Beren wrote:although the latest EU-expansion towards Central and Eastern Europe was due to growing German economic and political influence in the region indeed.
That is factually incorrect. It was Poland and other Eastern European (perhaps Central European to you) countries that pushed hardest for the EU's Eastern partnership or for Ukraine to become an EU member, which is still being vetoed by Germany and other Western members. Even as we speak, the Visegrad 4 are trying to get the Western Balkan countries into the EU, irrespective of whether they are ready or not, while most Western members favor a temporary halt to enlargements as previous enlargements still pose problems. Anyways, German industry does quite well, even outside the EU, as in China, which is now the most important market for some of the biggest German car makers.
@Heisenberg, I never once portrayed you as a "hard-right fascist". Quite on the contrary, I always regretted that we can't get on, but your visceral anti-EU rants just brush me the wrong way. I guess it is second nature to many in the UK and that you aren't even aware of it.
While Germany is the biggest economy in Europe, it in no way dictates the direction of the EU. Since the voting system in most EU institutions gives an advantage to smaller member far beyond their actual size, Germany is outvoted more often than not, as can be seen, for example, in the refugee crisis. Unlike the UK, Germany also submits to the rulings of European courts without complaining.
You are projecting imperial ambitions onto the EU which are inherently British.
You simply lack the self awareness to recognise that the reason you paint the EU in this fashion is because you live in the EU's main power centre, who the EU's institutions are primarily designed to benefit.
I live at the outer edges of the EU in one of the poorest regions of the continent. The previous owner of my property signed the sales contract with his fingerprint as he is illiterate because during his childhood he was too poor to get a pair of shoes for going to school. This 3rd world-level of poverty is still in the living memory and contrasts sharply with the relative prosperity of today. Thanks to the economic convergence in the EU, poor regions have seen a remarkable increase in prosperity. That is of course something the British vehemently oppose (like you oppose EU budget contributions and Freedom of Movement), because the brown people ought to stay in their place in your imperial worldview.
The centralized British model impoverishes the regions while enriching the greater London area. The EU's economic convergence helps poor regions to benefit from the prosperity achieved by the richer industrialized regions.
You are so ignorant of the EU that it is truly sickening. You just keep on repeating your ideological rants without any regard for reality. You can pose as a leftists all day long, at heart you are a closet imperialist who hates the EU because Britain can't use it at will for its geopolitical ambitions.
Presvias wrote:Which government are you most closely aligned with in the EU right now? I guessed you might be a social democrat or something.
I believe in the pragmatic application of the
social free market economy to avoid the pitfalls of socialism, on the one hand, and neoliberal-style capitalism, on the other hand. Since most countries have now introduced some form of welfare, it can be considered the most successful system in existence. I also believe in pan-European democracy as it mitigates the extremes and because purely national democracy has not future without an international or regional framework that protects it from adverse external influences.