Anyways, to bring this back on topic...
++ [ originally posted by Kaiser Franco ] ++Hell, if it was for me I’d have kept the 6 original members and a few others whose commitment is acknowledged and said bollocks to everyone else.
++ [ originally posted by Erik ] ++
So would I but sadly we're past that point now
As neither a citizen of EU nation, nor one of a nations trying to get in there, I must disagree.
To me the whole concept of the European Union is not an offensive- but a defensive measure. Defensive against, well, the US- 300 million strong world's economic powerhouse, where in spite of 8 trillion large federal debt innovation and prosperity is falling out of the ears; the Far East- including S. Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Singapoor, and agressively approaching their levels Malasia, Philippines, Viet Nam and all of the others; and China- whose GDP will bypass that of the US' by 2030 (watch and see where the bidding war with Shevron over Unocal will take us).
European countries must keep getting close to one another in order to maintain its competitiveness against their "threats". But of course there are the costs...