Europe has to stay united and find the politicise solutions!

Let him work

One big null.

Idiot

Terrible. Everything that means more integration in an ever more corrupt and undemocratic institution can not be anything but a terrible idea.

Those saying no, we are all different, it wont work, i feel this mentality is a result of western mentality of laziness and self isolation, children dont go out, and stay in their rooms on computer and TV, want to avoid problem and use drugs and alcohol to escape reality, these people want a separated union with closed borders, what the scared sheep dont realize is that while they want to separate, other are uniting, China, India, Russia and the Middle east, south America and Africa still have myriad problemsnwhich can escalate in no time, while madman US is running the show selling guns and threatening with “fire and fury”…. You have to realize maybe you are scared of a united europe, maybe it is difficult, different cultures etc…, but it CAN be done and the benefits far outweigh the negatives, infact i personally see a united europe (or rather the question of europe uniting or not) as the key to wether we will have world peace this century or WW3 and apocalipsis, and im convinced many think the same, dont be scared, dont be a coward! What if Columbus had listened to these people? Alexander the Great? Jesus? But they didnt, they defied the cowards, and now it is time for us to do the same, and either build the world of tomorrow or watch it fall around us, and sooner or later it will engulf us too, these same negative people say they think the chinese or russian regime will colapse (infact every country will colapse according to these negative people) ifso, you think europe wont be affected? What if nuclear power plants start collapsing? We all saw the damage of chernobyl and fukushima, imagine this x10, we have to say NO to this, NO to the devil…. I choose to say NO to all the naysayers, yes to president Macron and yes to a united europe, and i place my hope and faith in european leaders, and ill keep believing untill everything colapses

I like this plan…

Excellent. Those that don’t like it can always pack their bags and move to Trumpistan. ;)

deport

Little Napoleon has a plan ?

In essence these idea’s are all likable.

But the democratic defecit of the EU is NOT adressed. And as such will remain a nail on which populists can hammer. All the time.

A EU defence is great and long overdue. But who will run this show? Who will have the authority to send European men and women to war and in harms way?

Is an appointed comissioner democratic enough? Is he under enough democratic scrutiny of the men and women and their families he *could* send to war?
(A commisioner is currently appointed. The EU parliament can only veto or accept the entire commission at it’s start and that is pretty much a point of no return)

In fact, the entirety of the appointment of commissioners and the lack of democratic scrutiny on them as a whole should be adressed.

Right now it is a source for populists to exploit.

Furthermore all the powerwielding counsils and institutions should be streamlined. A cat would lose its cittens in the intertwined juridictions of the EU commission, the EU parliament, the council of Europe, the president of that council and the reprisentative for foreign affairs and I’m probably forgetting a few…

It’s time for less is more.
But I fail to see that in Macron’s ideas.
(Juncker hinted at a few of these things during his last adress, but I guess Macron was not listening at that time)

some of them. France and Germany need to understand that they are not the EU, the EU is made of 27 – 26? I think the common response for natural disasters and eu oversight to hurry re-housing and getting regions back on their feet would be good, as the national govs concerned seem to be very slow in the aftermath at getting people back ont heir feet or zones or regions back on their feet, cooperation obviously on environment, refugees and terrorism. Who would control and EU army? Which governments decide to send their young people into risky situations and for whom? to whom would that be accountable? seconded to which foreign armies..the yanks? I think we do need to do something strategically and be less reliant (and therefore less interfered with by the U.S whose policies we have no say in), however we also need to respect neutral countries..what do ireland and sweden have to say? would they take up the slack if needed for UN duties then? ditto with common budgets, someone above said countries are very different, i think an agreed budget that allows for a range (range of vat, most people have around 23 per cent but up or down a couple of per centage should the need arise), what about corporation tax? small countries like holland ireland need to be able to do this, so again a range. this gives countries room for manoevre. what is not on the agenda here is support for small businesses and issues like banning zero hour contracts, more of this please. If people want to move country they need to set up businesses, and this is easier in some countries than others, so let’s learn from the countries it is easy in.

macron election was rigged by journalists soros and bad people. we need marine le pen in france.

