American Reacts 101 Facts About The European Union
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- Опубликовано: 17 янв 2022
- Original Video: • 101 Facts About The Eu...
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Hi everyone! I'm an American from the Northeast (New England). I want to create a watering hole for people who want to discuss, learn and teach about history through RUclips videos which you guys recommend to me through the comment section or over on Discord. Let's be respectful but, just as importantly, not be afraid to question any and everything about historical records in order to give us the most accurate representation of the history of our species and of our planet!
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"american cities were built with efficiency in mind"
Meanwhile nowadays american cities are some of the least efficient cities in the world when it comes to traffic
Because they weren't built with efficiency in mind. They were just built according to a plan and to some extent simplicity. European cities are the way they are, because they have grown organically over hundreds of years...and yet manage to largely be more efficient, traffic wise. Turns out just lapping gazillion-lane roads everywhere doesn't solve the problem, who knew!
remember americans..., our houses are older than the united states xD
@@maximusmelsaints7764 and our kinds of beers too
US suburban hellscapes are also terribly inefficient economically as they need a lot of infra that their property taxes can't cover.
@@nightstorm5914 My country is the top in drinking beer per capita. Guess where I live xD
How unstable do you think the EU is atm lol? What beef do you think we have with each other? The USA is far more unstable these days than the EU imo.
Well. Greece leaving euro could've really somewhat break EU, as well as the grand immigrations from middle-east.
@@Dostrain And that is a perfect example of how and why EU exists. Somehow, all together got Greece back on its feet.
And also this question kind of aged badly considering what's going on between Russia and Ukraine. ::::::----)
@@Pyllymysli what has the efficiency of the EU got to do with Putins invasion of Ukraine?
@@Pyllymysli Russia is not EU. And other EU countries does stand behind Ukraine.
There seems to be one big misperception here: the EU is not a country, and it's not meant to become one at its present stage. It's a union of countries. And there is at least one huge achievement to be credited to this union, it's PEACE. A lasting peace between nations that in the past wasted millions of lives, and almost destroyed themselves, fighting each other. And this is priceless.
Yeah we understood is better to make wars in poor countries instead of f up things in our lol
There are voices in favor of a feuderalised Europe, me included for example. Tho there is a split on how to do it, some want to turn the EU into it, but that has the problem of being either feuderalised or leave the EU, I think is a bad idea. I would propose a higher "level" any EU country can join but doesn't have to.
Without EU there also woul be peace, because of Nato.
@Grace K what ? :D
Don't know if it's a troll or a bot, but that Grace person seems to be copypasting that same badly written comment on everything
I understand you might consider different languages an issue... but when you are born and raised on a continent where languages changes every 4hour car ride you have developed familiarity and you are more adapted.
Many european countries like Switzerland or Spain even have 3 or 4 official languages
In London, up to 17 years of age I never heard a foreign language on a London street, and yet by 2016 I, rarely, heard or saw a British person or accent in a multitude of different areas in London.
If I get on a bus today (Wednesday) outside The City of London and Central London whether it be North, South,East or West, I will one of only 10% indigenous British people on that bus in INNER London..
@@Isleofskye Britain being an island is very much not familiar to the reality of continental europe, thus its inability to understand why the EU even exist
In the area of Strasbourg, which has switched betwern France and Germany for centuries, many families are split with half the relatives on the french side and the other half on the german side.
And I could list countless transition regions . .
I understand that, my friend.
Most of us Love Europe and Europeans.
My favourite Country to visit was Italy and I visited Lake Como then Venetia then Cattolica and then skiing in Northern Italy in Piancovallo. 4 great separate holidays but we signed up in 1973 for a Trade Deal only and it became a "Project" so I, and the majority of others, reluctantly, voted out....
@@Isleofskye UK paid a lot of money for EU, but they were always distant and didn't want to engage very much
@@Isleofskye and you will regret it until the moment you get back, which will occur, no doubts of it :)
Connor the problem is that you keep seeing the EU as a big country instead of what it actually is, a Union. Being a long term fan and viewer, you often have very, very Americanised view of things. Which of course i don't think anyone can blame you for that
people out here really thinking there's some kind of "EU" Army 🤔
- to some of the comments here: a quick training mobilisation is not the same as a fucking army lmao. It's no different from a standard military running exercises
Just wait for the future buddy
😂😂😂
Weeeeeelllll. There are joint battlegroups, some internal agreements and some countries have already really put together joined battalions with some friendly neighbours, but not a formal army yet I guess. I’m guessing it will be an opt-in thing like most EU-projects at the start, when it comes.
What you on about?! There literally IS a European army
And some people, mostly Remainers, still believe the continent and a politico-economic organisation is the same thing... Sigh*
You might want to take a closer look at the military industry within the EU.
I don't share your thoughts about the EU. I think that it's pretty solid. Becoming one country was never a goal and will probably not be for the foreseeable future. It's a union of sovereign states not a US of E. They have a lot in common and are possibly much less divided than we are here in the US at this time. ☮Also they can protect their interests much better in a global world as a bloc rather than a bunch of smaller economies. The UK is learning that the hard way!
He just parrots conservative ideas about the EU that have been floated ever since the Bush government shit it's pants when the Euro started off strong and France and the UK agreed to create a real military component for the EU (treaty of St. Malo). That made the cons go batshit about the EU usurping their position of single world power at the time. Ever since then the cons have tried to undermine the EU, see Trumps medling with the Brexit vote. They claim to want strong European partnerns, but separate ones, not ones united under one institution. Because coercing tiny countries in NATO to follow the US is much easier than doing so with one large singular entity. Like Russia the US is playing divide et impera - and both had their hands in Brexit.
The UK is still happier outside of this if it means we get to still have our decision-making.
I get why people are scared about an hypothetic USE, but if managed well it could be great, we finally would be worth something on the International scale.
@@danielwhyatt3278 and what exactly could you not decide for yourself inside the eu? If you mean trade standards, you will still have to follow them outside the eu, but now you have no say at all on how they are drafted.
@@danielwhyatt3278 Aren't you tired of shoveling the same load of BS over and over again? Your country is on the verge of disaster with nothing but food, energy and decent governance shortages in wait. And you're getting snubbed by the rest of the World because you're seen as irrelevant: what a shame!
(2.18) You cheered when it said that the US has a bigger GDP - and yet they can't mandate paid maternity/Paternity leave, paid annual leave, heatlh care - well that says it all !!!
those different languages aren't a problem. Usually things are communicated in english or in the speakers native language and then translated if needed.
Indeed, in the Plenum of Parliament you have interpreters, the legal texts are translated into all official languages but really, most informal and even formal talk is simply done in English. If you don't know English in modern Europe, you'll have a hard time in most highly qualified jobs anyway.
@@sagichnicht6748 Also a lot of Europeans can speak English as their second language well enough to get by.
@@sagichnicht6748 have you ever watched it though? It’s like watching paint dry and extremely difficult to follow with the constant change in language. Hardly the bastion of deliberation and democratic debate it is lauded to be, especially compared to the debates seen throughout national parliaments. Is extremely remote and inaccessible for every day citizens.
@@Jamieclark192 It is moderately exciting as a show but it isn't a show program to begin with. The plenum is primarely the place for the voting machinery. There the results matter not the speeches. In other parts, the speeches can matter but they are top level affairs also as a plenum for the Commission or other figures of relevance.
Where the actual deliberation and democratic debate is happening is in the committees. Like in any actually working parliament btw. You need some level of specialisation of MEPs/MPs to actually contribute meaningfully to legislative acts. For voting you do need the entire plenum though of course but naturall people will rely on the specialists from their party group and the work in the committes.
Regarding accessibility, the EP is actually more accessible for everyday people than some national parliaments. At least from what I have heard it is often more likely for MEPs to respond to communication than MPs of the Austrian Nationalrat.
