EU, the EU aspouses to be a future State and not a loose grouping of countries that cooperate. In WW2 we had a very difficult situation, surrounded by war, and a crazy northern neighbour Hitler that was invading other Nations, the Nazis already had plans to invade our country but we manouvered our way through this situation and prevented war from entering Switzerand en masse, I call this success of our system, and it is unfair to retroactively critisize those people who lived through this from the comfortable times of 2015, and hat about tose banks, bas do inanciaserices sowhat xaty syour problem wth that?
I will say as a Swiss if the worst thing you can accuse Switzerland of is wrongdoing o f private financial institutions then il take that over State Torture,illegal invasion,support of terror groups of Countries like USA,UK,FRANCE,NATO etc. anyday, you have nothing of significance to accuse the actuall Swiss State of and that is a fact and anything you could bring would have occured under a Situation of duress and would therefore have to be intepreted under that existential threat that we were facing and not like in normal times when you can decide freely and with utopian mindsets.
I love Europe and the idea of a united Europe, but it is true that I believe that it has become “an elite-led project lacking popular support and legitimacy”, and it is not a question of “more union” or “less union”, but “FOR WHO and FOR WHAT”.
I don’t want EU leaders to accumulate such a big power to decide to start an aggressive expansion campaign to the east of Europe. And I don’t want them to allow Arab peoples get into Europe, and bomb Arab countries. Forcing Europeans to accept Arabs to discomfort us and to make us loose focus on our dreams for the EU.
All that money took for “inner security” and for war, could have been used to boost green energy production, but that’s may not be cool enough for our great leaders eager to show off their power in the world.
Who they serve?
Not beyond repair, but me same I am perplexed in the last times, sees the recent events. And’ obvious that the situation and the management must change and soon.
Not beyond repair, but me same I am perplexed in the last times, sees the recent events. And’ obvious that the situation and the management must change and soon.
EU has many nations not 1! Every nation has their own traditional views and fears. The traditions in East Europe are not so liberal mainly because of their past- communism. East Europe have lived under the far left communism and most of the these statets do not want to re-live it as West Europe is in fear of the far right fascism. The failure of the traditional parties gave birth to the far wing parties and thus Europe was divided by fear. UK is currently harvesting that fear and demand the far left views to be abandoned and he is winning allies in East Europe.
Wen everyone work for a German factory (look the products) … Wen everyone spend the money to German supermarket , wen all countries produce for a German factories , wen German is the boss , wen your tv and your communication is German (and they wash your brain) , wen they don’t care about refuges , wen they look people as a number
Final : wen you say the truth and they call you Germans hater
DO YOU SEE THAT AS HEALTHY ??
We should ask Putin to be the leader of EU
Just give back the European integration project to the Europeans and work for the Europeans and things will turned back to be fine! The problem is that politicians are working for the interested of some other people and countries that have nothing to do with Europe and are not Europeans.
this flag is representing the actual status of UE !!!!
I really hope so. The CEE wad enough, the EU is just a elitist attack to each nation sovereignty in name of a federal superstate.
I cannot be repaired and It should be terminated…
La unión europea es una estafa verbenera .Enjoy it
You can’t force the convergence of national demoi, without causing serious alienation from the democratic process.
The reality on the ground is that our national loyalties remain much stronger than our loyalty to Europe as a whole. It’s not bad, just normal.
Hopefully not
Merkel is working towards that goal
Si queremos supervivir como pueblo, en un mundo tan globalizado, deberemos forma un sólo pueblo, una sola bandera, un solo ejército y una sola identidad. EUROPA.
The only thing beyond salvation is the fall of nationalism
The time for a federal EU is cristal clear for almost all high ranking officials, be they national or european officials.
The only harm the whole econmic crisis and Syrian crisis showed is that the national states are outdated ans this current confederal setting of EU is very innefective.
Long live the Union ! :)
Less Germany, more Democracy !
No.
no, l’Unione Europea è irriformabile dunque non può essere cambiata . La risposta alla globalizzazione è lo Stato .
People are mostly concerned with what happens in their direct surroundings. In that sense even a national government sometimes is too far off, so how can one European capital serve every European citizen? The only way this could be restored and keeping a European Union intact is to get states out of the equation. It ought to be a union of regions (roughly, modern day provinces, departments, voivods and länder) where the representatives and goals serve an area closer to its citizens. The Union would not be divided into states but self-autonomous regions, avoiding conflict between member-states and politicians serving the European cause.
Overall, I have to disagree. Given the large variety in size in european national states (like Malta vs. France), I sort of get your point. Still, I think the old nation state with its traditonal responsibilities is a valid entity within the hierarchy. There is a set of issues that are best addressed at this national level. It’s just that there are bigger issues for which a supranational level needs to be [and has been] established.
Yes, it s overloaded with any problem except for the real interests of its citizens.
EU does not protect us from imported risks.
I would say that Europe is broken and are heading towards a cliff.
The only thing that can save Europe is a democratic and federal system.
Just to be clear: Europe will not be saved by going backwards. And stays-quo isn’t a option at all.
The future can be bright and Europe have the possibility to see the end of this century without war. However, it won’t happen if we don’t move forward as one and better ourselves, our democracy and our values.
The media is a wonderful thing. Instead of continually focussing on the negatives to gain public attention, perhaps the media should try and focus on the positives the EU has brought. Higher Education, for example, has profoundly benefited from The Bologna Process and allowed me to transfer credits to contribute to my degree and masters. Influencing 28 member states is a very difficult, with 28 different ideologies and mentalities.
Yes
No it’s not. If one undergoes no crises, one does not evolve.
We need a stronger EU, a European army, a European budget with federal taxation, a president elected by the people of Europe, a cohesive policy that is not dictated by the few (Germany) and which takes into account the 100 million Eastern Europeans. And a common immigration policy that also doesn’t only take into account Germany’s needs.
@Dragos-Ronald Rugescu
Countries like yours blighted by endemic cultural ineptitude are EAGER to integrate into the putative fantastic EU.
Unfortunately, said countries have very little to offer the wealthy, civilised Northern EU states other than rhetoric and a begging bowl and many in the Northern EU states are starting to feel mugged-off!
That is why the EU project is in jeopardy.
@Tarquin Farquhar
It’s easy to pose from a place where you’ve had to face a number of crises close to 0 throughout history. You also tend to forget that the Eastern Europeans offer the West a whole lot: primarily a place to market their goods at the expense of their national economies. After the EU enlargement, most of our economy could not compete, including SMEs, while of course the German companies receive all sorts of incentives and bribe their way into a large initial market share. Don’t forget corruption runs both ways! There is a famous scandal going on right now regarding an Austrian timber-exporting company fraudulently felling entire forests in Romania in spite of recent government efforts.
“Civilized” is also a culturally-loaded term. While you are completely right that my country is culturally inept, we do have certain advantages that Northern so-called civilized countries lack: we are more open and intolerant to communist and PC bullshit due to our history. An immigrant could shit in a Northerner’s face and they would do the Politically Correct thing, not what’s right. Northern EU governing systems would work in other places too, just not in the real world, with military and economic dangers and stuff, you know, like the region where empires clashed and fought since the dawn of time, such as Eastern Europe. So get off your high horse before your lose your country to too much “civilized” behavior in the face of immutable adversity. When you tolerate those who do not tolerate you back, you end up erased from history.
The EU is, was and always be a mistake, they have done nothing other than damage and chaos
Well, actually, without the EU where would many countries be ? Portugal, Spain, Greece and all of the Central and Eastern European countries benefited hugely from the European project.
er…go ask the people of Portugal, Spain and Greece how much they have benefited from the EU?
…but agreed, plenty of eastern European countries have benefited so it’s no surprise there are plenty of others queuing up to join
No it’s not. The only problem is that EU is not working on to repair it . EU is spending time trying to solve Arab problems .
L’UE rappresenta gli interessi della finanza internazionale a spese degli europei e dei loro diritti. Spero che i popoli si ribellano e prendono a calci nel sedere i burocrati di Bruxelles e i politico venduti che ci stanno massacrando con l’immigrazione!
The €U will disapper and it will be a good thing for all the European People. That’s the realty.
could be… the mass refugee situation I think has just put the cherry on the cake.
Hope never brakes beyond repair. Europe is our common home based on strong fundamentals, we share common values , culture , economy etc. What is needed strategically is not a further economic expansion but an improve in depth of our institutions. With unity we shall overcome all problems.
YESSS!
The European Union must act as one Union for all ,not a German Union and her allies !
Yes! Thank you for asking :)
I hope Europe can recover and stay united. Otherwise it would be really difficult to compete against places like China, Brazil and other big regions with growing economical power.
Yes it is broken as it is expected with unions , if you as EU have any quesitons see Soviet Union history
We need a better EU, we need a new EU, but unfortunately it seems difficult to achieve that due to big differences between rich and less rich (there are no poor country’s in EU) country’s, we need a official EU language not 3 languages, we need more cooperation between country’s, and we need to create a new history from now on, let go of the past, get new values, get new ideas, and believe that the interests EU citizens are herd and respected (we all start with a utopia to try change something)
Is not broken, the E.U. was created to be a collaboration of free national states! definitely not a kind of centralised “dictatorship” of unelected administrators like Martin Shultz who said the European United States should be created upon member states, guverned from Bruxelles…
Because we want a european union for the citizens of europe….not for the banks and for the recycled politicians of Brussels…. who do not care about the people ..but just about their interests.
Nope. Stop the fucking drama. What we need is less fascists.
Europe europe, they have done a lot of disastrous act in many continents most especially the African continent to richen their own continent europe, is like one family who decides to keep the whole village riches by force in their compound with high fence and body guards so when the village cant find food to eat they will start exploring because they also have right to exist and live with dignity, Europe should first stop exploiting Africa and return what they took by force ,repair the damage made, and start telling the truth to their citizens that their greediness is the major cause of todays immigration,europe is not rich because they are intelligent or hard working…..common people
I m asking myself if Europe works! Because manu thibgs you do it z against europeans
I really REALLY hope so.
Europe has immense potential to become something amazing! I do admit that I am utterly in favour of the Union and I surely do consider myself as European. And that’s exactly what we do need in these troubled times. Small European countries have no future to sustain against ever growing Latin-American and Asian countries and their markets. If our incredibly high standard of living shall be kept, Europe needs to stick together. A big step would be if European people do consider themselves as Europeans rather than Polish, German or French. The governments need to acknowledge that they can only multiply their people’s benefits by European commitment.
So what would help Europe? – clearly more European institutions: a European border force, responsible for all interior and exterior borders in Europe; European police forces; a European schooling system etc etc [seems pretty futuristic but that’s in my opinion the only possible way]. What Europe surely doesn’t need are selfish governments who radically try to pass through their interests. Why is it so hard to imagine every European country bound together as a true Union; as a federal republic?
@Reinke Pahl
The EU is too small to be amazing.
Why should I consider myself European – I don’t want to be associated with some of the countries in the EU with their histories of corruption and low attainment.
EU never worked. It was a nice idea on paper, but let’s be honest, it’s sole purpose (in real life) was to keep the powerful countries strong…
Even in real life, the powerful countries need no help from any union in order to remain strong. Look at european history. The big players never needed any help forcing their ways and wants onto smaller and less powerful countries. Things only ever got really ugly when two or more powers similar in size locked horns.
This whole EU thing is ultimatly about creating a central clearing house that can balance interests between a plethora of large and small nations.
Well, i wasn’t aware 0-0
“and the usual:……………..and we’ll take them to policymakers and experts for their reactions!” Amen!
Let me have a decent European outburst:
I am so sick & tired of all these bureaucrats protecting their posteriors, their jobs, incapable to do anything else, arse around- be they policymakers or expert’s- all part of the same scam- paid by us!
My “europeaness” is NOT going to be sold down the drain to the highest bidder who’s lacking common sense, foresight, decency & morals! Look for hints in the many comments please!
Present EU- you are fired!
Nagy hülyeség Európa pénz ez nem jo inkább magán önálló hun kesz
Hülyeség beszélek ne parancsol szigorú Halgass meg hun jo ver kormány Orbán Viktor okos nagy felelősség kesz tetszik
Varlak Erdély ország vissza föld hun , Románia föld külön 100 ev Szerszodes mar lejárt francia központ beke Szerszodes lap jo tudta Orbán Viktor kormány
Inkább megszűnt Európa unió szar ne csinál parancol lofasz
Hun önálló ország szükség
No
Not
Orbán Viktor okosabb mint Európa elnök jo szamar hibás beszélek
Szeretlek Orbán Viktor jo ember
Peacefully Progressing Saudi Green 1320 EU forever
Yes, the EU has tried to control too much. It started off as a great idea with a common market, now it wants to control everything from the air we breathe to who we integrate with. It’s suffocating and feels like a dictatorship. No matter who is in government in your country, it’s who governs germany that matters!
If EU Not act as one Union for all, and the citizien of all countries to Not act together, EU will brake we need a better
This EU must be destroyed, we have to find new ways to cooperate between peoples of Europe.