Some ideas are good other not

Europe has reached a crossroad. In the next decade, the future of the EU will be decided…. for good or bad.

There are high risks involved in further integration…. but the risk of waiting and doing nothing is even higher. Time is running away….. within the next few decades the emerging powers like China will become world dominating super powers. What little consideration the USA – a country that at least in theory shares similar values – has given European countries interests it can only get worse if powers like China, Russia, Brasil or India hold the same or even superior level of world influence.

If Europe does not get “its act together” then the USA and all those other powers will simple exploit all those who are to weak to offer serious resistance. Which includeds all current and former members of the EU.

Compared to China even Germany, widely considered the most powerful country in Europe, is nothing but a very tiny fish. And that would be perfectly fine if humanity would be enlightened.

But I fear it is not. And little reason to be generous the emerging powers have, for the last century saw the west often being quite abusive, too.

I would rather not swim in the shark pool… but if I am already in in and cannot leave it… I would much rather be a shark than being eaten myself. After all, I can restrain myself from doing bad things while at the same time avoiding other sharks doing bad things to myself.

The European Project

The economic union was always seen as a fundament for a ever closer union. Not only as a peace project but also born out of vested self interest. The end goal is, and has always been some sort of european state because that is what pro europeans believe is the final culmination of said vested self interest. Because they see a european state as the only way to defend the interests of their people on the global stage of the 21th century, and I think chances are high that they are right.

While this would be a somewhat loss of national sovereignity, it is still much better to transfer that sovereignity to an entity that consist of you and your neighbours – who by nature have similar interests and even more importantly, tend to suffer with you if you suffer – then to call yourself sovereign if in fact due to your own limited size and influence all you can do realistically is to choose to whom you will bow. Personally, before I have to bow before Trump, Putin or Jinping I would rather bow before Brussels.

Not only out of more general sympathy but also in the knowledge that since the EU consists of nothing but my neighbours that chances of them doing anything that affects me substantially negative are rather low. Because again due to being geographically very close together they have a vested self interest in not causing me to suffer in the first place.

Unlike the USA, Russia and China who dont face any particular issues if we suffer a lot. And might even benefit from it because it is not like I am going to paddle over the Atlantic.

Very long text about why I think it is our self interest:

The cold reality is that our world is not a nice place. In a world where other nations have little if any ethical concerns about fucking you and your people over if that happens to suit their – real or imagined – interests.

And that in a world where other nations often have little ethical concerns about fucking your people over very hard, you need to be at least a big enough fish to avoid “going to the dogs”. To much.

I will fully admit that this world view is cynical and disgusting. But as much as I like to be wrong and want to believe in an enlightened humanity just as much I fear that I am right about this.

The 20th century is over. The West enjoyed global superiority in it due to a major technological advantage. But this is is the past and not the present. The future belongs to huge power blocks like China.

The reality is that not a single one of the european countries is influential enough to even halfway defend its interest and with that its people on the world stage of the 21th century. And again, if humanity would be enlightened, that would be no issue. But it – sadly – is not.

So… if even Germany is incapable of protecting its interest against the USA – a country that in theory shares similar values and has at least somewhat interest in our well being (theoretically), what would you guess how this will end up with China and similar powers?

Unless they are truely enlightened human beings… not well.

This is already a dim prospect for a 80 million people nation. What prospect is it for a smaller nation? Like Slovakia? With a population of 5.5 million? No matter how highly developed you are, you begin to run into quantity issues.

So, cooperating and haggling over their interests internally first and then defending them externally with a unified voice has a much higher success ratio against the rest of the world.

Slovika trying to protect its interest against China? The Chinese Delegation will spend their entire flight home chuckling about the demands of the little man. If they send one in the first place, that is. Slovakian interests speaking through the European Union? 446 million people? Second largest economic power in the world? Try to ignore that without facing painful repercussions.