@@paul1979uk2000 According to Wikipedia it is 44% of all EU cititzens. With post-Brexit only 1% speaking it natively. However this is making it look less relevant than it really is. It is primarily older people who are not able to have at least a basic conversation in English. Among younger people, I'd say most are able to do so and basically everyone learns English in school in most or even all member states. Proficiency varies of course but especially in all major cities in the EU it should be perfectly feasible to get along just fine with English. Often local transit and other things are bilingual in the local language + English too. If you walk around Vienna, it is not too hard to find English conversations on the street, even outside of tourism hotspots. Simply because English is the language you will choose if you talk to another fellow European and you don't speak each others native language.
Countries can argue, but they don't even think about using military force against each other.
Hi, Swede here turning 40. I have experienced how the EU and the opinions on EU have shifted for the last 25 years or so and while many were against it, it has become the norm and by that a norm that brings mostly positive things for us. The trade, the travelling, the environment, education, the culture, you name it, have all benefitted from the EU. Have there been fuckups and bad decisions? Of course. No one (at least no sane person) claimed it was or is perfect in any way. Just take how we handled the refugee crisis during 2015 with some countries blatantly refusing to share the responsibility AND being able to do so because there's no law to force countries to share this responsibility within EU.
But it is VITAL to remember the EU is nothing like the US. We are all sovereign nations, with our own laws and then there are these laws and regulation we TOGETHER have voted for under the EU umbrella.
It's actually quite baffling to hear you say you don't think it will last for long because, well, it's not this giant coloss with one central government trying to rule over all the areas in 27 quite different nations. We are still 27 countries and the union has 24 official languages. Our cultures are vastly different in many ways because of different history and geografic locations, but the point of EU isn't to act like one country, but to WORK TOGETHER so that all our current countries can benefit.
Right now, with the horrid invasion of Ukraine, I'm especially grateful for EU, because the union has the mandate to block the agressor in this - Russia - without having to go through every single member's country parliment first. The EU can make the decisions on EU matter and THEN each country can make additional decisions.
Also, different languages is not a huge problem. Swedish is one of the smallest languages there is, meaning it's vital for us to know English, but a lot of people here also learn Spanish, German or French in school from an early age. The EU was never meant to be a single country, but a collaboration. The quarrels and dragged out decision makings are natural because the EU parliment are working on behalf of each member countries citizens and we will of course think different sometimes.
It's not easy, it's not perfect and sometimes really frustrating, but it's the best system we have come up with for now. The American national state isn't even 300 years old. Sweden has been a soverign state for around one thousand years - and Portugal and Denmark are even older.
The US is a VERY young nation compared to many European nations and when we're at our best - which unfortunately aren't nearly as often as we should - it shows. Right now, the united support for Ukraine, who isn't even a EU member, is VAST and thanks to the union a lot easier to coordinate.
All I wanted to say, perfect.
exactly im german and even if many think we have to carry alot of the weaker eu countries most germans are actually pretty positive about the EU also i would say it helped dramatically in the quick and strong introduction of english in schools i would say many if not most young germans speak english better then their teachers in school which just shows how quick these changes came i would say most 40-50+ germans can barely speak english even if its part of their job meanwhile its exactly flipped for 20-30 and younger germans many of us speak next to perfect english and we sometimes even joke how its better then our german cause we consume so much international media xD i think nearly all schools have a mandatory trip to great britain in which we are supposed to only speak english and we actually live with an english family for one week (its super fun i did mine with 16 and its a crazy experience to just live with a family from a different nation at that age :D) Overall i think the EU is here to stay and will grow stronger and bigger over time its a good way to have a unified europe while every nation can keep their traditions.
I don't see why any country should "share" the "responsibility" of the refugee crisis did you not say in the very next line "But it is VITAL to remember the EU is nothing like the US. We are all sovereign nations, with our own laws and then there are these laws and regulation we TOGETHER have voted for under the EU umbrella" ? As for the stability of the EU well the Euro as in € is in crisis mode and will fail, no ifs or buts about that even bankers in the EU agree with this. The faith in the EU among the people is becoming less popular and it is the main reason for stronger support of far right groups whom are very opposed to it. I long for the day when we all come to the realisation that the project was doomed from the start and revert back to just a trade agreement.
Love from France
From Denmark and totally agree. EU is hard to build up since we are so different, but we get closer to each other for every year that goes, which is great. we are building EU slowly and carefully, even though it takes a lot of time, thats better than we rush something and it breaks apart. Ofcourse there is up and downs like brexit, but we are still learning how to work together without being 1 big nation. Personally i see a bright future for EU.
I get why you are arguing with history and your pessimistic view might be, because you're not living in the EU. most ppl, espacially the younger ones, know that they benefit from the EU. Of course there are misunderstandings and arguements. But It definitely united the countries. I don't know if the EU will break because of history and different cultures, but as a German I'd like to say "We learn from the past and take responsibility to never let it happen again."
In my opinion post-Brexit and its effects only showed to EU citizens why and how we benefit everyday even when we don't even notice or think about it. For example I loved to order clothing from online store in the UK, but the taxes are so high now that i started to avoid them.
It's probably more likely that the USA has a civil war than the EU to fall apart atm
👍👏well said
Typically shallow viewpoint of the lazy consumer.
@@mollykeane2571 wtf?
Totally agree. And more the old nationalists will disappear and more the EU will be united. Even Brexit made nothing else than unite more strongly the other EU Countries.
totally agree as a french i do understand the responsability of the past time we as french ad. the eu is the best thing that have ever happend in europe since this continent existed even country that are not part of the eu we do have a really good relationship with them. we all had are issues with one another but damn i'm happy to have allies now and people i can count on and they could do the same. the brexit was awfull especially and we don't talk about them at all for the scottish and welsh people they were riged from the start only the british made that decision and look how they are now. trully sad for them and really looking forward to a better EU as always because that's what we always needed
when will ppl understand that we arent one country and we will probably never be. that's how the EU works. The USA and the EU arent the same political and social construct.
True but there is a lot of overlaps between the two, but yeah, the EU doesn't have to be a single country for it to work effectively but if you look at it, it works very much like how the US does with a federal government and state governments, more so on economic matters and it's mostly political matters where we still separated on.
So it really does depend on how you want to look at it and what defines a country but if we do the political integration like we've done with the economy, for the most part, it more or less is a single country in how it works.
USA at least have common langauge, in EU, you drive 150 km and people don't understand to you, you can't really have one country when people speak like 30 langauges in that country.
@@Pidalin I think there is as many EU citizen that speak English as there is Americans, English is a second language in the EU countries where a lot of them can speak it well enough to get by.
Basically, it's not really an issue.
@@paul1979uk2000 Have English at school and really speak it is really difference. School will teach you how to say hello and thank you and that's pretty much everything, if you want to really speak English, you have to learn it by yourself. Most of EU citizens (especially older persons) really don't speak English and in former eastern block, older people had Russian in school, so they don't speak English at all, they don't speak neither Russian, but that's another problem. 🙂
what you call a "country" is already an outdated term and form ,like it was before with empires and feudal states, etc. what is amazing in the EU is that the power and decision comes from below, is not like the big EU"government" tell everyone in the Eu what to do, rather every small state or big is heard and after it is decided the EU institutions put that decision in place. in today normal countries the power from below should be its citizens but as we see in US for example the system is broken and citizens feel like they have no power for decision. i think EU dont even aim to become a traditional country since that belongs to the past already.
It was never the goal to become one country. It is a union of countries. Also, the EU helps regions in the countries a lot, so in my opinion it strengthens the variety instead of wanting to suppress it. And the main goal, to connect the economies to provide a big European war has, so far, been successful 🙏
Of course it is not easy to find compromises with so many members, but to say just because we fought most of our history we shouldn't try to do better in the future is dumb. (And no, the last 2000 years are not under the rug. We learn about the history to learn through it.)
It was to be a federal block controlled by the EU Commission with nations effectively downgraded to regions. To claim it wasn't intended to be one country is just disingenuous.
