Hmmmm 
Screw that 
Yes, Council Directive 96/53. It applies within the EEA as well because it aids the functioning of the single market.
A good example of it not needing to also incorporate political union in the form of the EU.
But isnāt politics where that ultimately stems from?
Iām talking about it on a macro basis. Do you think that such market-based harmonisation should inevitably mean that we need to have aligned foreign policy and an EU foreign minister or an EU Army? I donāt.
Fair point and perhaps thatās too far although a minister that actually talks to the EU on a regular basis would have been useful I feel. Not Farage!
I guess my point is that you really cant have one without the other (to a certain degree). There has to be a policy, a direction. That comes from some level of political union.
1 Like
It is, and it isnāt. I prefer to see differences between countries resolved around a negotiating table, rather than on a battlefield. And thatās what the EU basically is: a gigantic and permanent negotiating place between multiple countries, made official by a series of political and legal institutions.
Of course, the question is always how far you go with that. Is the goal a highly centralised super-state? I donāt think it will ever come to that, because most citizens of most countries donāt want it at all. So, it will almost be nearer to a free association between countries, serving mutual interests as well as possible. Despite all the flaws, all countries in the EU have been profiting from the political and economic stability over the last decades. Those outside of it, like Norway, Switzerland, have too. The EU is also an incredibly prosperous market for the US or China to make business with. Imagine if they had to make deals with each and every countryā¦
My take is that the UK will profit from a stable EU too, also as an outsider. The worst thing which could happen to all of us, UK included, is a disintegrating EU. That would be the sign that the countries canāt and donāt want to discuss and collaborate with each other anymore, and thus, it would be the prelude to a period of renewed wartime between countries. I seriously hope that Iāll never have to witness that.
5 Likes
It doesnāt matter what the citizens of most countries want or not. There is only one direction of traffic with the EU. Itās incapable of changing course even if the will was there to do so.
Well the EU hasnāt existed āfor decadesā.
You mean countries in the EEA? 
It has. 1993 it was founded, so itās into its third decade. 
2 Likes
Yeah not as if weāve had any trouble in Europe at any all with massacres since ww2
Technically it was the Treaty of Lisbon but the origins of moving away from a market based community to a political union certainly began with Maastricht.
1 Like
the channal islands no more Free state of Jersey, Bankers paradise of Guernesey. Thatāll fuck up the fishing no end. 
2 Likes
Itās quite ironic that without the EU fishing quotas would be a complete mess (not saying they arenāt a bit of a mess). Cooperation gets things done and even if slow a lot faster than individual states only concerned about themselves. This is probably where the EU can be percieved as a success just getting some stuff done.
2 Likes
Iām not as pessimistic as you seem to be. Most countries in Europe are democracies. Their rulers represent their votersā wishes. They know very well that they need to have their people onboard. If the movement goes towards too much centralisation, there will be more and more resistance towards that, and theyāll be forced to alter their ways.
Look at Hungary or Poland right now. They are currently throwing big spanners into any further centralising tendencies in the EU. I donāt like their governments at all, but they play that role of asking uncomfortable questions which will have to be answered in an intelligent way: bureaucracy vs. democracy, centralisation vs. regionalisation, cultural/religious differences and understandings etc.
How time flies by: nearly thirty years since 1992 and the Maastricht treaty.
Most EU countries are part of the EEA too:
2 Likes
Exactly! (more typing required).
All that is required is organisation and communication to achieve all these ends but the power hungry transpose that upward and hey presto State, rules, need money.
1 Like
All EU countries are part of the EEA but not all EEA countries are part of the EU (the sensible ones ;)).
EEA fishing quotas. Otherwise how would Norway be such a major player when it came to the CFP?
What? (have to type some more).
Ahā¦ Well, thereās a difference between being in the EU and being only part of the EEA. EU = European Union. EEA = European Economic Area.