Should the European Union become a country?

No.

We're simply too culturally different to operate under unified rules.

It's hard enough as a union.

The EU economy is larger then the USA (even with the Euro crisis) has more people and could potentially have a larger military budget. What would be the implications on America and the World in general if it became a country? http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/427295/Fresh-bid-to-create-EU-superstateAL-POOR

How are those good reasons for the EU to become a country? Unless this is all some sort of dick waving contest to you.

And you just joined today to ask this question?

And you just joined today to ask this question?

johnd13

No.

We're simply too culturally different to operate under unified rules.

It's hard enough as a union.

MlauTheDaft

[QUOTE="MlauTheDaft"]

No.

We're simply too culturally different to operate under unified rules.

It's hard enough as a union.

deeliman

I Was sort of using "cultural differences" as a blanket term there ;)

I believe it's collectively beneficial to coorperate closely within the EU, but alligning our economies, mentalities and policies seems impossibly difficult. 

[QUOTE="deeliman"][QUOTE="MlauTheDaft"]

No.

We're simply too culturally different to operate under unified rules.

It's hard enough as a union.

MlauTheDaft

I Was sort of using "cultural differences" as a blanket term there ;)

I believe it's collectively beneficial to coorperate closely within the EU, but alligning our economies, mentalities and policies seems impossibly difficult. 

[QUOTE="MlauTheDaft"]

[QUOTE="deeliman"] I think it's not so much about the culture differences, but more about how we have different agenda's that don't line up with each other which would make it hard to make policies.deeliman

I Was sort of using "cultural differences" as a blanket term there ;)

I believe it's collectively beneficial to coorperate closely within the EU, but alligning our economies, mentalities and policies seems impossibly difficult. 

Also, I envy your rig.

[QUOTE="deeliman"][QUOTE="MlauTheDaft"]

I Was sort of using "cultural differences" as a blanket term there ;)

I believe it's collectively beneficial to coorperate closely within the EU, but alligning our economies, mentalities and policies seems impossibly difficult. 

MlauTheDaft

Also, I envy your rig.

That would have been possible if the cultures all accross the board were very similar, if anything at all Europeans vary in terms of culture.

It's the optimal solution to the Eurozone financial crisis (although not every EU nation is a Eurozone member, so this only applies to about 2/3s of the E.U.), it would help prevent future financial crises from turning out the way this one has, it would improve the efficiency of the entire E.U. government through economies of scale, and it would help ensure that the Europeans would remain strong and important in the future, instead of its current state of being a continent of dwarfs in a world of giants who don't take them too seriously.

Of course, it's probably never going to happen because the countries of the continent are nationalistic and detest immigrants, don't understand that they aren't the U.S.A. or China and can't remain powerful and influential on their own (Britain seems to be very guilty of this) and virtually every government treats the E.U. as a scapegoat for their own mistakes or decisions while omitting its usefulness. Also, Germany's behaviour in this financial crisis has been to protect their own economy at the expense of everyone else's, a very divisive policy.

No.LJS9502_basic

Hell no.

As a citizen of the EU,I find this unacceptable.

Haven't countries like Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland shown us that actually remaining smaller in size is more beneficial? They're the richest countries in the EU and their size definitely played a part.JustBeYourself

Haven't countries like Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland shown us that actually remaining smaller in size is more beneficial? They're the richest countries in the EU and their size definitely played a part.JustBeYourself

no.

They already tried, didn't work, no country wants to be governed by another.wellbigd

[QUOTE="wellbigd"]They already tried, didn't work, no country wants to be governed by another.deeliman

[QUOTE="deeliman"][QUOTE="wellbigd"]They already tried, didn't work, no country wants to be governed by another.Barbariser

No.

Although I would say that the level of my disagreement would depend on how centralized would such superstate supposed to be.

I don't care about about "political games" between superpowers which have little to no effect on day-to-day life of an average citizen and often lead to more troubles than benefits.

The states usually have different policies for a reason and EU countries are still pretty different. Some are more productive and more progressive while others are less, some have a lot of natural resources while others don't, some are more inclined towards strong governments, others seem to be more inclined towards Laissez-faire approach.

I don't trust my goverment any more than the next guy, but I doubt that some politician from the other side of the continent would know better what to do than the local ones.

Some degree of cooperation and unification is nice. But things like fiscal policy, military policy, healthcare policy, labour policy and selected few others which can have very strong impact on peoples' daily life should stay firmly in the hands of local / national politicians. Not that they are good at it. But at least they can be held accountable more easily.

As for the ther question about implications for other countries, I guess it would make EU even stronger in any negotiations or potential conflicts. However, as I stated above, to me it does not seem to be worth it. Also, when EU politicians want, they can be pretty competent in negotiations already (e.g. EU - US steel tariff dispute). 

  

I dont know if that would work.  The EU is a collection of sovereign nations, all with their own specific ideology and culture.  It would be very difficult for them to all go under one central authority.

No, I think (emphasis on the verb please) it is evident by now that from the beginning all those countries had very few "common goals" and definitely did NOT share the same mindset. And still dont obviously.

It didnt work as a "simple" union, I dont know why anyone would think it'd work as one country.

/thoughts

I don't think that it's necessary.Lonelynight

Also this.

What's the point? To revive stupid hypothetical discussions about ecnomic or military controversies between the USA and the EU?

I guess now that Russia isnt really the "bad guy" it used to be a few years ago, you guys have to ponder new intriguing scenarios when you're bored to death... smh

[QUOTE="JustBeYourself"]Haven't countries like Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland shown us that actually remaining smaller in size is more beneficial? They're the richest countries in the EU and their size definitely played a part.deeliman

[QUOTE="deeliman"][QUOTE="JustBeYourself"]Haven't countries like Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland shown us that actually remaining smaller in size is more beneficial? They're the richest countries in the EU and their size definitely played a part.JustBeYourself

[QUOTE="Barbariser"][QUOTE="deeliman"][QUOTE="wellbigd"]They already tried, didn't work, no country wants to be governed by another.deeliman

We should became a Federation Each individual country may had an equal representation in lets say The European Senate and each individual will have proportional representation in the Parliament. We need more Democracy in Brussels it is time to send the Eurocrats to the place they belong :home

[QUOTE="deeliman"][QUOTE="Barbariser"]

The most well-known example of a culturally, economically and politically disparate group of states unifying under one federation is the United States of America. Barbariser

hell no!

Haven't countries like Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland shown us that actually remaining smaller in size is more beneficial? They're the richest countries in the EU and their size definitely played a part.JustBeYourself

[QUOTE="JustBeYourself"]Haven't countries like Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland shown us that actually remaining smaller in size is more beneficial? They're the richest countries in the EU and their size definitely played a part.Ninja-Hippo