@@WideCuriosity buddy, there are people that want a federal European state and people that don’t. There’s different political and ideological viewpoint like in any political body.
It is written in the Treaty of Rome that the long term goal is the further integration and unification of Europe, so yeah, it sort of is the goal.
It was always the goal, and it's been widely stated and repeated. Ignorance is a choice in the age of information.
So the flag, nationally anthem, its court being the court that supercedes national courts, all of which they said wouldn't happen aren't the first steps in a unified Europe?
Connor: You have been fighting for ever! what are you doing banding together all friendly like?!
EU people: Yeah and we dont want to fight anymore. Is that so hard to believe?
You’ve been fighting for ever, said by an American…
@@daviddieudonne7829 compared to European nations's number of wars the USA is a toddler. Our history is literally more dense in wars then USA has been at it's most active, in basically the last 2000years at least. There is a reason Pax Romana is a thing in history.
@@nikoladd lol… that’s one dumb way of seeing things… btw even if you would take into account before the USA existed, your still in the top … just to give you an idea, the USA been 20 years without war since it’s creation.
See it the way you want, the USA is a war country. To illustrate, it’s budget for army is bigger that the budget of the 9 next big army spenders combined… combined…
@@daviddieudonne7829 USA is not a war country. USA is a colonial country. Every single country in Europe has beat up the USA in mobilization levels and per capita war spending in the pas century. That's 40+ countries. That's how big the difference is. Also basically all European countries, except the UK, have been invaded in the 20th century. There has been war in our neighborhoods. As I said USA is colonial war country..
@@nikoladd you really are something else… the USA isn’t the biggest country in The world, at all… but spends more than the next 9 in the top 10, if you look even further, it’s more than the 25 next countries together, yet they aren’t the biggest country, not at all.. so your per capita is just you not knowing what those words mean.
Get informed on spendings and wars and stop trying to sound smart, you’re not. There’s no discussion on the matter, USA is one army and war driven country.
I'd like to mention a little fact about your (very American - not truly a critique, it's natural) assessment that it "will not last because of history" - *if* it lasts it lasts *because* of history - it's whole *reason d'etre* *IS* that Europe almost annihilated itself in the World Wars and it only brought an economic disaster and the loss of the European power's empires let alone the Cold War and ... oh.. the insane loss of life throughout a "Second Thirty-Years War".
It *is* however, in the words of Romano Prodi, former president of the European Commission "the first non-imperial empire" though some regions and states at the sharp end of the stick when taking hits in economic contexts might disagree with the non-imperial part.
You might also say that it is an empire made up of former empires in a (successful) bid to retain influence on the world stage.
And of course it's also "fortress Europe" when you are on the outside in several contexts, enforced by *Frontex* i.e. the "European border management", in itself a kind of low level State Sec...
If it fails it will be a low level fail with a high probability that a core will remain, one of the scenarios exempli gratia is a quasi-carolingian Europe... and of course a certain level of threat from the old enemy Russia is actually doing some good for further, especially military, integration... oh and of the course the totally-not-at-all-proxy-war in the Donbas which is decidedly not-a-war and decidedly not-in-the-least-a-proxy-war at all...
Best regards
Raoul G. Kunz
So very true in many ways. Thank you for saying this.
DREAMER
@@mickc7388 Why thank you for your *elaborate argumentative answer* which is probably fueled by the current events which I might mention where *not current* back then.
But hey, why am I even responding to a blunt shout?
Best shouting
Raoul G. Kunz
it's almost freaky how correct you ended up being - concerning the threat from Russia. Ukraine was invaded and EU united more than ever. I was rather mellow on EU before that happened, but now I truly see how important it is to keep strengthening our bonds within the EU. We should not become one country, but we need to stay on this same page we are at now.
@@Lewna86 Honestly: Political science studies pay off, even if you end up doing something completely different with your life ;).
It's also kind of depressing.
I *was* expecting *some* , as in: *not* a full scale war, mostly economic escalation in the whole Donbas affair, but this is going far beyond my projections, though thanks for the mention, though it would be better for everyone had this never happened -_-.
Currently I'm mostly doomscrolling at work and expecting the worst, id est NATO members on the borders of the war zone being drawn in by some unfortunate accident.
But please no, really...
My pessimism says: July Crisis.
My optimism says: Agadir Crisis with open hostilities.
My realism suggests: First Balkan War.
Also: Germany, rather unmilitary since The War is not only beefing up it defence budget beyond the suggested NATO minimum but also suggesting a fast deployable European, well they don't call it that but it id an expedition force..., call it the idea of an "EEF"...
Only weeks ago I'd never expected to see this level of militarisation, especially from a (economic-) liberal, green-pacifist, centre-left coalition.
We live in scary times when near death experiences pay off since you don't fear the worst outcome ;).
Still best regards
Raoul G. Kunz
11:40 Well, as a US-American I guess you'd think that way...
As a European myself I think of (most of) the member states of the EU as good working partners and not a country that could ever try to wage war with another EU state...
I think Germany as my boss not a partner
@@MIGBMWLOVER It looks like France becoming boss of Germany now.
@@KolyanKolyanitch LOL France couldn't boss a poodle.
The support for the EU on the continent is significant, especially among young people. The EU gives us so many benefits and freedoms. Single market, free movement of people, live wherever you want, etc. I would say another benefit is that the EU as a whole is a global superpower, whereas most individual European countries would not have anywhere near the level of influence. That being said, the EU does have its flaws, it's by no means perfect. National pride is still very important in Europe, no one identifies as just "European". No one thinks about it as a country, it's a collection of countries that act as one on the international stage. I believe that whatever flaws there are, they can be worked on, and that people do actually want the EU to improve instead of just leaving like the UK did.
Hows that going...
Ooouf.
@@waynetowers5046 How is what going?
@@lencekk Brexiteers think the EU is falling apart when it's the UK falling apart. Dumb as fook !
I identify as European
@@JeverCraftNL Same
I need to say, when you said the EU was because Europe kept fighting and we couldn’t rely on the US to come to our aid all the time, the US only entered WW2 when attacked by Japan, otherwise I don’t think America would have got involved, regardless of the fire of fascism. Also whatever war America has been in, have never ever been able to win, infact they have needed the help of other countries, so the Hollywood version of America saving the world is not based in any reality. And even though UK have voted for leaving Europe, being from Scotland, we voted against it so we are being pulled out of it unwillingly.,and I think now England is regretting voting for Brexit
McJibbin: "You've been fighting for thousands of years and now you're simply going to join together and start living happily and peacefully? Didn't the last 2000 years of bloodshed leave a huge impression on you? But you're too different. Do you still think it is possible?".
EU: Yes.
Mc: "Yes to wich one?"
EU: YES.
In USA you dont have the club culture. And the Ultras...
The champions league are our new war field, and like the militar, we have different types of armies inside the clubs, in a multi layer war zones.
Start to understand football clubs culture, and you will find out.
One more detail: We dont have street gangs here. Only footbal fans with business.
the USA can't understand what europe learned from (2000 years ? really ?) of bloodshed, they didn't have enough war yet, it's still a young coutry with short terms interest (mostly quick money) like a young adult who buy a sport car with his first salary payment but have to rob a grocery to pay his rent.
@@ricardoxavier827 and a big fucking tournament every 4 years where everybody unified with a purpose: cheer everyone but England
@@alby8357 but now you are talking about national teams, were the clubs are forced to let their players to play by nation, were only nationals can play, so we have nations with 1 superstar playing in a low level talent team players.
In the clubs, its pure market players business logic, were the best teams are in the rich clubs that buy the best players of any nationality.
In national teams money budget limit dont exist, and its full nationality logic, were the best national teams are the ones with more talent players quantity.
And the clubs that own the players, has no right to denny for free their players to play in national teams.
Small population nations tend to be weaker, and bigger population nations tend to be stronger, IF, football are their main religion.
