5 ms·

If one can let go of nationalism, one can see that the EU is about independence. It's not about your governments Independence, though, but of the Bloc as a whol

• NicoJuicy 9y ago
  The EU had very solid principles to begin with. Too bad along the way they left some behind and broke some... ( Ugh... Humans)
• mobilefriendly 9y ago
  It is a strange independence the demands the destruction of local democratic governance.
  • matthewmacleod 9y ago
    Not really. Independence is an axis like any other, and trading it off in some areas can result in a greater benefit at the the scale of all members.
    • RobertoG 9y ago
      It's a pity that, as the economic data shows, this is not the case.
  • barrkel 9y ago
    Subsidiarity is a core principle of the EU, FWIW. There's another way to look at freedom: freedom from, rather than freedom to. Governments are generally instituted to ensure the former rather than the latter. They put restraints on some freedoms to increase other freedoms. Thus, for example, the specific standards that goods are produced to and services are provided at may be set centrally, removing freedom to vary at a local level, but adding freedom to sell across the whole union with very low barriers to trade (i.e. freedom from variance in standards). Since freedom to vary on standards at the local level frequently ends up with beggar-thy-neighbour policies, or anti-competitive regulations, it's not a bad trade.
    • RobertoG 9y ago
      Freedom from democratic governance sounds like a suspicious kind of freedom to me.
      • yorwba 9y ago
        EU officials are appointed either by the democratically elected governments of the member states of by the democratically elected European Parliament. Unless you reject all kinds of representative democracy, the EU seems pretty democratic to me. And most EU states are only democratic in the representative sense anyway.
        • RobertoG 9y ago
          In theory, but the reality of the issue is very different. The European Parliament is all powerful except for the important things. The real power is in the hands of the commission, which, in practice, it's not more than an international forum, where, as in all the international forums, the will of the stronger states is the law. The state members are bond by treaties that, in practice, are impossible to change by the population and that, in fact, are used to limit what the population could choose. In theory, the EU could be a democratic institution, but there is not the will for that, quite the opposite, in my opinion. The population is slowing awaking to those realities and the relevant institutions would do well addressing all those problems before is too late.
          • madez 9y ago
            While the commission is not directly elected by the people, it is indirectly. That is in accordance to how many governments are formed. Every country can send just one member of the commission. Decisions are made by majority vote. Every member has the same weight, except the president, which is a tie-breaker. How again does the stronger country impose rules on the weaker? The EU binds countries just like countries bind regions and cities. Why don't you complain about that? Well, because it is helpful if the government acts in the interest of the population. A required part of understanding the EU is letting go of irrational attachment to notions of nationalism. It is good that we have several governments working in our collective interest on many levels. Be it the city mayor, the regional government, the countrywide government or the European Commission.