Try telling the 600 mentally ill people in the UK who have committed suicide because of government cuts that there are no poor countries in the EU, or the 140,000 sick and disabled people who died within 6 weeks of being told they were fit for work and had their welfare stopped, or the people with terminal cancer being told they have to work, or the million people who depend on food banks or are sleeping on the streets in the UK because of cuts to welfare in this country. There are no rich countries, there are only rich people who spend our money on wars we don’t want and allow mass immigration to keep wages low and give 11 billion pounds to the EU. The actual rich are just 1 per cent. 25 percent live in poverty with a further 17% per cent at risk (just managing to live). Middle income earners have seen a fall in real term earnings since austerity began. 2.2 million people in London alone live in poverty. Our government is culling the sick and disabled and is being investigated by the UN for possible crimes against humanity. The country has a national debt of 900 billion, so how the hell it can be considered rich is beyond me. I daresay it is the same for many other countries in Europe. A rich country is one where more than 1 per cent have all the wealth and doesn’t kill its own people to keep those people rich.
“2.2 million people in London alone live in poverty”
Greater London has about 8 million people in it. So you’re saying more than a quarter of them live in poverty? To be honest, that’s not the impression I got when last time I visited there. I think you need to revise your definiton of poverty. I’ll grant you that the UK is not faring all that well in terms of GINI coefficient rankings compared to its european peers, but it’s still doing pretty well compared to other places on this earth. The actual amount given to the EU by the UK is only about half the sum you named. Net contribution fluctuates around UKP 5bn, representing roughly 0.25% of the UKs GDP.
@Blugalf
Ahh, the GINI coefficient – the handiwork of an Italian statistician – NUFF SAID!
This incisively profound argument is easily the single most crushing blow the GINI coefficient was ever dealt. You sure have said ’nuff.
Well ,a lot of the issues must be changed.As long as we haven’t an government coordination financial policies we can’t advance further to economic development and integration.
We cannot be “Europe”. Different people, culture, economy…
EU is a dictature…that’all !!!!
Andy Anderson you are wrong and misinformed or lying when you say that Hungary, Poland other east Europeans refused to take any refugees! They refuse the quata dictated from Brussels, in which they say how many and whoever must be taken from Germany! Those countries have the right to decide who they take and they choose them carefully just as U.K. does from Turkey or Lebanon camps..
The Governments yes..Not us people though!
Yes immigration did the job,for all of us. ENJOY.
The people of europe are allowing criminals to rule over them…and that is exactly what the people of Europe deserve.
I pointed out criminals in guvmint and the men of Ireland, UK and Germany were too cowardly do to anything about those crimes.
When you tolerate crimes from your servants? Don’t whine.
Here is a good start.
http://www.manbook.biz/2015/08/28/open-letter-to-the-people-of-germany-and-named-individuals/
Americans are very happy with that NATO extension called «The EU». Bankers are very happy with that OVERLORDING instrument called «The EU»: very usefull to submit elected governments. I suppose bruxelliots appreciate the tax-free salaries and sinecures.. but to everyone else, The EU has become a nuisance.
Just a remark about the pictured but deservedly tattered EU flag:
It was “hijacked” from the “Council of Europe” (47 members)- which owns the flags copyright and anthem & in use since 1955. The Council of Europe was founded in 1949 but elbowed out of existence by the EU bullies.
Not to be confused with the present “predatory EU” who “borrows” & boasts unity” with the same flag since 1985!
The 47 “Council of Europe” member states maintain their sovereignty but commit themselves through public international law and co-operate on the basis of common values and common political decisions.” This presents a much fairer and suitable future choice, than the (soon self destructing) “EU/US bully and convenient front for the Rothschild’s & Bilderbergers!
The tattered EU flag must fall & returned to its original 47 European owners, the CoE revived and inherit what was good from the dying EU vampire!
YES!
Is broken beyond repair. …….
The spirit of the EU is not what it was ment to be. The U (union) hasn´t consolidated and seems that, all it matters is the debt with Germany, . pay or else !! European countries cannot be ruled by the German fist !
Ioana Marian
A union of woolfs and lamps…
Not at all ! A real Union!!!!
Euro kolchoz
Eu ended the next day it started…the only thing that ‘once upon time’ worked out was the EEC..
Yes – Europe is broken fragmented into many pieces. The Merkel-Schaeuble regime did that…polarized and divided Europe into (i) Northerners versus Southerners, (ii) Creditors versus Debtors, (iii) Thrifty Germans versus Profligate Greeks, (iv) Hard-working Nordics versus Lazy Lying Cheating Southerners.
Nobody did more to break Europe than Merkel and Schaeubles!
Germanic thinking, Germanic ideas, and Germanic logic broke Europe – Merkel legacy!
#moreDEMlessGERM
I think we should spread this on social networks… With attatched the reason why we think europe should exist, be more democratic and less influenced by higher powers :)
IF everyone sotps to think a bout closing borders and start to taking their resposebilety in Immigration as a free and open EU not only to the ritch but to all also thos in need. We need to scrap individalism and Nationalislm and start to thing how we want our future to be if we close the border for immigrants will We deffently go under. Bulgaria is the only the start we need mutch new blodd if we going to surwive
I hope not, but if it dies now, it will reborn again!
Präsident der Europäischen Kommission Jean-Claude Juncker – Luxleaks Mafiaboss.
“Ich ficke wo, wen, und wann ich will” Juncker sei “stockbetrunken” gewesen: “Halb torkelnd trat er hinter seinem von Akten und Zeitungen überladenen Schreibtisch hervor”, notierte der Ex-Agent. Ohne viel “einleitende Worte” habe er angefangen, Mille zu beleidigen: “Ich ficke wo, wen, und wann ich will, hast Du mich verstanden. Auch du könntest ficken, aber du kannst es ja gar nicht, deine deutsche Genauigkeit… verbietet es dir.”
http://www.stern.de/politik/ausland/vorwuerfe-gegen-jean-claude-juncker-der-nette-herr-juncker-und-das-boese-f-wort-3681992.html
Europe is Euro, Schengen, the common agricultural policy and the red passport for all.
Schengen is not really there, the common agricultural policy essentially finished, euro and the red passports are there…
………correction please! Europe is Europe and will remain Europe! The Euro or the “Euro zone” is a monetary arrangement within the tattered & dying EU!
This Europe has betrayed any idea of progress and union of european people. This is the truth. This form of European Union is the cancer that kills any democratic consensus and valour beyond the european people’ common house. Don’t forget the blood of greeks, spanish, portuguese and irish brothers that has increased the “stomach” of some eurocrats and fat cats bankers.
It will be broken beyond repair unless politicians who brought the idea down decide to face up to their duplicity and stop doing what they are doing and right now. They know all about the indoctrination of children they are forcing on our schools, the pretence that multi culturalism is the way forward. That the Islamisation of Europe with mass migration being encouraged and assisted, as well as at the same time condoning war on the people of the middle east in a psychotic double act of hypocracy.
Political correctness, strange sexual impositions on children as young as three, the smashing of traditional marriage, bizarre embraces of despotic countries like Turkey and Saudi, whilst dancing to the tunes of forced Sharia courts and the covering of women being acceptable to the detriment of women and girls. All a pretence at ‘something’ in a totally confused issue of policies in a mish mash of hysteria.
This question really is very cheeky. This union was broken by harbouring fanatics in the top leadership and indulging their warped ideology. Resulting in the rejection of true democracy because that would have put an end to their madness. Unless they drop this sinister globalisation of madness, which was never going to work or be accepted by the citizens, yes,the European Union is broken. Finished.
Regardless of this knowledge the ruthless men at the top continue to ignore reality and are once again on the path of expansion ignoring that facts of rejection by its people, this time the eye is advancing toward Montenegro. Now there is a fun move. Ukraine apparently hasn’t sent out warning signals to the fat men at the top has it? And how quiet the peoples press are over Ukraine and what is going on there presently. No pictures to cover that US f up.
And here we are stuck in the middle with clowns to left of us and jokers to the right. Leading us further into mass destruction and the possibility of nuclear war. But, not to worry, that prospect is only for Europe. North America will have nothing to lose, they will just sit back and watch, with drone joy sticks in their hands.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0kKrWjj6jw
It’s a very delicate situation, but my hopes, my wishes are there and would do my best to keep reminding the core principles and reasons from which this Union has emerged.
The question is : who or what is breaking Europe ?
The answer : we are, by bombing other countries, by interfering with other governments, by producing and selling weapons, by stealing natural resources we don’t own, by financing shady groups willing to secure these resources for us, by consuming wildly beyond our needs, means and the world’s capapility to replenish, by living like there is no tomorrow, by not respecting others and nature, by importing goods manufactured cheaply by children and slaves in horrible working conditions, by calling ourselves religious but not obeying any of God’s commandments.
@Bart Viaene
Don’t forget the concept of DEMOCRACY!
Europeans have to understand that people’s representation in the EU is expressed twice. First, in the EU parliament, directly elected and voting on each EU law after the Lisbon treaty. Secondly, there are no bureaucrats deciding on the policies, decisions are taken by your own government ministers (the only sovereignty concessions are to majority voting, the EU Commission just initiates the laws then voted upon in the EU CoM and EU Parliament). Do not forget that states like Norway and Switzerland are nowadays fully dependent on trade with the EU, the fiscal heaven in particular. Last but not least, the EU is strong enough to manage such a wave of migration due to interests that exceed the EU control. Eurosceptics have to study all the treaties and directives before talking, even though I reckon that’s easy to convince people who just know the televised version of the EU.
…..thank you, great revelations! Those who lack imagination need to recite all treaties by heart and repeat them- religiously! That what a good Audiophile or Europhile does best! Believe!
@Marco Pascucci
Hmmm, someone with your moniker is unlikely to engender trust in many circles I’m afraid.
FTR Switzerland and Norway are NOT fully dependent on declining EU trade.
Valid points, though largely wasted on a “Eurosceptic” crowd that in large parts is given to petty national chauvinism projected onto an organization with a name.
I hope not! It’s a beautiful project with many benefits…
L’Europe est la première puissance économique ( il suffit de voyager et de constater comment les produits européens inondent les marchés du monde ; allez auUSA , au Japon : nous pouvons être fière de notre représentation ) , mais reste un nain politique : l’union fédérale démocratique devient une urgence . Nos média nationaux malheureusement ne participent pas à informer , ils ignorent les débats du parlement européen , ils boudent l’Europe et portent une grande responsabilité dans la non prise de conscience européenne .
Bref il est urgent de démocratiser de fédéraliser pour avoir une Europe influente dans une diplomatie et une économie politique mondiale qui devient bipolaire ( Chine/USA)
L’Europe doit se réveiller si on ne veut pas que nos enfants vivent les conséquences du gâchis actuel de sa puissance économique .
@Alsican
Europe will NEVER work until it shares a common language – ENGLISH – with its superior vocabulary (4 x bigger than French), its non-sexist structure (it sexualises very few nouns – unlike BIZARRE French) and its SMS advantages – 4, 2, u, c .
Only when France accepts that English is the world language and the SOLE EU language will the EU have a chance to heal and unify.
For God’s sake keep the European market alive and the sheep inside….
European economic Union is not broken and will never break as far as there are still economic interests to be served.
Now as far as the Nations European Union, well that never existed. I come from one of the founder countries of the Union and I am currently leaving in another country of this Union. When I moved, what stroke me was the ignorance of history I had for the country I had just moved to. Sending my children to a local school (secondary level) and watching them learning the local history and being able to understand why this country and its inhabitants are the way they are, I realised that the only way to have REAL European Union is by learning each other’s HISTORY. Then all countries people will be able to understand each other and then, and only then, countries will be in a position to show Solidarity, Brotherhood and compassion to each other.
In the EU we started the wrong way, we United economies and not People.
Good point and I agree entirely with your comment. However, Europe’s recent history must be shared and learnt. Such is the case with common “battles” shared by two or more countries. These “battles”, not necessarily of the bellic kind, occur more often than we imagine and tragic events such as the Paris attacks are only the top of the iceberg. Eurppean history is made everyday but not always revealed and given the credit it deserves.
I think that a common enemy could bring the EEC together OR it will most certainly destroy it!
Old-Europe – From the river Iber in the west to the river Evros in the east…that space in between is Greek concept Evropi.
Old-Europe exists on Greek ideas, Greco-Roman thinking, Greco-Roman logic.
Germanic ideas, Germanic thinking, Germanic logic broke Europe beyond repair.
To Fix Europe – Go back to Old-European ideas, core values and guiding principles.
@Nick The Greek
WHAT core values?
There are 4 major EU countries:
Italy – the civilizing influence in Europe 2000 years ago.
France – the daughter of Germanic revolutionary thinking,
Germany – the rule maker and the rule follower
UK – the leader of the industrial revolution and the bastion of fair play
The values of the rest of the EU DO NOT MATTER!
Europe is neither dead nor dying. What is presently in course is a test to Europe’s capacity to deal with various.challenges and yet remain united. The European Union has grown beyond it’s capacity to absorb all the changes in a short period of time. The European Union needs to reevaluate it’s priorities before allowing new members and seriously consider taking some steps back to gain strength. Financial and social stability are threatened by external and internal influences, driven by greed and / or need to survive and expand by clinging onto our values without ever defending them. These values, monetary inclusive, attract left and right wing extremists that distort the objective of common Democratic interests by dividing European members and their citizens. The European Union has attracted the attention of the rest of the world with it’s relative prosperity over the last decade which in turn attacts undermining individualities and groups. If it was not so, there would be no interest in our stability.