India and china and USA, has no ability to produce talent, because football (the real one) are not their main religion.
Their best talents are being wasted in another smaller sports. They refuse to unite to the world main religion.
Above footbal, only your lady.
Seeing all this positive attitude towards the EU, the understanding that the Union was built to ensure peace warms my heart, because I often find this understanding to not be there and it is frustrating. Peace lies at the heart of the european project. We HAD almost eighty years of peace in Europe, and even now that the peace is broken, it is not between EU countries that war has broken out.
Hell, I am German. When my father and family went for a holiday in the Bretagne, people would sometimes be rather unkind when they realized they were German, understandably. We went there this year and no such thing. These two countries had such a deeply entrenched hatred for so long but no more.
Yes to which one?
*YES*
1:52 CHECHNYA?! Chechnya is not a member... it is an unruly part of Russia. I thought he must have meant Czechia but then he mentioned that separately.
You couldn't pay me enough money to go to Chechnya
@@michael_177 If Chechnya was a member, a lot more countries than just the UK would have left.......😂
Was thinking the exact same
The voice over an english speaking native, they have difficulties with other languages and pronounciation especially.
@@anthonyferris8912 Do you really think :
- Kremlin would have allowed it ?
- Their candidacy would have been considered serious ?
I think that you still haven't seen a video which would explain well what the EU really is. It is not trying to become one big country, nobody would even agree with it. But if there was no EU, the contacts between all the countries would still be there, we don't live in a vacuum, we border each other. There would still be relationships between the governments, people would still travel, move from one country to another for work or school, people living near borders would still have their jobs right behind the border, they would still go shopping in the neighbouring - but foreign - town, because it's the closest to them.
The EU is actually making all those complex relationships and interactions a lot easier by making the same rules for everyone, it's the whole point of its existence. To make the everyday lives of the europeans easier and more fair. Europeans move around the continent quite a lot and if you have 30 different countries and different rules every few kilometers, everything is slowed down, including the market.
The EU is bringing all its members the main four freedoms of the single market: free movement of goods, capital, persons and services. *This is the core of the EU*. Every person of every EU member country has the certainty that they would be treated equally in every member state, that if they move, they will have the same working and living conditions.
(Example: traveling by train in Slovakia is free for students and the retired. Without the EU, foreign students would have to pay in Slovak trains. With the EU, they travel free just like the Slovak students. No differences in opportunities and quality of life, no discrimination based on nationality.)
It's not about pretending that we have no conflicts - we actually don't have them, because we work hard to not have any and it is much easier, if we are equal members of one union. It's easier to stay friends, if you are in the same team, it's easier to work together and coexist. There has never been more peace in Europe before than it is now. Because we are not playing just for ourselves, but for the whole team.
Also, nobody is trying to take away our differences and merge us into one homogeneus european nation, actually the official motto of the EU is 'United in Diversity' and the diversity is celebrated on different levels. There is lot of diversity even inside the EU countries and they are still functioning as normal countries, just like the USA. The european nations have always lived close to each other and everyone is used to it. Thanks to the EU, this living is much easier than ever before, because there are clear rules we all agreed on.
Federalist Europeans are a very real thing. There are those who would love it to become one super-state.
United in Diversity as long as it's our concept of diversity. Disagree with our view and watch us take your funding away or fine you.
Ask Poland and Hungary about that.
9:36 WW2 was absolute hell for everyone living in Europe, it wiped out nearly an entire generation for the second time within 25 years. Most of the people who survived passed those experiences on in some way, so almost noone in Europe wants to have anything to do with war anymore.
Just some points of view as a Belgian:
- As for the EU parliament election: each country gets a number of MEPs assigned proportional to the country's population. Voters can only vote for their countymen. So I as a Belgian can't vote for a Greek candidate. This system assures every country gets a fair number of representatives. Compare it to the US House of Representatives. Kansas gets 4 reps, California gets 53. Then imagine most states choose to abolish districts, and hold state wide elections, and the top 53 most popular candidates in the whole state of CA are in, regardless of their party alignment. In CA, that could be 27 Dems, 22 Republicans, 2 Greens, a Libertarian and a CA independence candidate. In Congress, they then work together with like minded representatives from other states to make legislation. Should Wyoming or Nebraska feel abandoned because those Californians and Texans make all decisions? Probably not, because there are no state factions, there are ideological factions.
- It's true that Europe has been at war since the day civilisation reached us. But there are no more reasons for war. War is never about land, it's about wealth and resources. Since the EU made trade and cooperation that much easier, it's cheaper and easier to become wealthier and acquire resources by trade than by sword, not to mention the cost and risk to the nation by going to war with a neighbour. Wars are also fought for global influence, but the European Union has much more influence than any single European nation can realistically gain by war and expansion. The EU has removed the motivations to start wars.
- The EU will grow in the foreseeable future. There is absolutely nothing to gain from leaving, as the UK is currently experiencing. The financial cost is massively outweighed by the economical gains. The only people wanting to leave are right wing extremists who believe that illegal immigration will be stopped by leaving the EU, but whether or not a country is part of the EU will not influence people who want to enter a nation on an illegal basis. On the other hand: countries that joined the EU had their economies grown to levels preciously deemed unreachable. This encourages others to join. The only countries I don't see joining in the next 50 years (barring a political 180 from their side) are Russia, Belarus and Turkey. Russia for obvious geopolitical reasons, Belarus because it's Russias willing hand puppet and Turkey because of declining democracy and freedoms in the last decade, with no sings of improvement.
Sorry for the wall of text, but no one is going to read it anyway.
This is balls most people in Britain wanted to leave and most are very glad we did in fact a lot of people who voted remain are now glad we left we can finally make and enforce our own laws and regulations we understand the short term struggles ahead but believe in the long term advantages. We fought the 2nd world war for independence and then handed it over anyway. No one in a foreign country should be able to dictate laws in another country it's insane and illegal immigrants are not the main reason people wanted to leave in fact it's the legal immigration most people hated, we were forced to take hundred of thousands of immigrants every year despite not having the room or the jobs for British born people never mind the immigrants the EU is a joke I'm so glad we left
@@justme1111 yes, I've heard all about Brits loving their empty shelves. Transport companies and farmers being overjoyed about the lack of workers to drive their lorries and pick their fruit. Elderly people are so pleased that they have lots of paperwork to do be allowed to stay in their retirement home in Spain. I could go on.
@@justme1111 don't get me wrong though. I'm glad you guys left, too, as are most Europeans. I'll just go shopping in Berlin instead of London, as I won't buy a passport for a city trip.
The figures I get to see suggest a majority of Brits disagrees with you, but honestly I don't really care too much whether or not these figures are correct or not. The obstructionists are gone. That's what matters.
Why don’t you do what you preach, and leave already?!
You are out, and gods speed to you. Why are you here where we are talking about the EU, it’s non of your business you are out.
Do you really believe so little in the UK that you need to constantly denigrate the EU to feel better about your own Union?
@@marinonino4350 you do realise your watching a video of an American reacting to the EU aint you? lmfao funny shit. why not tell him its none of his business? I have my opinions and I am not trying to force them on you but that's exactly what the EU does so not surprised to find a supporter of such a union doing likewise lol
"US Cities were designed with efficiency in mind"
**Lughs in cul de sac and 6 lanes gridlocks **
The main reason why americans (and brits for that matter) don't understand the EU is because they see each european country as a group of ethnically uniform independent blocks when Europe is full of transition regions.
Sure Madrid is Spain, Paris is France, Berlin is Germany and Rome is Italy
But is Strasbourg french, german or should Aslace be its own country (after all Alsacian is a language different from French and German)
Should the austrian region of Tyrol remain part of Austria and the italian regions of South Tyrol and Trentino remain part of Italy? Should the whole Tyrol be part of Austria, since even in the italian part they speak german or should Tyrol be it's own thing?
