4 ms·

> a common solution I'm sorry for my naivety but what does that mean? I've heard this so many times. Do they want German troops on their borders? Do they want

> a common solution I'm sorry for my naivety but what does that mean? I've heard this so many times. Do they want German troops on their borders? Do they want to sit back and relax while Germany feeds, clothes, and shelters their troops and law enforcement? Now, a common solution for the refugee crisis is not possible because the problem is not the refugee crisis. The problem is that the EU is TOO WEAK. Perhaps a naive first step towards a solution could be that all member states cede the right to tax income to the European Union. We could follow up in a few years by ceding VAT to the EU as well. Follow the money. Member states shouldn't "contribute" towards funding the EU. The EU should have the right to collect taxes. I'm sure there are a lot of subtleties involved here but this is what I see from outside. I'd appreciate any insight as to why the naive approach is valid or invalid.

pjc50 10y ago
The EU should have the right to collect taxes. I'm sure there are a lot of subtleties involved here but this is what I see from outside. I'd appreciate any insight as to why the naive approach is valid or invalid. a) Would require a constitutional change in many EU states, especially Germany where some of the changes to the financial ESM were challenged: http://europeanlawblog.eu/?p=1057 http://europeanlawblog.eu/?p=1057 b) Collecting taxes implies full budgetary control over EU states. This leads to ... c) It would be very, very unpopular, especially in the current environment. It was bad enough when Greece effectively had to hand a budget veto to its creditors. Trying to make taxation EU-wide is basically a red flag to populist Eurosceptic movements everywhere. Remember, the US only regards Federal sovereignty as superior to State sovereignty as a result of a brutal civil war the outcome of which is still not fully accepted. In the EU the member states are still sovereign.
zo1 10y ago
At the very least, have a vetting + tracking implemention at the outer borders. As far as I can tell they had and did nothing. They had no plan, no structures in place, no way to track migrants entering Europe, nothing. That is just asking for chaos, trouble, and pissed off groups of local people. Basically, all I see is a blanket "let's open the borders" call, that allowed people to simply cross a border. It renders the concept of borders, border-control, visas, regulations, passports all of that as null and void. For years, we've all followed the rule of law, visas and passports for travel, and now all of a sudden none of that matters because...?
- kuschku 10y ago
  The EU had a common border agency system for many years, had a way to track migrants, and had structures for this. Yet they failed in late 2014, because Greece couldn't continue funding the Greek part of them anymore, and refused funding from Germany for them (because Germany said they'd only fund Greek border guard if they'd be replaced with FRONTEX officers). That finally happened in late 2015.

pjc50 10y ago

The EU should have the right to collect taxes. I'm sure there are a lot of subtleties involved here but this is what I see from outside. I'd appreciate any insight as to why the naive approach is valid or invalid. a) Would require a constitutional change in many EU states, especially Germany where some of the changes to the financial ESM were challenged: http://europeanlawblog.eu/?p=1057 http://europeanlawblog.eu/?p=1057 b) Collecting taxes implies full budgetary control over EU states. This leads to ... c) It would be very, very unpopular, especially in the current environment. It was bad enough when Greece effectively had to hand a budget veto to its creditors. Trying to make taxation EU-wide is basically a red flag to populist Eurosceptic movements everywhere. Remember, the US only regards Federal sovereignty as superior to State sovereignty as a result of a brutal civil war the outcome of which is still not fully accepted. In the EU the member states are still sovereign.

zo1 10y ago

At the very least, have a vetting + tracking implemention at the outer borders. As far as I can tell they had and did nothing. They had no plan, no structures in place, no way to track migrants entering Europe, nothing. That is just asking for chaos, trouble, and pissed off groups of local people. Basically, all I see is a blanket "let's open the borders" call, that allowed people to simply cross a border. It renders the concept of borders, border-control, visas, regulations, passports all of that as null and void. For years, we've all followed the rule of law, visas and passports for travel, and now all of a sudden none of that matters because...?

kuschku 10y ago
The EU had a common border agency system for many years, had a way to track migrants, and had structures for this. Yet they failed in late 2014, because Greece couldn't continue funding the Greek part of them anymore, and refused funding from Germany for them (because Germany said they'd only fund Greek border guard if they'd be replaced with FRONTEX officers). That finally happened in late 2015.