The European Union has attracted the attention of the rest of the world with it’s relative prosperity over the last decade which in turn ATTRACTS undermining individualities and groups. If it was not so, there would be no interest in our stability.
We must fight for the United States of Europe 🌸
don’t stop the illegal immigration and let Turkey join. Then see how long Eu will last
Economics cannot be the basis on which to unite long-established nation-states to one (supra) common unifying identity. The rules governing people-dynamics, tell us, that different ethnic people-groups unite collectively on the basis of commonality…when bound together through fraternal or cataclysmic events – things that happened in the past but which are still held in collective memory and can still be reproduced faithfully, by those telling the story.
Lest we forget – Europe means different things to different peoples. Having power, making laws which transcend national boundaries and governments with aim to unite economies and infra-structure, do not in themselves unite people-groups…showing solidarity and sharing something in common does it better. Commonality – bound together through common history, religion, culture, this is what unites.
Supra-national identity – European-identity has not yet ripened…come to fruition, enough to bound the continents differing people-groups to one common identity. Fraternal events, or cataclysmic events with good ending(s) unite.
Basing the unity of Europe on Economics and Debt, serve only to disunite the continent. And nobody has done more to disunite Europe than Germany under Merkel’s stewardship!
It’s not broken beyond repair YET… but it will be, if the “B’EUrocrats elite” keep their ways and continue to disrespect Europeans and overrunning democracies… The European Union should be nothing but all European countries sitting at a round table, cooperating in partnership, discussing matters, reaching agreements (which should be very easy between Europeans), standing together as one in the “world stage”, keeping free trade agreements and free movement of people and goods (as long as there are serious controls over Europe’s external borders). AND NO MORE THAN THIS… NO federalism, NO “united states of Europe”, NO further integration, NO “super-state”, and NOBODY should be “forced” to join the common currency, under the ECB and EU budget rules, etc… that should always be an option (it suits some countries, like mine, because Portugal needs a “nanny” to keep an eye on the numbers, but it doesn’t suit others) and we could even rent out that big building in Brussels for weddings and receptions, and split the rent!… MEP’s should be sent back home, they’re useless anyway!… The leaders from each European country could meet somewhere every 2 or 4 weeks, discuss matters, reach agreements very easily, etc… We don’t need a “pseudo-elite-democracy” overrunning real sovereign democracies.
Yes, you actually describe the 1955, 800 mio strong “Council of Europe” (CoE)- consisting of all 47 European states. There, member maintain full SOVEREIGNTY! Being in place & functional, would be “Plan B” to replace the EU & its army of pen pushers within short notice!
By only concentrating on inter & global trade and job creation (like China)- not such time wasting club like the EU- bogged down with integration, endless treaties, acts, regulations & other falsities!
Europe need to come to their senses and abort this miscarriage called EU rather sooner than later! It was a political cuckoo egg hatched within the CoE- an intruder!
Rui. It is either we go further into integration decisions cannot be made anymore just for one country and cooperation is too unilateral.
Brussels should have more power than any other government of the EU.
And they are way far fro being useless. Because the difference is that they do not lead a policy to be reelected
…….aha, interesting- could you please clarify your “more power” idea?
The EU has already collected most competences from its members & can’t handle same. You mean, take away the remaining competences, to be able to act as an almighty Suzerain? Like a totalitarian super state- copying the ex USSR, China or North Korea?
I get it- you want an EU army to enforce Brussels will- by force!
Great idea! Please, will all these power hungry- willing to be ‘subjected’- immigrate to such lost paradise- without delay!
europe is facing two major questions.
1- should EU be a uniform union in terms of religion, and culture?
2- should EU be fully integrated to world economics? that is more free market , less social/welfare state
……really? More uniform than uniform is what? More free market than free market is what? Secularism exists. Religion & culture can’t be legislated.
What is your question & suggestion again?
I don’t see any kind of social union at all…It’s just banks and capital…Unelected bankers and capital holders do whatever they want. Democracy is nowhere… Thats E.U.
Stop with socialism,
Humans are creatures that are meant to face challenges, and some difficulties in life, The worst thing you can do is to give free healthcare, uneployemnt benefits, free education, free security, Taxes in Europe need to be reduced by at least 50%, And the government’s should focus on the important things, instead of killing entrepeuneurship, and raising a generation of lazy pupets…We are truly living in slavery, and need to be delivered
That’s something the people have to decide with direct democratic procedures and no one else! I want nobody to rule over me or anyone else, especially if this no one in not even elected by the people. And by the way i never met a lazy puppet. You just probably have enough money to support such nonsense. All people has to be equal and at least have the comfort to live with dignity. I am a great supporter of basic income as well. But as i said i am not the one i should decide such things but the people themselves with direct democratic procedures.
That’s something the people have to decide with direct democratic procedures and no one else! I want nobody to rule over me or anyone else, especially if this no one in not even elected by the people. And by the way i never met a lazy puppet. You just probably have enough money to support such nonsense. All people has to be equal and at least have the comfort to live with dignity. I am a great supporter of basic income as well. But as i said i am not the one i should decide such things but the people themselves with direct democratic procedures.
http://www.voltairenet.org/article187588.html
At the end of the day, it’s simple. A Europe that makes ‘Conchita Wurst’ the symbol of its ‘values’ is on the way to downfall, and Daesh and consorts know that very well. A Europe that is inspired by Charlemagne and Joan of Arc is on the way to resurrection.
Most definitely
no!!!
Yes. Only way to save it is to get rid of all EU politicians and the worthless commission and get people in there that actually look for best interest of Europeans and stop the libtard political correctness.
Not beyond repair but should definitely steer differently if it is to work.
No, need just a bit of reforms. And not allowing illegal emigrants (crossed the EU borders illegally) to reside in EU.
Debating Europe has deleted the last week’s debate regarding the entrance of Turkey in the EU. This is not good at all. Is there any specific reason for that action?
Too embarrassing: US/NATO/EU/ERDOGAN’s “mukhabarat” – partners in crime- similar agenda.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/08/turkey-erdogan-intelligence-support-from-headmen.html#
There is a class of weedkiller that acts by causing weeds to grow too fast and die of the effort – this is what is happening to the EU. In many respects the architect of this cure for the nightmare that the EU was none other than Margret Thatcher – she from the start encouraged expansion – and admitted herself that the intention was to make the EU expand itself to death. Turkey is the final act.
Perhaps after Thatchers weedkiller has done its work we can get back to a common market, common rules for trade etc. instead of this huge layer of leaching parasitic politicians being forced on us.
“common rules for trade etc.”
Rules established by whom?
Yes, definitely. Let’s get rid of it as soon as possible. Common market would be enough, are institutions are useless.
Καθήστε αναπαυτικά και απολαύστε την κατάρρευση. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSzIcQrU1Yw
Did we ever need a European Union ? I don’t think so. We need protective barriers and keep our own legislations intact, instead of having us continuously sold out to a bunch of Zionists who created this EU to weaken Europeans and to support their own geo-political strategies, weakened the population became for sure with the Banking crisises which started in The States. In Belgium these days 400 candidates apply for one parttime job and 1 out of 7 Belgian families lives in poverty. We need our own countries again where Public Banks by the numbers need to be installed as a reaction to what happens in Wall Street and London, and the chain reactions following out of this because the Banking Systems gamble around worldwide with an amount of 200.000 billions of dollars, which is four times the amount which went up in smoke during the Crisis of 2007.
We should go bavk to the true values of the Europran Union. My generstion has grown up with the idea of the union and we still beleive in it. Please try to mend it
@Eleonora Contartese
Yet another Latin EU-zealot!
The UE is just at the beginning. The UE need to make some range for different thinks, like health, work, social services, fiscal politics, extern and intern politics and an unique militar force.
Today UE is a project with an unique coin not in all nations, not all countries of EU belongs to Schengen zone…
There are a lot to do, because today a single European country in a Global World haven’t too much contractual power. Le really Union is a force. In the UE zone the most important risorse are the different between the countries, language, traditions, food, art, … And every states need to learn to valorize there’s strong points
What Europe? There’s a common currency BUT the lack of political union and common rules will obviously destroy it..since the euro our economies are crumbling
Yes.
The 4th Reich was desiged to fail.
Game over. Europeans are desappearing from a demographic point of view. Can a civilization survive without her inhabitants? Obviously not. In the next 100 years this continent will be populated by other people. If the only important thing is the economic groth without considering the deep roots of Europe this is the conseguence. Right or not the Idea of Europe as we know it, it will be only a page on history book.
The EU is not broken beyond repair, but it needs repair urgently.
The European Union will continue but for this it will have to change in many ways. The path since Maastricht (1992) is simply producing to many costly failures, recently most obvious the €uro management and migration.
First of all, EU leaders and instititutions will have to understand that their raison d’etre is to serve the European people, and not to act illusively with the pretension of being a World government.
It is becoming increasingly obvious that in vital questions the Member (nation) States are better able to respond quick and efficient (see, for example, migration and Hungary) than supranational institutions who, detached from peoples and lacking allegiance to individual nations often shrivel to self-serving cliques and bureaucratic monstrocities.
With Brexit, Grexit, Fixit and more of that as warning on the wall Brussels will have to move away from “ever deeper Union” scenarios to more nation centered, flexible network cooperations.
Of course its not! Wishful thinking by Nasty Nige & his sort. United we stand & will remain standing.
“economic groth without considering the deep roots of Europe ”
Unfortunately wallowing in dusty cultural legacy and the philosophical memory of millenia doesn’t buy anyone lunch, nor is it particularly helpful for growth of any kind. It might be precisely this defeatist, sullen attitude and this silly insistence that past glory exempts one from the challenges imposed by the present that marks the decline of european civilization.
European union needs fee market capitalism. It is spoiled by government intervention: government grants, social benefits, regulations, complicated tax systems. This is too much socialism! We had to fight hard to get rid of soviet union but it came back to us under cover of EU bad reforms. I believe EU is great it just needs healthy free market capitalism. Is it so difficult to understand people?
“It is becoming increasingly obvious that in vital questions the Member (nation) States are better able to respond quick and efficient (see, for example, migration and Hungary) than supranational institutions who, …”
Before that could ever become obvious, it would have to be tried at least once.
The supranational organization we call the EU /doesn’t/ have any mandate, any means or any power at all to interfere directly or overrule anyone in suche issues as the current migrant crisis. If a US state were to violate its constitutional obligations by simply ignoring the agreed upon rules and passing people on to other states in the face of any contractual obligations, a federal force would march in to settle this. There is no such thing in the EU context. Now you could consider this a good thing or a bad thing, but either way it doesn’t make overly much sense to scold the EU for not being able to solve something that its constituent members were very careful not to have it solve.
word. The member states refrained from giving more competencies to the EU, now everyone is complaining about the EU not taking action…
@ Christina S.
……….really? Wrong! Please don’t lament & defend the (blustering) “EU”- by spreading your (inaccurate) personal emotions. Did you ever consider that life or any system (must) have (relevant) options?
Read Articles 79 and 80 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and explain your (miss) interpretation- will you?!
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/atyourservice/en/displayFtu.html?ftuId=FTU_5.12.3.html
@ Blugalf
No mandate- no means?- Wrong, it has! “Trust in the EU treaties”! Be or not to be? Me, Me, or not Me?
JCJuncker was lamenting this fact- how can “HIS members” & signatories to the ‘Lisbon treaty’ dare to ignore their obligation & the EC’s “order”? Did petty national sovereignty triumph? Under what circumstances is it more important or appropriate
to disobey the EU Treaties & EC? When is gone too far- too far?
The EU infringement & penalty procedure is laid down in TFEU Articles 4, 17, 258 & 260! The military competence is the last “Joker”” the members hold.
Juncker’s EU is after that. Thereafter, HE could enforce all treaties & articles by LAW & FORCE! Is that what a future EU concept should be? I vote NO, but also suggest alternatives!
There comes a time & DUTY to disobey! Even as a soldier from a still “petty national, BUT sovereign country”- having a valid Constitution!
“If a US state were to violate its constitutional obligations by simply ignoring the agreed upon rules and passing people on to other states in the face of any contractual obligations, a federal force would march in to settle this.”
The idea that the EU can be build on a bluepring of the US is misleading and has already caused a lot of damage. Here to reach a common political will from which all members could benefit is like squaring a circle.
Under this condition only the strength of Britain, France and Germany, combined with the will to use this strength for the benefit of the whole continent will keep/make it a “global player” again. Whereas the current EU construct (attempt to centralise) is weakening the natural power centers of Western Europe and thus weakening the whole continent making it a plaything for all kinds of outer-european forces again.
Europe is unique and hence demands unique policies.
@ EU Reform Proactive
thank you for sharing your emotions :)
I was not thinking of the refugee crisis, but more of a general level. Could you please explain me what you mean by relevant options?
Article 80 TFEU
“The policies of the Union set out in this Chapter and their implementation shall be governed by the principle of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility, including its financial implications, between the Member States.” So I guess that’s what they are trying to achieve by the repartition of refugees by a quota. But the EU polities cannot be effective (e.g. in the case of Art79 I, II c,d), if the member states don’t take part fully.