Should the french region of Pyrénées-Atlantiques remain part of France and the spanish regions of Basque Country and Navarra remain part of Spain, or should they all be part of an independent Euskal Herria? What should we do with the southern half of Navarra that does not identify as Basque?
Much like many wars in Africa are the result of borders arbitrarily defined overlapping different ethnic groups, continental european borders are the result of centuries of wars between different powerful aristocrat families fighting for a piece of land, with the result being a continent full of ethnic groups with overlapping territorial claims.
The Treaty of Versailles in 1919 following WWI was pushed by Woodrow Wilson and his diplomats from a traditionally isolationist US administration on an naïve understanding that the problems of Europe would be solved by the creation of beautiful ethnically uniform states.
From that came:
- the partition of the AustroHungarian Empire, creating the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later renamed to Yugoslavia, which means SouthernSlavia) ==> we know down the road how that ended up in the 1990s
- the partial restoration of the state of Poland by taking land from Austria, Germany and to some extent the Russian Empire ==> we know how that ended up only a few years later
- the partition of the Ottoman Empire into clear countries like Turkey, Syria or Lebanon and some other fuzzy territories they had no idea what to do with which ended up on the Mandate for Mesopotamia which was later renamed as Iraq (rings a bell?) and the catastrophic Mandate for Palestine which up to this day we don't have a clue what to do with it.
And many other similar decisions taken with the aim of creating uniform ethnostates, all followed by massive forced relocations of people to ensure that all the people living in each country were from the ethnicity that had been arbitrarily assigned to that country.
As we know the Treaty of Versailles was a major failure and the main reason for WWII only a couple decades after.
What Europeans learnt from WWII is that there is no single set of borders that will make everyone happy because each european ethnic group has its territorial claims that overlap the territorial claims of other ethnic group. And the idea of a unified federal Europe goes in line with having a common space where, with a limited set of common rules, each ethnic group can have its own room.
Today a basque person who solely identifies as basque can live in Bilbao (BasqueCountry-Spain), go with his life speaking Basque and dealing only with other basques from Pamplona (Navarra-Spain) or Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques,France), while a basque person from Bilbao who identifies as spanish can go with his life speaking spanish and dealing only with people from other parts of Spain and a basque person from Bayonne who identifies as french can go with his life speaking french and dealing only with people from other parts of France. And none of them are forced to relocate away from their home town to live the life they identify with.
Today over half a million people live in Kahl-Germany and commute daily to Strasbourg-France for work/school and reverse.
20 million people EU citizens live in a country different from the one they were born. Sure that only represents 4% as opposed to the 40% americans who live in a different state than the one they were bon. But bear in mind that we've only had the Schengen area since 1992...
As Winston Churchill said in 1946 "What is this sovereign remedy? It is to recreate the European fabric, or as much of it as we can, and to provide it with a structure under which it can dwell in peace, safety and freedom. We must build a kind of United States of Europe. In this way only will
hundreds of millions of toilers be able to regain the simple joys and hopes which make life worth living."
ruclips.net/video/q_wEQ4gYujA/видео.html
As I understand it Europol is more like Interpol than the FBI. The main difference is the FBI has its own agents. If Europol wants you arrested it issues a warrant but its police from your own country that show up.
You say you're just here to learn and don't care about pro or anti EU but from your remarks you seem to be leaning towards anti EU. Which would be fine if you understood what the EU actually is but given that you believe the EUs goal is to create one big European country, that clearly isn't the case. Given your video history, I'm assuming you have a large UK base, these tend to be biased towards the EU. Take the comments with a pinch of salt, both pro and anti viewpoints, stick to the info you learn from the videos.
The problem of UK and Brexit was that they forgot about the history of EU. They were so long in EHS and later in EU, that they forgot, what is exactly made by that. They thought that big part of what they are used to stay the same and they were woken with "Sorry, that´s the part of agreement with EU". They dreamt about big GB from times of British Empire, that doesn´t exist any more, and forgot that future is the cooperation.
@@drakulkacz6489 That's partly true but a lot of people who would continue on to vote for Brexit were given bad and in some cases deliberately false information by the leaders and still after all of that it was virtually 50/50. I think 52% for and 48% against.
I fully expect and hope that we will rejoin in the future. It will take a dose of cold water but I'm sure we'll be back. The world is too big for most countries to go it alone.
Its not one country. Its a union of separate countries. Different countries are allowed to be different. No one is forcing us to be the same. I think its more a trade and travel union for the countries in it.
The EU members never intended to become one country. It‘s a union that was founded to maintain peace in Europe. And it has worked so far, because the time period that the EU exists is actually the longest period without any war between the members.
Well technically it was invented with the idea that if Germany was super integrated with the rest of Europe they would not start yet another war to take over Europe...... instead the Germans effectively took over the EU and now all but rule Europe anyway.
Europe history had so much territorial wars, religious war, civil revolt, many rise and fall of country, worker strike...Etc
That i am happy to have the EU to stop conflict or a least make it difficult to happen. Nobody wish to see another war like WWII.
Thank NATO.
🤣🤣🤣 Until you get rid of the "Military Union" mentality, you will never understand the EU. And as others have mentioned, the aim never was to be a big country of Europe. It's an economic and political union.
BTW, why we ought to have a special army when our forces are in NATO as the USA are? The army can´t have two different commands.
Exactement
You may have just lit the touch paper here Connor. There is still enormous resentment in the UK over the EU referendum and the political rows as the Govt of the day attempted to implement Brexit. There was and still is great division in the UK .feelings run very high whether a person is a Remainer or Brexiteer. I get you dont do politics,thats good, however you may need a steel helmet on this subject!😁
Well remember, the USA had trouble becoming one country. Because, instead of coming to an agreement on mutual benefits over a period of time, issues were decided aggressively. If the EU ever becomes a single nation, it won't happen in anyone's current lifetime.
Hi When talking about European cities they grew organically and not a planed way.
You would be suprise how two devastating world wars would do to a continent and his people, it kinda traumatised us to a point that we had to say, "Enough, we need to get along or we die".
My personal belief regarding the EU is that its a flawed bureaucratic mess, but we would be stupid to abolish it given its many positives and the fact it has achieved relative european peace for so long. I support a restructuring of the institution, but not the abolition of the EU.
Also the EU parliament doesnt operate like there is a german wing, french wing, greek wing etc. In the european parliament elections, each EU citizen votes for the national party in their country they support, which party is most of the times affiliated with a broader EU political group, which are essentially the political parties of the european parliament. So, depending on the amount of votes it gathers in its nation, the national political party adds seats to the european political group it affiliates itself with. Population of a country plays a role on how many represenatives that nation's parties can send to the EU parliament, but all of them are just part of the EU political groups that the national parties of EU member nations affiliate with and which have their own agendas. For example there is a consernative EU political group, a social democratic one, a liberal one and so on. I understand if my explanation makes little sense, but i suggest you look up the EU parliament and how the EU operates as a whole further. Its not a perfect institution, not by a long shot. But in my opinion, a europe without it would be much worse
No doubt that is something that an American can't understand.
They think of it as if it's the Federal Senate and house of rep's.
The difference is however that those federal elected officials in the USA are there in the first place for themselves, second place for their state and then perhaps for the nation.
In the European parliament they aren't there to get as much pork as possible for their own country just because they have to work together with members of other parties from other nations. Sure, everyone will try to get something for their nation (voters) but there is no real possibility for any one member of parliament to claim that they specifically got something done.
There for the level of corruption is far smaller just because it's far less possible to have a lobbyist buy some members to push through their agenda.
Even someone as pro-EU as I am agrees: we need reform and streamlining 👍
I just don't buy the "You have been fighting each other for thousands of years" argument. First of all: the existence of the US proves that point to be wrong right away. That nation is composed of British, Dutch, Spanish, French, Germans, Africans and smaller other European nationalities and has been quite successful. It might not be the most stable country right now, but it is not going to fall apart any time soon.