Of course, on the other side of the medal, it is that there is no denying that even within the EU Slovakia is still just a small country. And that this puts a natural limit on its influence. Yet, I would seriously argue that even with its still limited influence, this is the realistically best deal Slovakia can possible get. And while its interests would occasionaly get overturned the basic fact that it is their neighbours that make those decisions in the first place makes it far less likely that any large damage is done.

The simple fact is that interests are often simple geographically based. And by sheer geographic closeness and temporarly ignoring the ethical side, the well being of the Slovak people is quite simple a interest of Germany. I am significantly closer to Bratislava than to Hamburg, food for thought, isnt it?

It always regrettable when your interests get the short stick. Yet, it is unavoidable in the scale where modern human civilisation operates. Germany was once divided into more than 300 mini nations. Yet, I never could find a single person who wants to go back to that.

But why? Would it not be awesome if the city of Garching (16000 people) would be a sovereign state that could do anything it wanted to do?

In theory its awesome… in practise you soon realize that 90 % of the things you can do as a sovereign state but not as a city in a sovereign state are things you either cannot do physically in the first place

Military Grandpower Garching… the world trembles in fear… or was it laughing?

or are things that disturb you from the more mundane things… like city management, traffic and such. Things that most of your citizens are far more interested in than some illusion of grandeur.

No, it is much better to let the big issues be decided on a level where the decision actually means something. And as long as there is still democracy behind that, I dont see a problem with that, even if it occasionally means to get the short end of the stick.

The Federal Republic of Germany occasionally makes decisions that are not necessarly in the best interests of the Free State of Bavaria. Yet, the bavarian party wanting to make Bavaria a sovereign state outside of Germany enjoys about as much popular support as haemorrhoids. Appearantly, the vast majority of Bavarians, myself included, beliefs that the benefits of being a federal state of Germany by far outweight the costs. A decision democratically reinforced every 5 years.

Of course, the free will of the people has to be respected. And if by democratic vote, the Bavarians should choose to quit the Federal Republic, that is their right. Dont see that happening though.

Back to the EU. Being a member means, that occasionaly your interests will be overturned. That is the nature of any large organisation.The only question is do the benefits of being inside outweight the disadvantages? If yes, why should I vote to leave this mutually beneficial arrangement?

Our entire modern cilvilization is based arround compromise and balancing of interests. All human beings have been or are part of a family. So if there is a disagreement about todays plan, how does a normal family solve this issue? By beating each other to pulp until there is only one survivor? Hardly a reasonable or productive solution that also will destroy the family. Much better to discuss it out…. and while not everybody will be completly happy about the outcome, it is a million times better than the alternative. And unlike the alternative, it does not destroy the family.

The EU is similar, just on a much larger scale. Yes, all those meetings are painstakingly long and take ages to produce results, but that is because getting 27 countries into a compromise that does not make anyone pissed of seriously simple takes time.

Europe has to be a strong democratic union. Democracy is not negotiatable.

A democratic european state is in my opinion the best – and possible only – way into a bright future. Like in all democracies, this means that occasionally some side gets the short end of the stick. So when SlovakiaEU gets more democratic votes in the European Parliament than GermanyEU idea, then Slovakias idea shall be implemented, even if it means that GermanyEU get the short end of the stick. All reasonable Germans would find consolation in the fact that this minor drawback is well worth the huge advantages otherwise enjoyed.

If the EU fails….. the lack of world influence will reduce the standard of living of its people….. populists will quickly move in and spread hate against fellow european nations…. war – that we all hoped to have exstincted inside Europe – would be very real possibility as the hardening fight about pieces of a smaller and smaller cake makes spreading hate so much easier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O41Pf6F7_A

Does anyone really want to go back to 4m of barbwire and armed guards in guntowers?

I dont.