“The idea that the EU can be build on a bluepring of the US is misleading”
This isn’t at all what I was suggesting. The US example was to point out that the EU is criticized for not doing something efficiently which it was explicity constructed not to do at all. On top of that, criticized usually by the very camps that were cardinal in bringing about this kind of constraint in the first place.
“…Europe is unique and hence demands unique policies.”
I’m very well aware.
Forget this “global player” thing. Economically, yes, it’s very important, mostly to avoid having a plethora of environmental, economic and social values completely foisted upon you by the big blocks. What else is there? Even if the larger EU countries were to speak with one voice in terms of foreign policy and military concerns they’d still be a colorful but ultimately harmless bunch of sideliners with no real impact in global affairs. No harm in leaving things as they are in these areas.
“Europe is unique and hence demands unique policies.”
Rest assured, I’m very well aware
the 2nd quote was accidental, sorry for that.
@ Christina S.- Hi there,
It is the refugee crisis which questions the EU28 concept- once more. The EU sponsored DE lead & shield itself to let us comment only on one option. That option is the furthering of the EU until it reaches super state velocity. How can the EUP ever discuss its dissolution or change in direction if no such party exists yet?
One should not get trapped & confused in the little steps on the way- but see where they lead us and if it is the best for all 47-50 states in Europe with its ~800mio people as a whole. Never mind the select 28 ones, including those invisible forces who laid & who are laying down the rules. Members only vote on the final package.
Other options are to revive the neglected 47 sovereign members of the “Council of Europe”. Or a freely negotiated smaller union or several unions of states which share very close similarities but retain their full sovereignty. Or a restricted union based on the “World happiness index”. Nothing is cast in stone & possible!
First priority remains the importance of the economy, trade and job creation in a sustainable way. Not these fallacies of “coerced EU integration”, obedience or disobedience to certain Acts, rules & regulations etc.
All can be researched by whoever believes that the present EU is NOT the end all or be all but only ONE under several available options out there. Every voter should be well informed to create a better Europe for all.
At the moment the present “EU concept” closed the door on any other democratic solution other than the EU’s. It is encouraging that you show interest in the intricate web of EU regulations & machinations.
Finally your statement of wanting more EU competences:
The EU “has the competence to lay down the conditions” on the immigration policy acc. to the previous attached link- which you avoided to acknowledge. A further link should be helpful to explain the overall EU competences.
http://ec.europa.eu/citizens-initiative/public/competences/faq
@ EU Reform Active
I did not mean to say that I want more competences to be given to the EU. At least, not now. I did not express myself clearly, mea culpa!
But there are people who on the one hand complain about the EU not taking action on certain issues (CFSP), but on the other hand want to go back to nationalism completely. I think I read too much about this, before entering the discussion here… I’m sorry.
And you are right, I don’t like “yes-or-no-questions” anyways. I wonder what Schuman, Monnet and Adenauer would say today… I hope that times of crisis can also be times of change.
Hope not
We will be strong EU Nation forever… We need more time to get stronger economy… There are no way to broken EU ….
…..you are a victim of EU illusions. The EU can & will never be a NATION! It is a political CONCEPT only! Get better informed!
Para que lado estas tu virado ?????
YES. Actually it was never really a whole.
Has anyone calculated how many mixed couples exist within the EU from EU countries, where that couples live now and in which country theirs kids go to school? society and business run faster than the officials in Brussels. We just need equal rights in our Europe.
……….think you raise this issue inappropriately. However, a well known fact & practice exists globally where the “rich” select & frequent the best institutions available- so what?
You cannot legislate affirmative actions against the rich- can & will you? Have an equitable tax code, no corruption, close down tax havens & catch ALL tax evaders!
I certainly hope it is. It was a very bad idea to begin with
Well, in the picture the already shredded flag hangs upside down too …
The E.U isn’t broke yet but it will break if things are allowed to carry on as they are.These morons who keep on preaching for ever closer union need to shut up and face up to reality before it’s too late.For instance take the two projects that were supposed to forge this ‘union’,namely the Euro and the passport free Schengen zone,both projects failed the first time they hit a problem.At the end of the day we have to accept that every country in the E.U is just in it for what they can get out of it,I personally have no problem with that but let’s drop this nonsense about solidarity.
It’s because we got promised a Social Union. Instead it got overrun by lobbyists, forcing the wishes of big corporations. There is nobody left taking care of the citizens and what mankind needs, it’s all about some figures in some databases, giving few people more might they already have. there are no politicians left that haven’t been totally pocketed by neoliberalism. the lead totally misses visions of a future to the good of everybody
this does not only account for the EU as a whole, but for each single country within the EU.
The EU certainly has major problems but I still think it’s a better idea long-term than a patchwork quilt of inward – looking nations guarding their many differences and economic inequalities and stagnating at various levels, sandwiched between the huge “Superpowers” who are forging ahead in domains which are essential to our collective current and future well-being (the bioeconomy, renewable energy, green transport, access to safe medication, non – depletion of fishing stocks, collaborative actions on security, CO2 emissions, money – laundering, food labelling and consumer rights, Information Technology, emergency aid, regulating competition, common education standards, etc. etc.). Badly managed or not, left to the national level, such vast programmes would not at all be possible on the scale and with the speed at which they are currently being achieved. Which gives the EU the chance to be competitive on the world stage, alongside the major players.
I totally agree!
You just hit the core!
I totally agree as well
@ Claire M
Sorry, you only touched the bark- not the core!
Nobody needs another, but limited supranational “political EU org” to enforce standards- they already exist- namely: (ISO) is an international standard setting body:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Organization_for_Standardization
http://www.iso.org/iso/home/about.htm
and DIN (Deutsches Institut für Normung) the German one: http://www.din.de/en
Sovereign Nations only need to adopt & implement them- and they have adopted them to serve their common interest.
It is the EU/US by secretly & recklessly supporting TTIP who is destroying existing (save) standards, not Euroskeptics- ever considered that?
of course not, it’s rather a question of good will and courage to talk, getting to an agreement, for working an living toghether in a peacefull and healthy environment for all euro – citysans .
of course not, it’s rather a question of good will and courage to talk, getting to an agreement, for working an living toghether in a peacefull and healthy environment for all euro – citysans .
Putins ultimate goal
The further away the political establishment is from the person in the street the less democratic it is.Even national governments cannot govern a country in the best interests of every region so it is no surprise that the EU is a dismal failure.
It adds no value to anything, all it does is rob the rich and give to the poor…..whilst also creaming off a fat slice of taxpayers money to pay itself highly inflated salaries and generous pensions
The EU needs to be audited by some completely neutral organisation to investigate exactly what the taxpayers of Europe get for their money. Unfortunately this is highly unlikely to happen as even if such a neutral organisation exists, accountability is a word the EU elite think only applies to others
Yes . There will be huge festivities and that day will become a national holiday when the EU flag is lowered. But until then the real cost of the EU will be hidden. I think there will be shock and awe when we all find out what this idiotic and corrupt project has cost us. When and if they stop with “the farce” there should of course be independant inquiries into the financial/backroom dealings of eu bureaurocrats to find out how much damage theve done to the member states, and how much theve pocketed in the process.
In the meantime the flag is still there and it worries me as to how far these eu crazies will go to keep the cash flow going.
.
Yes :) Like Nazism, Fascism & communism before it Europeanism will be consigned to the dustbin of history.
We can only hope the EU fanatics don’t start another of their bloody European wars before it is.
Who keeps asking those childish questions ?
EU is preparing a federal police, tighter fiscal regulations and the talks of a united military are back on the table given the Paris attacks.
“Broken beyond repair” is not the words I would use, “pressing need for a federal EU” sounds far more accurate.
A Union without elected Goverment and a fake Parliament like those of authoritarian regimes is not a Union and surely not democratic.Unless it changes drastically none will be happy.
Trust in our leaders is broken beyond repair
EU exists only for offering happiness to US which exists only for the happiness of corporations, so many people are very, very happy but not the right ones. That’ s life…. :(
If Eurosceptics would stop complaining and we all head in the same direction, the EU would step even greater out of the current crisis.
Just start thinking in an European way instead of a nationalistic one.
@ Annika K @ Co
Did you ever consider to:
………ask any North Korean which is the best country on earth……………..guess who?
………ask any totally convinced Pro EU-28 supporter the same ………….. guess who?
To think the “European way” would be to switch from a “totalitarian one EU-28” concept to a more all inclusive, more considerate & sovereign remaining “Europe 47 thinking”- impossible?
Why could what 28 EU club members of ~500 mio may achieve economically (excl. social, fiscal, military ++++ aims)- not be achievable or even better- by all 47 sovereign remaining European nations of ~800 mio- planning & growing their economy together?
YES,and i like it. EU,WAS ORIGINALLY CONCEIVED ONLY A FREE TRADING AREA,AND NOTHING MORE.
Just try…Europe, not this mess of nationalists politics !
I am pro EU, but against a supranational powerstructure. I like the idea of interstate union rather than an European superstate…. It’s a matter ideology. I prefer flexible, adjustable and more democratic Europe with respect for different local supreme legislative governance, while still finding the perfect balance of being in a strong european union. One does not need to exclude the other. And I feel this is exactly what some “elites” have been trying to force down upon us.
Yes, corrupt, useless and idiotic politics have done its best to destroy it. Go back to the original free comercial union, bring back the national borders and let each country be proud of itself.
then, what is the difference between a Free Trade Zone and the EU you are talking about?
I hope so
One thing can be broken beyond repair, only when it exists.
I would prefer a fully federal system.
Democracy is famous with its elitism. Scholar in the 1970s has already given a very good description of the leading democracy, the US, it is a MIBT complex, which means the country is ruled and dominated by the Military-Industry-Bureaucracy and Technocrats. We should add now MIFBT with the addition of the finance sector. If we want EU to be popular led, we might need to return to the communist utopia of absolute equality.
It is the reality that politicians promise everything when they want your vote. After they have got the ticket enter the congress/parliament, they tend to sustain their own interest rather than honouring their promises by giving ample reasons to confuse their supporters. So, politics is not a game to be participated by most of the general public. They have to earn their living rather than to examine policies.
When we are willing to form a strong union, we love the union and we have a sense of belonging to the union and we want to do everything to sustain it and improve it, etc. EU has been expanding to rapidly for political reason after the end of the Cold War. It has not a good foundation to form a union. Members want to harvest benefit but refuse to contribute. with this refugee crisis, problems emerge and threaten its survival. I therefore propose the EU to reconsider further expansion i.e. to include Turkey. Members who do not want to contribute for the goods of the European should be allowed to leave. It is only through this purification, EU can have a chance to survive.
The EU is over sooner it dies and sovereign states regain their powers back the better.
Personally I think us leaving this year when the referendum is planned will be the killing blow.Thank us later.
hmmmm…we can try to fix it..
not at all, people just started to think about it at last
.
Lets see, the EU has a political currency that has destroyed the economies of most counties in it, denies people their democratic right of self determination & created a free movement area that allows terrorists & rapists to travel unchecked across 26 countries to heap havoc, misery and mayhem onto the peoples of those countries.
The EU is not just broken, it is a disaster that needs to be ended for all our sakes.
http://www.france24.com/en/20160110-thousands-gather-paris-remember-million-strong-post-attacks-rally
This UE is beyond repair cause is take in over by the big corporations and the banks. My country with the bigest sea coast in all Europe is not allowed to fish more then a percentage of fish on he’s own waters and that’s just am example. There is no sovereignty anymore.This is a Europe build for the richest countries in the north with whom with don’t have the slightest similarity. It’s a Germany dream not ours. It’s a economic take over and it will end.Even UK is not interested anymore.And is a Europe without a heart that cares about the refugees and let’s he’s owns starving. It’s a Europe that sells guns to everyone and them pretends to be Humanitarian. All this is a tremendous hypocrisy.
This Europe is a tremendous hypocrisy. And it will end
EU has deep roots.It will survive.
.
First there was the Euro crisis, then came the democratic deficiency crisis, then the migrant crisis followed in short order by the terrorist crisis, cover up crisis & rape crisis.
Next up the disease crisis.
Well done EU, your doing a great job of destroying peoples lives.
http://www.euractiv.com/sections/health-consumers/eu-countries-advised-prepare-health-threats-refugees-320802
no, the EU is strong but it must be reformed
Oh Flag not so happy
The European Union is too strong to be broken ,and the citizens from all of the EU countries gives Europe the strong that needs to continue to remain as a reference for different cultures to remain as one ,in my opinion !
Brexit. Greece. Scotland. Too strong? It does not appear that way.
http://bnr.bg/horizont/post/100405993/d-r-nikolai-mihailov-izglejda-evropa-e-duhovno-iztoshtena#st_refDomain=www.facebook.com&st_refQuery=/
преведете си го!:)
In a few lines, I will try to describe my humble opinion as an European.
Your question combines 2 hypothesis and 1 (sub)question: The hypothesis that the Union is really an Union (because if not, it cannot be broken) and the hypothesis that it is broken today. The question under these hypothesis synthesises in “Can EU be repaired?”. If your hypothesis are correct, the answer to this question is probably YES depending on the ambition of the EU. However, there is a big problem with the hypothesis because they can be a victim of various interpretations.