Next to that: even though we disagree with each other on many things, there is next to no rivalry at all between nations based on nationalist sentiments. It is just unthinkable that Germany would consider it a great idea to invade Belgium these days.
Apart from all this, there are so many more ways to differ from one another than just your country of origin. For example, if you prefer to leave the EU, there might only be a couple of million like-minded people living in your country, but tens of millions across the EU that probably agree with you on many, many other topics too. Because that's apparently how it works.
Another important thing to mention. Among the younger people, who grew up in the modern EU, without borders, without significant language barriers, studying and living all over Europe, most of them using the same currency, the EU is just self-evident. Among them, you'd have a hard time finding someone who'd actually prefer to leave, or even to dismantle it. Some of them might even consider themselves Europeans rather than whatever their nationality of origin is.
Looking at this trend, I strongly believe that a stronger, possibly even a federal Europe is the future.
I think that's what he doesn't understand, he's basing the Europeans of history and not on how people are today, which the second world war change them a lot.
Among the younger European, they tend to be more pro European than not and that seems to be growing as they've become a custom to the benefits it offers them, in time that's likely going to morph into them wanting more which will likely mean more integration.
Another factor when it comes to the EU project, we hear all the noise in the media on how people think about the EU, good or bad, but a lot of the disagreement isn't about wanting to scrap the EU and more about changing, reforming the EU so it serves European interest better, basically they just want a better EU, the UK was the exception to this rule and as we saw, the UK tried to get some EU members onside during Brexit but they failed to get a single EU country onside and mainly because there is British Eurosceptics which want to dismantle the EU and European Eurosceptics that want to reform it.
I think a federal or United States of Europe could be likely and not because of want but because of the changing realities in the world, basically, if Europeans want to protect their political, economic and social interest, they are going to have to work a lot closer together, otherwise the likes of the US and China will push us about and that would harm living standards, even weaken many of the standards Europeans take for granted.
Some don't realize it but part of the reason for the EU is as a counterweight to the US power, well that's not going away and is only going to get worse with a rising China and India on it's way, in other words, we Europeans don't really have much choice but the EU unless we want to be pushed aside and be made irrelevant, maybe that needs to happen as a wake-up call, I suspect the UK will get that wake-up call with Brexit in the coming years and decades, in other words, they'll start to realize who their real friends are.
Yes, for example there is a big population of Czechs in Chicago. You forgot to mentioned the history of Indian tribes and so on. The American are not just the descendants of immigrants. Most of the wars is about sources. And in the history was. If we will be able to cooperate there will be no need to compete.
I lived in 5 different EU countries, I speak 7 Languages fluently and I've 3 passports from 3 different EU states. Look, if I'm not European, I don't know what I am.
I think we have many safe features in EU, so it's really unthinkable that Germany would invade Belgium today. But I am afraid about if USA nuke us after next presidental elections, from my point of view, it's very politicaly unstable country where one guy has too much power. Country where people are invading capitol should not own nuclear weapons.
I am European, then French, over all I am a European French…. Nobody is perfect 🤣🤣🤣
One thing that has been good about Brexit, was that I think everyone else got their eyes open and I think it strengthened the feeling of the benefits of staying. In Sweden, we had two parties that wanted to leave the EU, they together have about 25% of the votes. But after Brexit, they have both stopped propagating to leave the EU.
It's called fear Daniel. The punitive divorce process that was Brexit was designed by the EU to ensure no other EU member considers leaving because of the antagonistic and (deliberately) economically damaging withdrawal process (which Article 50 was never designed to be - it was supposed to be an instrument of maintaining good relations with a member that decided to leave). There will probably never be another exit from the EU on negotiated peaceful terms, like Brexit. If others leave in future, it will be on a hostile, non-negotiated basis.
@@saundyuk Though I do not think it could go any other way. 40% of national legislation is taken in the EU. So if a country leaves you have to redo everything, of course this costs. I think there is a naivety in the UK among its people and I do not think many people understood how much administration, law and geopolitical agreements and other things were at EU level.
The rest of the EU still has good relations with the UK.
What I think is most unfortunate about Brexit is that it weakens Europe's position in world politics.
@@saundyuk Look, lets be honest about this. If the UK hadnt had a bungling idiot with his moronic self obcessed cronies in charge of negotiating the exit clauses and terms of future economic and social interaction, the brexit would have been much smoother and less of a hassle with less impact for everyone involved.
However, as Boris "braindead" Johnson was in charge of negotiations, or at least in charge of selecting the right people to negotiate for him, it was a complete farce with everyone debating on weather or not it would end up being one of multiple already practiced EU/non-EU partnerships (Norway, Switzerland/US, China or "formerly" Russia to name a few examples).
Instead the idiot sat on his arse the whole time, preaching about how european countries will not survive without the UK... Newsflash... most of Europe did not feel too much impact at all apart from having to deal with citizenship request from the more intelligent and moaning about how foreign conutries could not treat some less intelligent specimines in regards to now needing a Visa or needing to pay taxes as well as fill out already existing paperwork due to needing staying rights and health insurance.
The hard brexit that happened because Boris was too busy with garden parties (during lockdowns) and no one actually took anything seriously. This means that the UK government is the only party responsible for every single punitive measure, because the EU is forced to treat the UK as a complete stranger like any other 3rd world country until negotiations are taken up and taken seriously.
@@saundyuk ROFL
Oh you sweet summer child.
What a way to tell us that you drank the Brexit Kool-aid without telling us that you did so.
It's not the EU's fault that the UK couldn't be bothered to take it serious. Heck you had UK negotiators that showed up without even a pen and a piece of paper. It's not EU's fault that the UK couldn't make it up it's mind of what it wanted and it certainly not the EU's fault that the UK got it's Brexit in the manner the UK wanted which then the UK whine about it being what it is that they wanted.
@@PDVism Here's a little life lesson should you ever be involved in any kind of negotiation. Pretending one side of a negotiation has nothing to do with the outcome, nor bears any fault for relations post-negotiation, nor had anything to do with setting out the terms they were willing to negotiate under is unutterably naive. I can understand your smugness and triumphalism from your Euro-partisan point of view. But international relations aren't built on such petty things. They're permanently wrecked by them.
And if you're part of the seemingly increasing faction of Europeans who seem to regard international relations as a zero-sum game where if someone doesn't do what you want, then you're better off without them, then good luck with that. Sooner or later countries like France and Germany always end up seeking international political solidarity on some issue of political importance to them or just simply needing a favour. Probably best not to need anything from us for quite a while - including watching your backs.
It is working and it will work because we value the learning process. God knows what will EU evolve into in the future, but European nations will be politically and socially and economically integrated as a family.
The EU is working to undermine the independancy of it's nations, to deconstruct the cultures to their disappearance so the population would be easier to federate, and has had no ability into even enforcing it's borders. The correct way for a federal Europe to be born would be if the political structure was more effective than the nation's political structures, would be if they actually promoted european cultures and increased exchanges in between them instead of with the third world, and would be if they actually proved to be able to defend it's people which they showed they aren't. You add to that the fact that it's way too distant from the tax payers whom has 0 direct say in it's functionning - idk if European nations will be integrated or if they will rather feel more and more betrayed.
@@boutikadrezius7564 "to deconstruct the cultures to their disappearance"
The culture in my country has not changed much and is very much the Dutch culture and very different from border to border. You are falling for fearmongering and have no faith in your own culture.
"You add to that the fact that it's way too distant from the tax payers whom has 0 direct say in it's functionning"
You have as much say in the EU as you have in your own nations government. Your government and the people you vote into the EU parliament make the rules.
@@vayate1234 No you fail to recognize that there is differences from country to country, and just manifest your total ignorance of other member countries' situation, which makes your reply completly idiotic. It has nothing to do with fearmongering, facts are there that you believe in them or not.
