Where does Europe go from here. It seems that Europe in its current form cannot work. There are too many different countries with different economies at different stages of development. All of these countries cannot be brought together under one umbrella and one currency. When the original common market was formed with France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, it was a cohesive force because these countries had been through a common traumatic experience and desired the same things. From there it grew gradually bringing in Britain and Ireland and later Greece and Spain. Because these new countries were brought in gradually and were not hugely different to the original countries the EU could continue to operate effectively.
In my opinion it was a mistake to bring in all the Eastern European countries. These countries are at a completely different stage of development and are looking for very different things to the older members. I think these countries should have formed their own union the same as France and Germany etc did 50 years ago. Afterall these countries were through a similar traumatic experience of Soviet domination and have much more in common with each other than they do with the older members. This was clearly shown during the Iraq war when they refused to tow the line of France and Germany. Of course the Americans were delighted with this because it proved that Europe could not speak with one voice.
I think we are seeing the first signs of a breakup in the current EU. It was a mistake to try and expand it beyond its natural limits of a club of similar countries looking for similar things. Afterall when the USA was brought together it was a federation of states sharing a relatively common history and looking for similar things. They didn’t try to expand it to include Mexico and South America because these countries even though American had been through a different experience namely Spanish colonisation rather than British and they had a longer history than the states forming the US.
In my opinion it was a mistake to bring in all the Eastern European countries. These countries are at a completely different stage of development and are looking for very different things to the older members. I think these countries should have formed their own union the same as France and Germany etc did 50 years ago. Afterall these countries were through a similar traumatic experience of Soviet domination and have much more in common with each other than they do with the older members. This was clearly shown during the Iraq war when they refused to tow the line of France and Germany. Of course the Americans were delighted with this because it proved that Europe could not speak with one voice.
I think we are seeing the first signs of a breakup in the current EU. It was a mistake to try and expand it beyond its natural limits of a club of similar countries looking for similar things. Afterall when the USA was brought together it was a federation of states sharing a relatively common history and looking for similar things. They didn’t try to expand it to include Mexico and South America because these countries even though American had been through a different experience namely Spanish colonisation rather than British and they had a longer history than the states forming the US.