To really answer the question, one has to define clearly WHERE and HOW united/coherent the EU really is/was. Even in a historical domain as the common market, one could argue that there was no real unification, at least, compared to the continued (growing) level of ambition of the EC driven by spill over effects and the rise of global problems to be tackled on a global scale. If industry is an active player in the common market, how united is EU industry compared to those of US and others?
Suppose that we are able to clearly define the unitedness of the EU, then it is not possible to say that the EU is broken. It is maybe reaching the limits of its current ambition of unitedness and construction to realize this ambition. It can only be considered as broken if we are/will make a step back. Yes, considering the current migration crisis, one can argue that in the domain of Schengen there is a potential risk to make a step back, but still then, is this the EU or are the member states making a step back?
This brings me at the most fundamental question: WHO is EU? It is clearly NOT the sum of all member states considering all mechanisms of policy and decision making with embedded voting systems and opt outs. If we do not really can grasp WHO EU is, can we really answer the question if it is broken and should be repaired. For me, the EU can more be seen as a patient that is ill.
I cannot ignore that EU is suffering from a fundamental identity crisis fuelled by the current events and the democratic deficit as perceived by a lot of Europeans. EU is struggling to defend its basic constitutional founding principles. Is it worth to heal EU? Yes, because in a globalized world where a lot of problems transcend borders and cultures, you need systems to tackle this world scaled problems. But it is not only a matter of problems. It is also a matter of opportunities. Globalization offers opportunities but not always to micro players. To grasp some worldwide opportunities, you need big power players.
So, how can we heal the patient? Big reforms and optimizations (taking in to account the reality of limited resources and the need to prioritize) that seek big support from all stakeholders, be it on the producer side or the customer side, need big democratic accepted criteria to reshuffle its configuration. Which could be the guide lines in setting up those criteria? I will not tell something new for most of the policymakers, but sometimes, it’s good to take a step back. The (re)allocation of resources should be in line with the set of 3 guidelines.
1) Centralize only what is really common to all or most of you stakeholders. Decentralize what is not really common.
2) Define what today and in view of future global legislation only can be tackled by an EU-level system.
3) Define clearly where the EU wants to be leading, influencing or following. Do not fall in the ‘I want and can do all’ trap.
Do this by not being too ambitious and build in flexibility to adapt swiftly to changing circumstances. This means that an institutional approach could raise some problems because of their rigidness. Maybe this all will request a revision of the subsidiarity principle.
People have learnt to take EU, all the years of peace and democracy for granted. Too many tend to see EU as a source of silly administrative rule and funds only. People need education on what EU has achieved and involvement to repair what should be repaired. Democracy and peace are not given forever. They need tending as plants do….
Eur union is something that in my country seemed like a good idea…but probably because it was germany leading back then… Now that is more under french decisions all the countries are humiliated and france takes all the money and the decisions… Wich is not good
Never!
The EU is shaken, but not broken. The institutions will have success. The high level European politicians will take the truly decisions.
EU is not working like Union that is the problem. EU can’t survive with Angela Merkel. I don’t want to have the EU with Germany under Angela Merkel . Germany should go to Arab League and other countries that accepted the EU should work on to develop the EU without Germany.
Loud l fer that one day will fly throughout banner !
I really REALLY hope so.
No, European Union is well and fine!
YES.and i am happy about it.
No, it will be fixed because the will of the vast majority of people is to do so.
The whole continent is much better together than divided.
It is a normal part of the process to have problems that need to be addressed and fixed and Europe will do just that.
Long Live Europe.
Europe has to get over so many broblems and dangers..hope so that everything will be fine in the future …
The EU was never designed to benefit everyone, hence, why only a few are while the rest suffer. And the current situation, brought upon by the economic crisis of 08 and now the refugee crisis, has shown just this. The whole project needs to be scrapped, essentially, and start again. But, this will not happen as those few that it benefits retain all the power, both polical and economic. Alas, this situation is dire and will probably get worse before it gets better.
Most commentators on this page cannot agree on whether there should be a union between Europeans let alone if it’s broken. Talk about confused
Hopefully yes. Enough with this EU.
Well i think European union was a project by Few elect Elite that had some plans. Don’t worry they have next plan we are heading there after this union falls to make World Union Or One global government. All this refugee crysis is planned people are not stupid we all know that and people are waking up.
Europe is in a critical point: it must disappear or avance to (con)federalism. But it must move!
A quick reminder for the short memory people. Last time the Europe was divided we had 2 world wars and millions of deaths. Maybe you don’t agree, but I think the concept of a unified Europe is a beautiful achievement. If this union is broken efforts should be made on fixing it and reforming it, rather than giving up just to close ourselves in small pieces of land with a twisted sense of “patriotism”.
The ghost of Chinggis Khan is returning in vengeance, and with a new plague, but this time he is coming from The West.
Pour qui travaillez vous? Dire que l’UE est brisée c’est faire la part belle à toutes les autres régions géopolitiques ! L’Europe existe géographiquement et il faut se battre pour la valorisée humainement et politiquement, et la rendre vertueuse, chacun à son niveau et même les journalistes ont un rôle à jouer pour défendre les intérêts des citoyens européens. Non vous n’êtes pas d’accord?
Union??? Doubt that very much
Yes, the EU looks broken, but we should repair it and stay UNITED!
Yep
If UE won survive need to change. Change priority , kill bureaucracy, get much dynamic, and transparent with money and treaties. European Parliament have on Facebook only 3000 like that showing how big attention and interest Parliament taking across European countries.
.
Of course not, Belgium was the model used to create the EU and the treaties are designed deliberately to stop the EU changing..
The only thing people can do is vote to leave it.
It’s beyond repair, it is now a danger to western societies and needs to be disbanded for the safety of all Europe and it’s people.
We need a UNION of CITIZENS of EUROPE, thus citizens of the 28 EU member states need to demand a new European Convent. In the meantime our leader s trio – Council President D.Tusk, Commission head J. C. Juncker & Parliament Speaker M.Schulz – need to convene EMERGENCY SUMMIT with the President of the U.S.A. The refugee & jihadist challenge as well as weak Eastern neighbour in Muscowy needs hands on approach and the EU has reached FORMATIVE TIMES. Old expression goes as follows: “either we 28 swim together or we sink separately”. Therefore we citizens must demand our national leaders con-federal solutions for common EU financial system management (not just EU semester, sixpacks and similar transitional tools), the common management of the EU external border starting from summer 2016 as well as gradual transformations of the EU goernance in medium term! GO European CONFEDERATION!
No…just disintegrate…and all EU MS will breath a much needed sigh of relief
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/03/23/tears-teddy-bears-but-no-resolve-to-deal-with-islamist-threat-in-europe/
greedy people and corruption is destroying the project
The EU can definitely be fixed! A new generation of Erasmus children and people who have always lived in the EU of freedom, democracy and unity is about to take center stage and reform the EU in a way everyone feels comfortable and at ease with! The EU is worth fighting for!
There are 2 EU treaty. In one of them there is the article 48 whichs says that to change EU, it needs the UNANIMITY of the 28 states…..ummm….only one solution : article 50 to leave EU and keep the peace….more informations on UPR.fr (for french speakers).
The eu should get rid of politicians (and all suckers attached to them) and return to the EEM.
With the current insane leaders who dismiss realities and refuse to listen to anything else but their own delusions it is impossible to repair the EU.
EU pursues just the interests of lobbies, finance and multinationals, no more the citizens’ interests.
Fake democracy
Weak diplomacy.
Too much burocracy
Idiot decisions are killing the agriculture of southern Europe
It’s enough!
This EU must and will collapse. It will be then possible to build new, lean but more effective institutions
Eu = bullshit. Nationality = rulez
EU should keep together, only together they can efficient solve Arab problem . Millions are coming , only together we can secure accommodation to all of them . All Muslims should be moved to some safe place and the EU was safe place .
Fortress europe reflects the domination of functionalism and the end of any federal perspective.Re-nationalization means end of peace
Credibility of Europe is under question?!
EE was never united.Only in words.Eventually we will start protecting our national borders without caring about the EE laws.In our hearts EE doesn’t exist.
Europe need to be more united and better organized. Better cooperation with the authorities! Establish European Prosecutors to basic legal areas! Stop immigrants to come to Europe at any cost! Fight terrorism and strengthen the European Parliament! We must abolish national authorities and establish European ones!
I have a big text that states my vision as a citizen of a member state, and I’ll start by saying that the text written by “Armada1964” (January 10th, 2016) actually summs up very well what’s going inside my head, although using a lot of politics technical terms.
I think that the easiest way of talking about the structural deficits of the EU today is by comparing it’s History with the USA’s History.
When you think about the History of the EU compared to the History of the USA, you immediately perceive 3 major differences:
1) the USA is a more or less 250-year-old ‘nation’; the EU is a more or less 60-year-old ‘organisation’.
2) the USA have 50 states all in which the official language is English and which have made part of the USA for the last 200 years or so; the EU has 27-28 states each of which has it’s own official language and it’s own History and culture, with a much younger adhesion to the EU.
3) Every state in USA uses the american dollar; not every member-state of the EU uses the Euro.
These 3 differences appear to be, in my personal opinion, on the root of every major crisis the EU has faced in recent years.
The main task the EU needs to address at this point (and always) is ‘European identity’. The fact that every country has it’s own History immediately puts in check the notion and practice of a conduct that envisions common interests.
The European Parliament is seen by many as the only thing that matters, and national governments as mere puppets in a much bigger play.
As a Portuguese born-person in 1988, I belong to a generation of Portuguese citizens that has constantly felt the pain of being subject to political experiments owing to agreements made by countries within the EU, or by our Governments’ volatile visions. My generation has only understood the EU’s importance and ‘supremacy’ during the 2011’s Portuguese bailout crisis. The “Troika”, as it was called, felt like a draconic master keeping the Portuguese government on a tight leash. The Greek crisis also helped put the EU into perspective in our minds. However, they taught me a practical lesson about the EU: the EU is a beautiful project that is difficult to put into practice owing to everyone having it’s own agenda. And it’s actually just that, a project. Not an entity. But the EU Parliament has been acting like an entity. So it becomes hard to tell the difference.
The member states were never ready to implement some commonalities of that project yet. The Euro currency, I’d say, is the best example and the most immediately threatened one.
Many portray the Southern Countries as more lazy, and more corrupt than the northern countries. That may be true, or maybe not. What I do know is that it is very hard to actually feel like an European when there are so many pivotal differences in the way each EU member operates. The Euro demanded many mainstream practices to be abolished (namely public debt growth and downgrading the nations’ own currency value for instance), and that didn’t happen. This triggered an acute syndrome that many member states are struggling with at the moment. In the case of Portugal, it severely weakened our Economy. Starting on the minimum wage figures. Many people throughout Europe have no idea that the minimum wage in Portugal is 500€. In Louxembourg it is about 3x that. European Unity? That’s (Un)United States of Europe 101. Yet, each country’s Economy is very different. I for one belong to a generation of people who, back in the 90’s, would go to a supermarket and with 50€ (back then, 10000 escudos, in our old currency) would fill the whole chart. Today, I take 100€ (20000 escudos) and the chart only fills up to half. Half a dozen first-necessity products can cost more that 20€. Inflation, it’s a miracle, it must be. Who’s responsible for this? It’s the policies that were taken in the past by using the EU project to support pesky individual interests that have lead to fractionating differences we are experiencing today. Oddly, you go to a coffee-shop in Portugal, you ask for an expresso, it costs roughly 0.60€. You go to a coffee-shop in Belgium, you ask for an expresso, it can cost up to 2.50€. Revenue policies? Tax policies? Why such differences? Is it due to what people actually earn?
One thing is for sure, Portugal has seen a total of nearly 1 million of it’s people migrating to central/northern EU countries in the past 5 years. Why? Better quality of life and unemployment. Why? Because Portugal has lost it’s industrial sector pujancy during the 90’s to become a country based on tourism and services. Production costs are high, and revenues are low here. Beurocracy is a nightmare and an excuse to drain money out of the interested parties, for it’s one way to make money (you ask for a document, a simple sheet of paper, and they can charge you up for 100€ for a civilian need for instance; I can only imagine if one is trying to establish a factory here, which creates jobs; who would be interested in such a nightmare? There are other countries that have it easier withi the EU. Is it competition? If it is, is it for the common interests? Doesn’t appear to be!). We’ve been seeing people with good knowledge and solid formation going abroad (all over the news we hear nurses and physicians are leaving the country, owing to work conditions and unemployment). We have structural problems created by incompetency if our own previous Portuguese leaders, and as for the notion of responsibility, as a Portuguese citizen I feel like other countries should not have to pay for the problems we have created, as neither should we pay for problems others have created. In that sense, I think the EU has a seriuous problem in it’s roots which is: the notion of belonging to a big family necessitates a high conduct of responsibility in all circumstances that not everyone was/is ready to assume. Hence, it’s hard to put into practice the European Project. This is the very first problem (or rather list of problems) to be addressed in my opinion. It’s not the same everywhere, and some of it should be. But there are too many divergences. I’d say reforms ought to be taken towards a better sense of responsibility, not just solidarity. Then again, it is a highly complex problem to be addressed, and no one is willing to just give away their resources without warranty. Only then could we start building on more advanced issues. This is part of the reason the UK never wanted the Euro currency (not to mention that they have the strongest currency in the World), and this is exactly the same reason why Switzerland did not want such ‘marriage’ either. We have been all in it for our own reasons and it can’t work out well for everything if it keeps going like this.