No you don't have as much say in the EU as in your own governement. Neither in my country, neither in yours. Not in any. That's an indirect representation of a mostly direct representation and there's a lobbying in favor or EU fanatics on top of it.
Did you know that the EU legalized illegal immigration? Well of course the Netherland doesn't deal with much illegal immigration, but do you understand, that you're not a sovereign nation if you don't have control of your immigration policy? The swedish european council minister tells frontex to not make any push backs either. Poland is being taxed for not obeying on immigration policies. Now you'll say I'm just racist, well let me give you a non border exemple. French tax payers have been investing in a nationalized electricity company for decades, which had a great success, and thanks to nuclear power could deliver cheap energy everywhere and sell it to neighbour countries that refuse to use nuclear. Now, because of the EU, that same company is FORCED to sell the energy to the european CONCURENCY, and to sell it AT LOST COST. So prices are climbing in France, the company is starting to crumble; etc...
I'm not fearmongering. You're just uninformed. And the day difficulties hit Netherland, you'll realize too late that your nation doesn't have any sovereignty to do anything about it.
Now stop saying the EU is a project. That's not it! It is a slowly growing group of countries that are ready to work together. Great Britain is now slowly but surely finding out (but don't forget that the majority now wants to return). It's a friendship model. I feel European! I am as good German as I am French. Working together starts with not working against each other!
1) If I see the EU growing or shrinking, in the next 30 years?
I see it halting its growth, but not exactly shrinking. It has been steadily growing ever since its inception, but having countries with exceptions (and still feeling entitled to more exceptions while taking the rest of the EU hostage for decades), like UK, or having newer member-states blatantly crossing EU red lines, like Poland or Hungary, it's making the other member-states wonder if we expanded too fast and without proper diligence, or if the criteria to join should be revised and updated (not to mention the matter of sanctions inside of the Union, and its enforcement, because although there are sanctions encoded on the EU treaties, it's almost taboo).
The EU was never about forcing member-states to its will but rather a union (political and economical) of like-minded nations that share core values (hence the criteria to join - called the Copenhagen criteria - where sharing those values is paramount, because there needs to be common grounds, common core values, similar views on democracy, Human Rights, Rule of Law, market economy, etc).
2) We've been fighting among us for the last 2 thousand years, and now all it's ok, all is swept under the rug?
Well... We haven't been fighting amongst ourselves... kings, despotes and tyrants (and their courts) have. The people were just taken along for the ride for the most part.
You just need to go to any border town or village to see that the denizens have no animosity for or are no different than the people on the other side (and there are several places where borders divide a village, town or city in half, as is the case in Belgium/Netherlands or Portugal/Spain, for example).
WWII was brought to the world in the backs of nationalism and, as a consequence, in the aftermath of WWII nationalism was completely shunned in Europe. That allowed supranational ideas to flourish without the cancer that is nationalism poisoning it or hindering it.
Not to mention that we knew what mutually assured destruction looked like, and I'm not talking about the atomic bomb... twice a world war was started on our grounds, and twice it wreck havoc on our countries, one worst than the other. There would be nothing to rebuild if there ever was to be a 3rd one. We knew it was time for egos and nationalist ideals to be squashed and taken away from positions of power.
Also, the general sentiment I've got from fellow European Union "nationals" have matched my own: we are über proud of the EU for making this part of the continent (and of the world) and its countries some of the most civilised, safe and free countries in the world and an example to follow.
3) We are too different, and too much diversity of language and thought can cause a lot of issues. We won't become one country.
United in Diversity!
We have our differences but we are not different. Like I mentioned before, having a core set of values is paramount to join the EU (the Copenhagen criteria mentioned before) precisely because of that. And just for reference, even with the examples I mentioned before (UK, Poland or Hungary) there's less friction between them and the EU than between the different US states (not to mention states vs federal gov). Even the most extreme example, Brexit, we didn't go to war as the US did with the secession... we just let UK go (all the going back and forth was UK wanting to have the privileges of being in the EU without having the responsibilities).
And we don't want to be "one country", not in the sense you think. The EU is a supranational entity of 27 countries, we don't want the EU to be a federal government ABOVE the national governments, even if we move to give the European Union institutions more power. We want the EU to be a supranational institution that helps its members working together while also is the voice of 27 (or more) different countries (because together we have more power in the world stage than the sum of all member-states if we were separate).
4) European Parliament, law making, and representation. Wouldn't smaller countries be in disadvantage on policy?
No, not really. Countries don't lose sovereignty, and all law/directives passed are subject to transposition to each member-state national law the way they see fit and in accordance to their own set of laws. Also, one reason why there's little friction here is - and I have to go back to this again - the core set of values on the Copenhagen criteria.
And then there are the treaties... for the treaties, all member-states have to ratify them: if "Slovenia" doesn't ratify a treaty it doesn't come into effect (this gets a bit confusing, so I'm going to leave it at this).
And the rest you have it explained on fact 48, when the video mentions the qualified majority and the Council of the European Union.
4) Imagine trying to enter a club for 30 years and still being in the queue today.
I chuckled and muttered "Turkey!" even before there was any mention of Turkey.
I'm sorry for Turkey, and sad... they were on a good path up until Erdogan in the early 2000's.
Of course Greece, Germany and other countries would continue to make it hard for Turkey to join, but at one point I genuinely thought Turkey would be able to join the EU and that they were doing good progress towards meeting the Copenhagen criteria (and appease past, historical, grievances). But, like I said, then came Erdogan.
Don't feel sorry for Turkey. Wish, instead, that we kick them out of NATO too. If the EU stands for human rights, then Turkey should not be a part of anything EU-related. And sicne they are in NATO, and demanding shit from Sweden and Finland who are trying to join, that is extortion against human rights since they want supposed terrorists to be sent to them as prisoners. F that, is my opinion. I rather stay out of NATO than become a lapdog of Turkey.
Real talk: I'm pretty sure the EU is going to last for longer than the US at this point lol
EDIT: From someone who lives in a small EU country (less than 10 million people), I think you romanticize being outside of international organisations like the EU. You're American. You live in one of the most powerful countries on the planet. Souvereignity is worth jack shit without power. My country has no power. Being within the EU makes my country souvereign to begin with by giving us the power to compete with Americans, Chinese, Russians etc. What's the alternative.. sailing across the ocean and colonizing others to gain power? We tried that before, right? ;) Also, just think of how much say other states and the federal government have in your home state. It's the same thing. It is literally the same thing, but Americans usually deflect and pretend we Europeans are so much more different. Quite honestly, looking at polls (like about abortion right now with Roe v Wade) Europeans are actually very often much more united than Americans on several policy questions. Which is why I originally just wrote that I think the EU will outlast the US.
3000 years of history have shown exatly that totally different cultures can mix. Also you do not have to be of the same mindset to work together, as long as you have a civilised form of exchanging and deciding on ideals, basically what democracy is all about, (sorry, this is meant as a joke... mostly) but I guess "civilised exchange of ideals" is a concept hard to grasp for an US citizen.
Exactly. Europeans have been mixing and trading for centuries in different languages.
Sure, but europeans do not have totally different cultures, many values are common across countries in EU. These values are building blocks that hold the social cohesion.
@@matis188 I was not just talking about the EU. All over the world you have examples of peaceful exchange.
The difference is just that nobody writes history books about the people who sit down, understand each other and exchange values.
my guy's country takes up half a continent and was founded by immigrants from half of europe and he's questioning if european countries are capable of finding common grounds and goals and the will to keep the peace in the name of financial prosperity. Man, your country is the example that economies are more important than historical disagreements
Suprised union of the benelux was not mentioned, unless i missed it. I was always taught it was it was an important predecessor to the union of 6.
it's still pretty much a lab for the EU to test things in because the Benelux pre-dates the EU and it's still a thing even although all 3 nations are founding members of the EU as well.
for 5:14 question, definitely growing albeit much slower.Younger populations are more Europhilic and soon we will have more and more politiicians who took part in the European Erasmus exchang programme whcih has been shown to make people more connected to their European Brothers and sisters. Furthermore with every year that passes more people marry people from other EU countries,work abroad, work in EU institutions, live abroad which will help in developing bonds between EU countries. Furthermore common infrastructure projects help bring people closer to one another other time like the EU super energy grid or rail connections....
