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To be clear, I wasn't talking about geographical integration, but further integration of national institutions. E.g. An EU army, a shared EU tax policy...
by dmurray 6y ago
To be clear, I wasn't talking about geographical integration, but further integration of national institutions. E.g. An EU army, a shared EU tax policy...
- draugadrotten 6y agoNo doubt, France is pro-EUarmy and pro-EUtax, as long as the army speaks French and the tax goes to French farmers.
- morsch 6y agoFrance contributes more to the EU budget than it gets out of it, including farming subsidies. With the UK gone, France is/will be the second largest contributor, in absolute terms. The largest beneficiaries, again in absolute terms, are the two countries that pretend to be Euro sceptic, Hungary and Poland. Go figure. Of course that's just the EU budget. The advantage that all countries but particularly France and Germany (and, for another couple of weeks, the UK) get from frictionless trade are enormous. https://m.bpb.de/nachschlagen/zahlen-und-fakten/europa/70580/nettozahler-und-nettoempfaenger https://m.bpb.de/nachschlagen/zahlen-und-fakten/europa/70580...
- Ericson2314 6y agoAnd don't forget Germany benefits form those countries dragging down the currency too, perhaps more than it does for trade barriers.
- claydavisss 6y agoEU nations can't even fulfill their NATO obligations...there will never be an EU Army
- paganel 6y agoThanks for the clarification. Yeah, I'm with you on this, don't see much scope for further integration on that front, at least not from the bottom up, especially after this pandemic that has made the borders and the national differences all too real again. The elites will try to impose it from top to bottom, and when they'll encounter resistance they'll of course blame it on populism/Russia malevolence/the electorate being stupid and the like, that is if they'll decide to go to the polls to impose that further integration (which I have very big doubts they will).