I’d say it would be better to take a few steps back (at least temporarily), and let go what effectively isn’t working at all, try to fix these problems and put everyone at the same level, then try to reinstate the main visionary traits of the EU. Taxes, Social Security rights (and financial mechanisms), prices, wages, are some of the priorities. (Un)Employment. All these differences. As long as these exist, the EU won’t be able to resist at least regarding the Euro currency issue, and with that many things will be dragged along. Maybe the Euro is the biggest threat to the EU at the moment. That doesn’t mean we cannot co-exist as an EU in terms of intelectual and ethical values, but those are still too green and immature for us to be able to implement the most advanced things. What policies can be taken to stregthen the most fragile economies, without weakening the strongest ones? What incentives can you give to people? What incentives can you give to companies for investment in countries who need to have a refreshed industrial business? Who needs what? Does Germany need nurses? Does the UK need physicians? Does France need labourers in the construction business? How can you establish some form of partnership to provide full formation on, say, Medicine, or Engineering to, for example, Germans, in countries outside of Germany, based on Germany’s needs (compared to the current reality which is: other states investments on their own citizens are being thrown out the window owing to “forced” migration)? If this migration is actually beneficial, how to compensate these countries’ lost investments? Any fees? Public debt being partially forgiven? How to reduce these major gaps on how the EU is being organised?
As for the refugee crisis, terrorism, and Schengen area, I had plenty more to say, but I’ve already covered too much space and time. I’ll just state that it needs to be reviewed and adjusted according to needs. I emphasize the European citizens (=member states’ citizens) sympathize with the situation, but we cannot take in everyone, there’s so much space in a sardine tin-can to harbor a limited number of sardines. The European citizens must come first, although we must bear a sense of responsibility for our past actions and for the suffering we have caused to those living in the Middle East owing to our own greedy interests. Hence, I sympathize with Paris and Brussels, just like I sympathize with Ankara, Bagdad, Kabul, Boston, or Joannesburg. Innocent civilians are the same for me everywhere, but enough hypocrisy and enough is enough: the EU cannot be there for the whole world population, and we should not be afraid to assume that. That is to say there must be other organisations helping out the EU to del with this, for a global crisis needs a global response.
I only know one thing: I think every member state of the EU needs the EU as much as the EU needs every of it’s member states, which is to say the EU is here to stay for a long time, but maybe in a different form from what is perceived today. There’s a lot of work to be done until the majority of EU citizens is satisfied with the EU. The number of Euroskeptics is on the rise, there seems to be many things that are not working at all and the slowness of EU’s actions speaks volumes on how limited the EU can be to take measures concerning everyone. Which is another thing that needs to be changed, we need more agility and diligency.
I’m a Euroskeptic for some things as they are now, but there are very good things the EU gave me and brings to people. Thus I do feel like an European, although I do for all the wrong reasons: I feel like an European also because I need to, because I must. Not just because I was born and raised like one, there is no choice for me. I’m not sure it was meant to be like that.
[Sorry, some typographic errors passed by unnoticed.
The most important one: ‘That is to say there must be other organisations helping out the EU to deAl with this.’]
The flag is in as good shape as what it represents !
There was an intensive populism from all politicians in the years past on nationalism matter. They fooled voters with the great values of their national history. Now they harvest extremist groups and EU sceptists.
MAYBE NOT.OBVIOUSLY,SOME DEEP AND DRASTIC CHANGES ARE NEEDED!!!
When will 28 lands be agree at the same time? Never, so EU won’t change!
One does not need a crystal ball to predict that the EU is about to collapse. It started out as an economic union but had the ambition of becoming a federal Europe.
Under current leadership UE is bound to an inevitable colapse.
We need to change it the sooner the better.
First of all we need people of Europe to elect ALL members of leadership not only Parliament. Elections must be by effective vote of citizens. We cannot trust our politicians for they’re bound to sectarian interests. Get rid of those connected to the banking system. No more lobbying from financial and industrial complex allowed.
Make it EU a union of peoples across Europe instead a cartel.
Give EU real independence in its foreign policies instead of being a proxy of US hegemonic interests. We’re all enduring the consequences of imposing sanctions on several countries that have not posed any threat to us.
Impose one only fiscal model valid for all members. Bring effective policies to end all offshore tax heavens. Those companies and individuals using them must be banned from doing business across EU.
Aplly strict and clear rules for migrants willing to work and live on EU.
Now in this new world we need to stay together. Changes are needed but I am sure that United we stand dived we fall.
Yes ,because you don’t want to hear the people’s voice and we say NO MORE ISLAMISTS ,NO MORE TERROR
The EU can totally be reformed. It needs to be people-centric and make decisions based on ethical code. Yianis Varoufakis DiEM25 pan-European movement adresses everything the people want. The EU should be reformed based on that.
Yes! The eu must be changend! Now the eu must be a federation of states. The States are linked with euro. I think, the eu will survive with integration of states of eurozone. The eu must be a federation: United States of Europe! Se are european. We have the similar problems. Exuse for my english
No thank you,but thanks ive copied and pasted this for British political sites it will swing a few undecideds to the Leave side.
UE need to change but not in the actual direction . always in the past the consumer contries were destroyed by the strong military democracies . UE should start to remember what made Europe great in the past and re start to build on the same direction . only with soft skills and politics have no chance …
Only IF the the Southern European States are Equal to the Northerm States in everything especially quality of life, salaries, pensions and health, just naming four. this also includes no less the Eastern European States. IF this does not happen, the EU should be totally scrapped and something better takes over, for the benefit of all European States.
SCHENGEN is approaching its ultimate DEMISE if NO URGENT RESCUING is done! Open-door migration policy and porous border has been the contributing factor to the Paris massacres and Brussel bombings and of more ISLAMIC TERRORISM to come! DRASTIC MEASURES, tougher ANTI-TERRORISM laws and policies have to be drafted! TIGHTEN SECURITY in between countries, states and cities have to be in place to monitor and check the free wheeling and dealing of arms in gun-free Europe. Monitor every street corner and conduct raids and surveillance in known terrorists safe haven and hotbeds of TERRORISM! STRIP off CITIZENSHIP and DEPORT HATE PREACHERS promoting TERRORISM! CLOSE and SEAL the BORDERS and STARTS MASSIVE DEPORTATIONS for the SAFETY and SECURITY of EUROPE!
” gli euroscettici” non è che si è scettici sull’euro , siamo sicuri . Chi non la vuole la UE non sono i governi nazionali di cui da anni non riusciamo più a votare ,è tutto pilotato , ( colpi di Stato, rovesci di governi, stampa di regime ecc… ) chi non la vuole è il popolo.Quella bandiera con le stelle rappresenta il niente
questo post è del dicembre 2015. Ci sta scritto che i commenti li portavano ai responsabili politici . Ancora non li hanno visti ? Che dicono ?
Eu is not united it has never been, It always has 2 standard one for Germany France Nl Austria and Belgium and one other for the rest countries. England have her politics into Eu and west Balkans is out of everything. I think Europe must be united as one, just like USA
If it wants to continue to exist, the EU m u s t be changed. There are firms, companies or private orgs/unions member of the EU as States, so for Example ‘Republic of Austria’. ‘Republic of Austria’ is a) a firm or private org/union in the Land of Austria, that’s the Monarchy
Austria. You can find that at upik.de . Other possibilities for ‘Republic of Austria’: b) it would be ‘Republic’ ‘State of Germain Austria’, which is forbidden since February/Spring time 1919 by the Alliied and Associated mights, or c) it’s a word only in people’s mouth – so this ‘Republic of Austria’ is not relevant by, to right, law. Member of UN is the ‘State of Austria’, not any so-called ‘Republic of Austria’. The State of Austria was the State which was accepted by Charles I. Emperor for only intern of the Monarchy (State) of Austria But not as separated from this Monarchy. This wouldn’t have been possible by the ‘Ground law’ of the this Monarchy, the Pragmatical sanction of Charles VI. from 1713 which sets Personal union and is still upright.
And if this is correct what others say, “Republic of Germany’ is also only a firm, Company.
Ingmar
of/from Austria-Hungary
Peitl
HM R. Imp.
Isn’t good model 😌😌
Germany is destroying Europe again.
The conception is totaly wrong.
#desTROIKAndRESTARTeurope
Of course it can be changed – with patience and common sense.
Yes it can and it must be changed. We’re working together with ALDE on a proposal for a new federal Europe.
Yes it can and it must be changed. We’re working together with ALDE on a proposal for a new federal Europe.
From a governance perspective EU appears to be a multi-layered system comprising of supranational and intergovernmental instiutions. It is mainly the supranational institutions that are questioned and that are not backed / legitimated by society. Overcoming that would demand trustworthly leaders that win the hearts and minds of European citizens and fill them with enthusiasm for the European Project. This is not in reach so politicians could focus on intergovernmental instruments and grow direct democracy across Europe. This has chances to lead to a proof of concept for the European idea for distinct endeavors and in the long run also for distinct policy fields. This is a long journey that could take 50 years or even longer. Meanwhile institutions demanding suprnational power had to be reversed, including Schengen area, the Euro and other other institutions that were introduced without sustainable buy-in from the citizens. This return (“pre-Maastricht” if you want) would still foster collaboration among member states varying across policy fields. Would that be enough to cope with challenges of a multi-lateral, global world? Maybe. Maybe not. One can’t seriously predict that.
The fast track could be to nominate trustworthy politicans and grow direct democracy across Europe with the perspective to freedom in the long run (implying to overcome antiquated political structures such as commissions and institutional monarchies but also non-free paradigmas such as socialism, that is still existant in Europe. I suppose that this vision could be sold across Europe and that an according treaty would have good chances to be ratified across Europe. Such a ratification appears to be mandatory for implementing supranational powers within the EU.
Keep the UK. Don’t give up on the EU. Trying times everywhere. To much fighting and killing. It’s a growing cancer.
Yes, it is only by economic integration, people would give up fighting war! Those who want UK to leave EU have forgotten the two devastating world wars which have killed millions of people.
In this global era, few country can survive by not integrating with the region. If UK voted to leave EU, it would immediately lose all its privilege as an EU member state. Before the government is able to reestablish all trade connections by negotiation with all trade blocks and individual states, UK is virtually alone confronting the turbulence of the global era. All British ought to prepare for such a turbulent era and how to overcome all difficulties they are going to encounter. What a stupid idea by just talking to leave EU! UK better spend its energy on reforming the EU rather than destroying everything and start from beginning. In this era, wasting time is not affordable and unrealistic!
Thats fine,we are more than ready to leave the EU and all the pathetic nonsense that goes with it.Vote Leave
It is beyond reform. Cameron recently tried and was humiliated. If the EU cannot address gross and obvious issues such as the Brussels/Strasburg nonsense (based on French vanity) then there is no chance of reform on matters of real substance. The elites have too much vested interest and are deeply entrenched in the status quo. I notice many comments calling for change/reform, but the only change is towards more federalism and it will not change. And when you get a USE it will have nearly 1 billion “citizens”. At that point, why would America with only 1/3 of that population continue protecting it? So the USE will demand an army, air force, navy, missiles etc (can Germany really afford all that?). At that moment how would Russia, China and USA regard the new Eurempire? A recipe for global disaster. Even now the German dominated EU is provoking Russia, while hiding behind NATO. It must end and I hope UK will take a step towards sanity by voting to leave. Not in anger, but in the clear realisation that the project is flawed and dangerous. I feel other countries are moving towards that position.
I understand that a recent poll showing satisfaction with the EU showed all member states are unhappy some as low as less than thirty percent including france and germany but the EU claims everyone is over 70% happy . It has become Big Brother worse than George Orwell
no…
.
Everything the EU has touched as turned into a disaster, the sooner it collapses the better.
Vote Leave.
NO! We have to get rid of naysayers and work together to assure prosperity for our people. Out there the World is mercilessly competitive and a tough place to live in.
Together we are stronger! Let’s make Europe great again!
It has become the perfect personification about how economics determine politics these days and not the other way around how it was supposed to be. Since its power is economics, it totally disrespects sovereign governments decisions in their countries.
the initial idea was maybe fine, but today the EU is about micromanaging EU citizens in every seconds of their life. They want to “regulate” approximately everything we do. Sorry but no, I prefer no Europe than an civil servants behind my back in everything I do.
No.
No, it is not broken because it has never been really united. The EU will keep its essential property as a free trade area with or without UK.
Not beyond repair, but close enough. If France leaves, then it will be all she wrote.
Not beyond repair, but close enough. If France leaves, then it will be all she wrote.
Yes
The EU has become a petty dictatorship that has no purpose other than to micromanage human beings. Why are the poorer countries still leeching off the richer and not seeing any improvement in their own country’s standard of living? Because they are no better than conquered lands providing semi-slaves.
