Sorry in advance for bringing it up. One thing that never seems to get mentioned - at least by the politicians - is the original reason behind the formation of the EU. That reason was PEACE. The union was formed by Germany and France to make them interdependent so that they could never again go to war. In this it has been completely successful. The only wars in Europe since it's instigation have involved countries of the former Eastern Bloc; Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Chechnya etc. Notably most of these former Soviet dominated countries have since joined or tried to join the EU. On the other side of it, just look at the civil war that has broken out in the UK since the referendum....
Indeed. Unelected dictator acting against Parliament sovereignty off the back of an outdated illegal poll (well advice from a few weeks ago was outdated when a memo leaked, so 3+ years must be outdated now), a serial liar and cheat, made openly racist comments and put the lives of one of our citizens at risk with his comments as FSec, and now, has threatened to sack anyone who votes against him in the commons, after closing it down for his own ends. Could you imagine the furore of this happening in another country? Germany, or France say... oh the hypocrites would be out in force should that day come round.
Undoubtedly the idea behind the EU was certainly to neuter Germany, but the credit for that doesn't belong with the EU, it belongs with Nato and The Warsaw Pact. Germany was the aggressor power in both European Wars in the 20th century ...in WW2 Germany was effectively smashed as a working State by the Allies. Every factory, power source, utility, court and trapping of State was taken out of German control... after WW2 the two blocks dismantled and then rebuilt all that remained, and mainly US lawyers oversaw the writing the Grundgesetz that is the basis of the German Constitution. Germany was partitioned and occupied for almost 50 years, even in the 1990's hundreds of thousands of NATO and Warsaw Pact troops still based themselves on German soil, Germany was not allowed to build anything bigger than a pop gun unless for the explicit use of one of the two blocs. Where I would give credit for the EU though is that, the prospect of accession may well have moderated the behaviour of some of the 'new' countries following the fall of the Soviet Union.
The biggest threats to peace & stability European countries now is Russia, USA foreign policy in the Middle East & the rise of nationalism / popularism. We now have an unelected popularist / nationalist leader ourselves at number 10.
i have a strong gut feeling that while ever the eu is carrying on in its present form with its open door free movement policies then populism and nationalism will continue to rise,
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49544781 From yesterday . The EU s policies will always feed the beast .
Sprouting up all over . Italys the next big one id say past whatever happens with brexit . Something fundamentally wrong with the EU and it's economic policy . On that basis the EU won't last forever , we are going to have to leave at some point so might as well get it over with . I fail to stand by idly and watch the EU treat member states the way it does . Look at the treatment of Greece , if push comes to shove do you think the EU would treat the UK the same way should it feel the need to ?
Which was about defending the value of the Euro. Unfortunately for Greece (and to a lesser extent Spain) they fiddled the numbers to be allowed into the eurozone and didn’t have the strength to withstand the worldwide recession. The thing is - our own government treated us as badly as the Eurozone treated Greece - and people still voted for them. The issue is the perception that ‘someone else’ is doing it. The Germans led the austerity push but at least they were honest about it. The same couldn’t be said for the Tories.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...-hide-debts-when-it-joined-euro-10381926.html They paid Goldman Sachs to hide the numbers . Goldman Sachs did very well out of the greek bailout too if you care to check . The same company at each end of the trade . This is your European Union pal ....... .
I don't disagree, but that bears no relevance to my comments that it was Nato and the Warsaw Pact that preserved the peace in Europe...not only preserved but imposed.
I'll apologise in advance if I am mistaken as I'm just going from memory...but I don't think they did fiddle the figures....they purely failed the necessary criteria but the EU allowed them to join regardless...the political being more important than the practical.
But we never ever elect a PM.. Just an MP, and the party with the most MP's end up in government and their own procedures decide who leads them and becomes PM. So people can whinge all they want but if we have another gen election, there wont be a tick in the box to elect a PM.
Of course Nato and the Warsaw pact have been influential in keeping peace, but theres more to keeping peace than the management of armed forces. In my view, I see these forces as hardware, I also see the EU as the software that helps to try and maintain economic balances to dissuade people from supporting conflict. I therefore support the view that the EU has helped maintain peace. Its not just Nato or Eu, its both.
We vote for an MP from a party, with a leader & a manifesto. Boris Johnson's manifesto is radically different to Theresa May's, so much so that many of her former cabinet look set to vote with Labour today.