Yes, unequivocally yes
We should get rid of Juncker and associates.
Hope there are chances that people will see xenofobia and isolation are things of the past
The future should mean freedom but also security
What means Europe? Nothing! Sample: You live in Luxembourg. You buy something in Italy. You pay for it from bank to bank. You never receive what you have payed for and there is no European administration to protect you and defend you.
Europe is nothing for the people, is just good for banks.
Hope it crashes soon!
YES , but we should work on it , all together because chickens are working hard to sabotage the EU , also chickens from religious organisations and nationalists . We should all together work on to get people to cancel church membership , stop financing religious organisations , STOP all immigration from Arab countries, destroy tax heavens , fight crime and corruption , help countries like Greece to destroy corruption and get their economy to work . Very important : EU should have energy security and EU should do it very quick .
EU farmers should sell electricity , EU farmers should not only receive money for nothing . Farmers have space available , tools , machines and free time . They could install solar panels , have extra income and help the EU to switch to green power . 100% solar, wind and hydro is very cheap and clean option for the EU. Price for solar panels is under 0,5 Euro/Watt . EU could simple order 2000 gigawatt solar panels for 1000 billion Euro . EU should give for free 10 to 50 kW of solar panels to all EU citizens ( 10 – 500 kW to farmers) willing to install it by themselves . They should pay off those panels with electricity they don’t use also with electricity they send back to the grid. To install it like this is simple and cheap , it is like IKEA furniture : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzar3xqCb6k
The EU is a work in progress that has unfortunately and dangerously lost its way. It cannot go on ignoring its founding principles:
– Democracy means citizens decide, not lobbies, corporations or banks
– Transparency means no secret or back-door negotiations like TTIP
– Subsidiarity means decisions are taken on the lowest possible level, not in Berlin
– Proportionality means less bureaucracy, less red tape, less interference
– Cohesion means reducing inequalities, standing together
– Open market means free and fair to and for everyone, not a buffet for wolves
– Justice means we all play under the same rules, rights and responsibilities
Whether it is hypocrisy, cynicism or incompetence, it had better stop, for the current path will inevitably lead to division and conflict. The economy no longer needs cheap labour and fossil fuels, the ideologies of left and right belong to the past. Financial Gain is not the same as Economic Growth, and Economic Growth is not the same as Progress. We are measuring things by the wrong standards. It is time to move forward, together, in a way we all win.
Well put Marco! I agree entirely with your point of view.
.
The EU is already dead, it just needs burying.
Vote Leave.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/rising-euroscepticism-across-europe-new-pew-poll-finds-1.2675662
EU = CCCR. They don’t care about us.
Since Racism Resurrected between North and South, and since many people see the Destruction of Greece and Greek People with a “Good-Eye” and since the austerity measures want to cut our Rights and getting Lower wages just “because we are Greeks and living in Balkans” (as a member of the Troika mentioned on 2012), there is NO Union ! Where are the Treaties about the equality of the Rights of All European Citizens ? ..”LEAVE-2-LIVE ! ” …or…”REMAIN-in-PAIN”
Yes.
Broken? Not at all. Everything is going according to plan. The problem is that those plans don’t have Europeans best interests in mind. I hope it does break, so we can all recover our sovereignty and democracy. EU is nothing but a dictatorship going against Europeans.
It’s not beyond repair, but it’s necessary a strong leader to throw out half of the immigrants, those living on social contributions and-or making crimes, and close the borders for some good 20 years to put in order and improve Europe again.
If we decide it is, the it is.
If we decide it is not, we will fight to make it survive and get better.
It is our choice, and our grandchildren will as the question – what did you do?
If we decide it is, the it is.
If we decide it is not, we will fight to make it survive and get better.
It is our choice, and our grandchildren will ask the question: what did you do?
Was Europe unified when some states in the North named the stated of the South as PIGS simply because they had financial problems ?
Was Europe Unified when some states closed their borders to avoid the hosting of illegal refugees and adding to the burdon of others??
Was Europe Unified when it left Greece and Italy alone to deal with the refugee crisis and instead of aiding those countries , simply gave away 5bn Euros to Turkey which is not a member of the EU ??
Europe in order to secure the austerity measures left democracy and civil right aside….No suprise here that many have become eurosceptics
s for the PIGS: Europe as a whole, has a similarity to a country and it´s many provinces or states. There are divergencies and rivalries that may lead to this type of insult. As for the borders, Europe did not make the most popular and most obvious decision but the needed measures to insure a more methodical and thorough screening of the migrants for our own safety. Unfortunately not all migrants have the same good intent that we envisage as Europeans and not all share our views of a Democratic and peacefull Europe for all. A perfect example of what I am saying is what has just happened in Orlando, USA, not to forget France and Belgium, of course. By creating a buffer in a country such as Turkey, where Islam has a more significant influence in social life but also has more tolerance and integrated Christian communities, allows the newcomers to adapt to a new reality without the immediate schock of entering a totally free Europe, whilst the screening process is taking place. Europe has alocated a few Billion Euros for that purpose, an investment in our future and the migrants too. However, the correct use of these funds should monitored by the EU commision to assure that all migrants are given humane treatment such as food, temporary shelter, medical care and even school and education that will prepare them for integration in one of the member countries. As for austerity, yes, I do believe more should have been done by the more endowned countries to garantee that the measures implemented individually were not beyond those that each individual country could afford to endure on a short and long term. Unfortunately, some of these measures were necessary because some of the countries that you have referred were living beyond it´s immediate needs. By this, I do not mean that the needy countries should subject themselves to all and any austerity measure that was / is imposed on them, those should be left to each country´s autonomous and independent decision makers that were elected for the purpose. What should count, is the final result, monitored by the appopriate European entities as far as Human Rights are concerned. And yes, I do feel there should be more solidarity from Europeans to Europeans in a time of need. We cannot truely do for others unless we can do for ourselves first.
Note: part of the text missing from the previous message, published yesterday
“Mr. Dimitris. As for the PIGS: Europe as a whole, has a similarity to a country and it´s many provinces or states…..”
Please note the missing text from yesterday´s reply: “Mr. Dimitris. As for the PIGS: ….”
EU is on a journey and getting stronger and stronger. Unity is growing. What’s broken was already broken, and solutions need to be found all the time to fix things.
As long as European leaders thinks of two classes, having and those swimming in economics crunch and perhaps UK leaving the block are the real problems also resisim, fundermentalism hate of humanism etc. People needs to punder where is Europe.
1000% broken beyond repair.
the European cause has been a project of elites until now and wasn’t properly communicated to the Europeans as such.That is a task now, which has to be done IMMEDIATELY before it is too late.
Broken beyond repair, YES, and it’s YOUR own fault, greedy, stupid, corrupt politicians.
Broken beyound repair!? the US has lived far beyound its means for 200 years, and people don’t consider it broken, China has no free media and treats most of its people like slaves and people don’t consider it broken, the problem with the EU is simple, Troika and other financial groups have far too much power
Yep! Thank God it is!
VOTE BREXIT !
If your family is ill, what will you do? Leave it? Or collaborate to get it healthy. If Europe is not your family and you don,t like it. Please leave it. If you like Europe (not the one of the pliticians) stay in it and collaborate to get it healthy.
nothing is ” broken beyond repair ” if we are willing to fix it. the real question is how we can fix it and upgrade it so eu can really serve the people of Europe..and to be honest I don’t think that our politicians have the answers or any answers at all
the only thing that in my point of view is completely broken is the equality that exists in our community, When Frances doesn’t pay debts because its France and we the Portuguese people have to pay to the last dime, It’s not that I don’t want us to pay is that I want everybody to pay, It’s called being fair and square everyone who has debts pays now just because they are France they don’t have to pay that’s ridiculous. Big or small we are all part of the same community with the same rules, it just goes to show how unfair this whole thing is.
Yes.Now that i’ve enlightened you, i’m going for a swim.
Nothing is ever broken beyond repair but you need a good repair team and a project that is supported by all. This is not that difficult. It has to do with protecting borders, treating real refugees humanely when you decide to let them in (not when they walked in themselves), getting a stronger defence, getting rid of debt, stopping fiscal competition,etc…
broken beyond repair if bankers and other finance criminals still in charge…
EU is much more than money and banks…
EU is all about people and only people…
European Union it will last forever.Sooner or later the politicians will understand that the only way for Europeans is to live in a strong federal state.Divided are weak in front of globalization.
It is broken and obsolete!
I hope that the next generation is gonna take better decisions. The EU has been a great project during many decades, but the inability and the myopic view of the last generation has been devastating for the correct development of the EU project. I hope and wish that our daughter and sons might be able to fix it . . .
You need to ask 😂
The answer is in the question.
Hopefully
we seem trapped rats, the ship burns, sinks and we with it and there is not even allowed to leave the ship. I hope that the star off the flag is mine, that my dream can come true. The EU is not broken, unfortunately, does what it was designed to do
If it is…the Ventotene spirit will build that again and again
Every union has a dictator here we have Merkel, but because of those leaders unions always break.
We’ve had enough of sad news about the EU; it is NOT fair to ignore good news, and there is plenty of it. The Euro – in spite of scaremongering from the Brits – is alive and kicking. There is also economic growth – from mighty Germany, to micro Malta…Let’s not be negative. It’s not a perfect union – if there was ever a perfect one – but a living, dynamic and potential powerhouse with a great future ahead.
No but member states are, in their obsessions with immigration
No.
The fault is at top. Totally irresponsible and out of touch with what the people expect!
The blood is still fresh from WW2 , history will never forget the crimes of the Nazist Germans , now Germans want to become again first power in European Union and to slave all the other countries with their economy …. history never forget … people never forgive and this is the only reason that we will never be united …. the blood is still fresh …
It’s a big problem to go out of EU.The damage to Uk will be done Exactly after you say Out.
Nope but to restore it we need to make it more Democratic and to ensure that countries are thinking of the common good and not so selfish as they are now. To begin with scrapping the commission and make the European Parliament to choose the commission instead. And only allow Mep:s to sit in it.
No, it isn’t broken without repair. It’s just growing older, it’s learning and it’s changing shape as any living thing. It would be foolish to demolish such a magnificent structure unseen before in history, especialy in a moment when other enormous economic and military forces are emerging or trying to resurrect old power ambitions.
When in the same economic zone you have a country with a record surplus during the years of crisis for other countries in the same zone, and no one regulates it based on the social level of the populations, but they continue ruling like a game where some are the winners, others the losers that trusted states and politicians that literally abbused from the system, and now lose their pensions, have no job for young people, … Something is really wrong. And let’s not forget the time they took to devaluate the Euro after the 2008 crisis, when all the other major currencies devaluated to balance the economy. Only the euro had to be strong, because some countries were benefiting a lot from it. And still benefit.
The glue holding us together is degrading. We need a new better glue. We need federalisation. Otherwise yes it will fall apart.
BLR !
What is good with EU? Only one direction – privatisation, and greed for money. No better chances for the people. Start http://www.WWSEEP.com . You make only Lobbying for the rich, and Lobbies. Small people have to fear their living base.
Why should people love EU? For the corrupts? For the unemployment rate? For the increasing poverty? When we could trust in EU that it cares for the people, then it would make sense. But I think it is already too late. http://www.WWSEEP.com .
The EU institutions and governing bodies need transparency and people of the member states must ask for it without hesitation and continuously. The US-C-Span is an example. At least those who are interested can follow.
Transparency now! Join the campaign of DIEM25.org
The only way for us to take charge over our own destiny as Europeans, as nationalities and as individuals is thru corporation.
EU isn’t perfect but all of its faults can’t be blamed on integration or the project itself. Many of the faults, problems and self made challenges can all be traced back to the member states.
However, something that’s evident is that every member state are better off today then ever before in history, including the UK.
Du we need reforms on EU level? Yes we need major reforms. Mostly when it comes to democracy and the systematics. Sadly, the biggest resistance for these reforms lies with a number of member states. Not to mention the unwillingness from national leaders to take the debate to the people of Europe.
Yes, it is!!!
.
Obviously yes & the sooner is breaks up the better.
NO. EU ISN’T BROKEN but people who don’t want EU are!
Every empire has its day, and unless there is a dramatic rethink, the end of the “EU Empire” will come sooner rather than later.
It’s not beyond repair.
it was never broken – it was build that way…
It it many years ago now we are trying to rebuild
Yes of course. It is broken. Northerns and Southerns. Northerns suppress Southerns and Southerns try to break the rules. It is the old well known conflict between them
Yes…Scrap it now.
That is because the ones leading EU seem very less involved in solving people need. To many words but too less action! :(
Merkel and Junk er almoust broke Europe – tru islamic invasion they lead
Dunno. Do the European leaders have the will to fix it?
If we get rid of all current politicians, remove them and ban them from ever holding public office. Then maybe we have a chance at reform and a proper EU. What we have know is not only broken, but complete dictatorial garbage and worthless politicians than can’t solve issues that my 8 year old can.
I am pro europe, but I get the impression that we are pulling a dead horse. No leadership, no vision, no energy, no organisation, no talent,…and no change in sight.
You know one of my best friend is from Sweden. She blames EU for the mess her country is in. Says the only thing good is reduced cost of liquor & alcohol nothing else.
EU is fine as it is, any misgivings people might have against the Union don`t actually fall under EU`s competences.
The economico-financial crisis that was triggered by USA also caused a chain reaction that caused the NATIONAL budget crisis.
The only thing that was linked to EU is the Euro currency that made it impractical to fluctuate the exchange rate but the reverse was also true – the Euro proved a far more stable currency than any national currency could have been.
EU has a lot of faults and has grown in strength over the years but the problems plaguing the EU member states are in the hands of those states themselves.
EU has competences regarding trade deals, legislation that affects trade deals, legislation regarding labour etc but national budget balancing is not EU`s problem.
I believe that the EU is a good thing … however, it is not perfect. It suffers from a bloated structure that must modernise and be more effective. Also the EU seems to be shy about saying what it does well and how much it has contributed to positive change and positively influenced people’s lives. There are many good things that the EU has done but in it’s ineffective way it isn’t publicised and so it is the usual, if you don’t tell people how good you are they think you are worthless! Communities are stronger together and the loss of the EU would be regrettably and the impact only felt after the deed was done.
The EU isn’t broken but it needs to change and become both more democratic and flexible if it wants to survive. There are some domains where there is a clear role for institutionalized cooperation at the European level, e.g. in foreign and security policy or in energy policy, and the EU is a good platform to address these issues (however, it should be given a clear mandate). The EU Commission needs to go and its legislative competencies need to be transferred to the European Parliament (especially the right to initiate legislation), whose delegates should be both directly and indirectly elected. The EU president should be directly elected. Each country’s number of delegates should only be based on its population, e.g. the difference between the ratio of Germany’s and Malta’s delegates and their respective populations is ridiculous. There should be a number of secondary policy areas, e.g. consumer protection, where the EU decides on a “default” but where national policy takes precedence.
Not unless we want it to be!
the EU needs to improve free movement regulations.
Yes it is broken. A bad idea. I am Irish, not European. The EU screwed my nation and made us the laugh of the world. The EEC was and still is the best idea. We as a people said NO to the EU but were ignored. Look what happened to us.
European what ? :)
Union ? hmmmm
ok!
But who is united against who ?
Eu has replace Politics and Justice with Interest and capital ;)
Definately not.The Union needs to remember the basic principles on which she was constituted, in the first place.A political and financial alliance.It has ended up a tool in the hands of Germany and her allies, jeopardising the future of the rest of nations.
The world is broken, and the people making the decisions, not just europe…
No.!!
Tis is not the end..but the beginning
The Brexit has been a strongest lesson for Mr.Everybody.
The problem is the sovereignty for each of the country.
Those who wants subdivided us.. they will be disappointed.
The EU will be better and strongest
without them.
I want to see us to pull as much
as possible out of
this.
We will Never give up! We have the Ideas, THE national goverments just have To Agree To Build more Europe!
Even if I would have preferred the UK in
we aren’t an hostage into the
UK ‘s hands.
no, on the contrary, it has the chance to become tighter than ever before
Of course, it became land to welcome all kind of desperates from abroad when internal wrong management made new poverty in Europeans citizens… And still unlegal migrants have priority… Of course nobody wants anymore Europe
The breeders of terrorism Merkel, Juncker & co must go, otherwise Eu will fall
ΧΑΧΑΧΑΧΑΧ Υou remind me the English abreviation BLR- Beyond Local Repair…. No spare parts??? What are you planning to do for a better EU changes must start ASAP….
Sure it is.
If the EU gets broken this is war within 30
Years
Countries do not move.
So basically the EU may need to be reformed but it has to live.
I hope so.
She was born dead already.
Hell yes! :D
So it looks but I wish it didn’t happen.
I believe that The European Union helped the UK get back to its current better position both fiscally and from an employment point of view. We do benefit from the EU and it only needs a little tweeking to put things right for the majority of countries. The UK has lots of internal corrections it needs to make to help the situation which has caused this rebellion. If Free Movement involved a process of a points system for taking jobs, not being able to claim benefits if you just arrive into a country without a job and each EU country claiming back any benefits and healthcare treatment for the migrants home state the picture would change. I do think that the UK would be worse off financially as so many ex-pats live in the EU but this may be the only way to appease the current Leave voters in the UK. I would like to see a change in the way the EU make decisions on behalf of all states and stop the pipe dream aspirations of some members by refuting claims such as an EU army which weaken its position by mooting them. Maybe the EU should have a working party to liaise with individual state residents and compile a better picture of what the majority really want from the EU.
A dead birth is being declared broken. There is no need for prayers whatsoever.
Mene mene tekel upfarsin!
Christophe Carpentier
Yes it is. And if you don’t get out as soon as possible, it will collapse to your heads, to our heads basically…
Europe has not been able to recover fully after the 2008 financial crisis broke out from Wall Street. What Europe needs now is not further disintegration. More efficient policy coordination and implementation is detrimental. China can achieve over 38 years of economic growth has clearly shown that a more centralized decision making, more open economy, more powerful backup and more resources input are important. Apart from China, we can witness also a more rapid recovery in the USA. It is also governed by a very powerful central government. What Europe needs now in this moment of live or die is definitely not further fragmented decision making process, more barriers for communication between states, more hostility between European peoples…We are in a global era, to survive is to embrace the global community, starting by embracing a united European community.
Historically, during a moment of huge social, economic and political crisis, ordinary people would lose the ability to think but to blame “others”, which is, anti-establishment, irrationally, hostile with “others”, seek exclusion of and even harm “others”, ignorantly believe that they would be more save. All these irrationality would only make the situation more messy, and the crisis expand. All historians have already come to a conclusion that the emergence of Hitler is the economic crisis facing post-war Germany. Again in the USA, the emergence of Trump is against a consequence of multiple crises facing the American people. A united Europe and more rational Europe should benefit the majority of European people.
Yes it has failed. It goes against the soverinity of countries imposing laws and measures that go against the interests of the countries and only benefit bankers. it is an evil institution that must go.
EU is controlled by the world bank and mega corporations. This destroy small countries from an economical POV. It cannot be fix. Except for the treaty that people can travel and work freely throughout the union all else must go.
It s a beautiful idea that I refuse to believe is not achievable . I respect the principals of eu and I think it s in tune with everything we believe in as human beings . However I do believe it s been managed by corrupted politicians and their thirst for power and money had caused a lot of doubt , discomfort and upset hopefully not beyond repair if something be done about it !
As it seems to me the critics seem to link every problem to eu and preparing public to go backward toward nationalism and racism and whatever that is wrong !
So for all the humanity sake I hope brexit would be a wake up call for everyone and they will not allow another sad exit from the union
Britain tried for 43 years to reform it with no success. The people who are able to reform it are the same corrupted politicians you refer to. The citizens of Europe are, by design, excluded from the process; their place has been taken by big banks and corporations. You are wrong to characterise Brexit as a backward movement towards “nationalism and racism”. It was about a forward and outward looking movement towards democratic accountability and engagement with the wider world. You use the word “allow” when referring to other countries leaving; in a proper democratic organisation it should be the “right” of a country to leave if it wishes.
From my perspective, I see is that Britain has been tried for 43 to harvest benefit in EU rather than to have it reformed. Democracy is never an antidote for everything. If the mechanism of democracy and the essence of democracy is about election. You have already in EU. According to the origin of democracy, individuals are called citizens, which is, someone who can think in term of the polity rather than oneself. Right is therefore not “human rights” we see but “rights to be a responsible citizen”. What we call “human rights” now is “individualism” without taking consideration of the polity. The concept of “human rights” is going to destroy democracy which aims at protecting rights of its citizens if we talk only rights but ignore all our duties and responsibilities as citizens of a community/union.
Britain was part of the process of 43 years. The citizens are not by design excluded of the democratic process. Member nations do not focus on the common interest of Europe and have so far not put a comprehensive information system in place that would allow citizens to understand and participate in common policies. To vote for delegates to the EU parliament is not enough. National interest and corporate lobby is prohibiting a view on common benefits. The timeline of 43 years is insignificant. Sorry to say that learning in social structures takes much longer, particular when national interest and corporate lobby stands in the way. Given the facts that rule a limited planet,the world will not wait for our learning of the necessity to understand the common. We shall learn the hard way to deal with the repercussions of idealised national preference. Only together we can overcome the results of human mismanagement. One world with limited resources and limited space. Peace.
People are poisoned by ideology. We are not living for democracy but for ourselves, which is, we rationally consider what is good for ourselves and how we can achieve all these goods. We are in a global era, collective effort needs to meet all challenges coming from multinational corporations and powerful countries. I do not see how small states of Europe are able to confront mammoth countries like the US and China. There are also problems transcending all state boundaries because we are in a global era, problems are global, men need collective efforts to survive. Besides, we are in a IT era, which is things changes at dramatic speed. Democracy is clearly not efficient enough to meeting all these challenges. Democracy is never an antidote for everything. What is better than the current arrangement that union is being led by popularly elected political leaders of all members states? Politicians want more democracy in the EU structure, why they don’t get themselves elected as top leaders in their own country? Finger pointing and lip service is not contributing anything. Working for real is different. Why the US is able to control all small countries? Because the US use divide and rule strategy. Or, as some scholars described, the “spoke and hub” strategy. Actuality tells us that small states can only be spokes controlled by very power hub. What democracy we can hope for when EU is disintegrated? Small states can only be serving interests of great powers and making all sorts of concessions in front of great powers.
The formation of EU is under the principle of “collective security” which all member states of the UN have agreed. The UN is still operating under this principle. There are also voices calling for reform of the UN particularly during the Cold War. The end of the Cold War marked a multi-polar development of the world. We hear less the call for reform in the UN. Because power of the top organization, the Standing Committee of the Security Council has a better balance of power. I suppose this is what we call a change of structure power within the UN organization. In view of this, may be we laymen of politics might better stop tearing up the EU. It is better to get ourselves elected to top leadership of the member states so that we can see the whole world rather than our own political interest, if we really want changes.
If we have studied political science, we ought to know that democracy is an ongoing project. Countries and organizations are developing and growing like an organism. There are moments not growing well. However, this is not the reason to have them destroyed. It is exactly these bad times that can show the power and value of man.
“Steve Bannon has announced plans to establish a foundation in Europe that he hopes will fuel the spread of rightwing populism across the continent.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/21/steve-bannon-plans-foundation-to-fuel-far-right-in-europe
European people want democracy not populism. Populism boosts irrationality like Trump is doing. Bannon is Trump’s former chief advisor in the White House, when Trump is only thinking of America first, America be great again, his chief advisor can do anything good for Europe? If EU continues to submit itself to the order of others, EU is really broken beyond repair. EU can only wait for its only disintegration. Remember, in this global era, no one single state in Europe is able to survive great military power as the US and Russia, great economic power as China. Those populist parties are putting individual/party interests above those of the collective. This has no difference as committing suicide.
EU has to remember it was populism that had given rise to extremism and authoritarianism, dictatorship and even totalitarianism. While immersed in an atmosphere of post-Cold War hostility towards Russia and China, EU has to remember how Europe had suffered from the two Great Wars and the Cold War.
Drop the neoliberalism, stop the USA, UK, Russian and Saudi money that is tearing the EU apart. Then adopt the social directive and get back to building infrastructure, housing, schools, etc and things will sort themselves out. At present the European Commission are the biggest problem, as it is made up of neoliberal ideologically blinkered lunatics.
Don’t worry, UK money to the EU will stop very soon.
Ivan Good. Then EU can get on with sorting things out, instead of propping up the failure called England.
Andrea Sure you will lol , hope you have plenty of cash because Brussels wants it :)
https://www.ft.com/content/97f48dc0-4e01-11e8-8a8e-22951a2d8493
Darren I am in Ireland, which is not in the United Kingdom. I suggest you go to the library, speak to a librarian, ask to see a map and ask the librarian to explain that to you.
getting there but it will be a while yet
No, it is not broken before repair. It is just going through some rough times, as does the West in general at present. It remains the only viable project for peace in Europe, and I am not sure its detractors actually realise the cost of a potential faliure for everyone on the European continent. As usual people have an extremely short memory.
Yes, probably quite soon it will be.
Thanks to Junker and EC, and a few parties, which called for “patriotism” against the “nationalism”, and who live in a parallel plutocratic reality.
Yep 8|
Just so everyone is aware the European Parliament has this minute voted to curtailed your freedom of speech on ‘their’ internet. Enjoy 8|
If you are tempted by the Socialist or EU collectivisation lie I strongly recommend you read The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, it explains why & how 150 – 200 million men, women & children were murdered and the collectivists justification for the genocide.
Here’s the start of the audio book version, for the sake of your children educate yourselves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccASsjhhgP8
Yes, no one wants to live under communism and socialism dictatorship. You failed.
The council has to be reformed, so that decisions can be achieved faster.
Some possibilities:
– unanimity only in key topics
– EU-ministers in each govvernment which mostly reside in Brussels and constantly debate the current law proposals
– replace the council with a new chamber of elected representatives which look at their member states intrests. (Parliament looks at the interest of the European population as a whole)
Every member state has the same smount of reoresentatives (similar to the US senate in that regard)