In the next 30 years I see Montenegro, Bosnia&herzogovina, Albania, Northern Macedonia joining( mayybeee Serbia and Kosovo). in 50 Maybe Ukraine and moldova and a return of Britain.
I wouldn't hold your breath on Britain returning.
@@generaladvance5812 well I wouldn't hold my breath for 50 years either way!
@@AlexC-ou4ju Perhaps, but with every day that passes more people are born with no attachment to the EU and the case to rejoin becomes less appealing. Your other predictions seem much more realistic.
@@generaladvance5812 outside of the connections, as europe will grow much closer togheter, britain would be obligated to choose to become again closer to europe or stay in their "more isolated" position, which is unlikely
@@maksymdegtiarov8425 Those closer connections are part of the reason the UK voted to leave in the first place. Only time will tell, but I very much doubt there will be a change of heart.
I always remember a American at the pub i was working at on the door telling me about the "grand history of America" and i said, "mate i mean no offence, but my house is older then your country by several hundred years" in a joking way because we were having a laugh but i don't think Americans really understand how young their culture is lol
I had no idea Europe day was a thing lol, and I've lived in 3 EU countries, never heard of it.
In the next 30 years i don't see the EU changing in size. The UK leaving was/is a very difficult experience, i think that the countries who are thinking about leaving will give it a while to see how it works out for the UK and to formulate a real plan
It is not a holiday (small exceptions apply) and it probably doesn't get a lot of coverage but it is a nice thing in many member states because all those different embassies from member states use to have open day and maybe even a bit of a small program.
Gotta be honest: I'm glad i'm able to feel like an "old man" in nowadays Europe/EU: Fighting and bloodshed? (Been through that many more times than people actually think it happened) - Sovereignty (just a fkn delusional/Illusional concept that never holds truth unless you know the truth about your own and worldwide History!) other theoretical moral dilemmas?... - Still happens!... But if you've learned enough, and feel like that's the minimum amount of knowledge a government could pass-on, at a broad basic-level, in your name, to improve everyone else's life (?!)... Why wouldn't you want that?! Human decency, Human comprehension, Human knowledge, Human Respect!... and everything else should never lead to conflict, because i've seen too many real-life faces in front of me, to not try to make them wonder about "the meaning of life"...
It's not so much that European countries are coming together out of the goodness of their hearts but more about the second world war was a massive shock to Europeans that impacted most of the people, it was a major wake-up call that big change was needed, first to prevent another war as was explained in the video, second, to allow European countries to compete with the US effectively because at the time, European countries were rebuilding after the second world war whiles the US gained out of that war, the EU was to balance that out, third is to protect European political, economic and social interest by in a quickly changing world where there are superpowers around, basically, many Europeans started to realize that we had to work closer together and speak more with one voice to protect our interest otherwise other big players would push us aside.
With that, it's very likely the EU will continue to expand over the next 30 years as there are many countries that want to join but the EU wants to absorb the countries to the east first before bringing in newer members, in fact, it wouldn't surprise me if the UK will want to rejoin as a lot can change in 30 years.
As for the EU it's self, we get a lot of debate in what it is and what people want it to be, most of the debate isn't really about destroying it but about reforming it so it works better for the citizen of the EU which is in stark contrast to the UK which really didn't want the EU to exist.
As for him saying it can't work, I'm sure many said the US couldn't work in the early days, heck, who would have thought shortly after the second world war that Europeans would be living in a union like the EU today, most would likely think it was crazy and never going to happen and yet here we are, so you have to imagine what the next 50 years can bring.
Personally, I think we will get a united Europe, call it what you want, united in the sense of a single country or union, I think it will happen not because we want it but because of the changing realities in the world, if Europeans want to compete effectively with the likes of the US, China and India of the future, Europeans are going to have to work a lot closer together than they do today, otherwise they will get pushed aside and that will likely harm the economy, our interest and could lower living standards whiles also changing some of the high standards we take for granted.
To pick one example: Why should 30-ish countries each have their own ‘medicine agency’ in charge of approving new drugs instead of one doing it for all of them? That’s a either a lot of duplicated work and bureaucracy both at the government level and in the pharmaceutical industry or the small countries just shadow the decisions from the large ones.
And that also helps understanding the small country vs large country dynamics. By joining forces the small countries get the efficiencies of not duplicating work but also have a chance of giving their input into the process. They give up some mostly nominal sovereignty (they are too small to really impose much of anything onto pharmaceutical companies and would anyway mostly just copy what the large countries did in that regard) in order to have at least a seat at the table and by joining informal coalitions with other small countries can have some actual influence on matters), plus they have the economy of scale advantage. For the large countries, they still have the major influence on most decisions but they get the efficiency gains as well as a larger market for their companies to export to (or import from).
in the USA, you have too, states of different sizes and populations. Do you ask if it's an issue ?
And it is an issue in the USA because a vote in California isn't worth as much as a vote in Wyoming.
In one case a Senator can represent barely a few hundred thousand while in other one represents a few million.
We had a great English union which the USA left in a huff in the second half of the 18th century. ;) Today the Commonwealth of Nations includes a lot of ex-English Empire nations including Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
You have a lot of misconceptions about EU. EU is not a country. Also it's not a military alliance. It's a diplomatic and financial alliance between countries
Confederations, and the EU is functionally a confederation with federal elements are chronically unstable, but they can end in two ways. Either centrifugal forces prevail and it disolves, slow or fast, gravity overweighs and it is superceded by true federation, ie something closer to being a country. There are example for both directions.
Americans should look into their own history books. No, not the civil war, before. The US itself is a former confederation (no I am not talking about the southern breakaway states) which collapsed into a federal state.
If anyone is interested read up about the early years when the 13 colonies formed a confederation, not a federation. That confederation was actually less stable than the EU is today. There were pretty hefty conflicts between the states, threatening the common entity.
And somehow they created a relatively stable country that only had one civil war in its history. And then US people look towards Europe and are completely baffled by pretty much the same exact concept.
36:12 in which not all UK residents took part and also did not take this referendum so seriously, but the government took this question to its people as an opportunity to do something.
On top of it the UK gov said that it wasn't a binding result until after the result was known and then suddenly it was deemed the will of the people that could not be ignored even although only 2 of the 4 nations of the UK actually voted to leave. Considering that Wales has 650k English living in it and it still only voted leave by a margin of 82K, one could argue that the Welsh clearly didn't want to leave either.
So that leaves England, which only really likes being part of a club if it can be the leading force, being in the center of it, being on top of it..... or in other words, if it can bully others. See how they respond when the Scots want to have a referendum about leaving the UK. Suddenly that much heralded sovereignty they always go on about doesn't seem to count for the other nations in their union.
Churchill did indeed say “we must build a kind of United States of Europe”, but promptly added the UK shouldn’t be part of it.😅
I wonder what he must think of everything that happened with Brexit over the last 5 years, If I was to bet, I suspect Churchill and Thatcher would be horrified with how the UK and Tory party have turned out the last 10 years being as the loons have been let in and it's not going to be easy to get rid of them, especially as the more moderate Tories have either left or been pushed out.
Churchill was very correct to say that.
@@mickc7388 The UK isn't ready for the vision that other Europeans seem to have with the EU project, we've seen that with how the UK was in the EU over the decades.
Problem for the UK is that by being on the outside of the EU, the UK becomes less relevant in the world and is overshadowed by the EU, it becomes harder for the UK to protect our political, economic and social interest, we are already seeing a threat in some areas of watering down food standards, the UK has become an easier target and other countries will take advantage of that.
Germany and Japan are allowed to grow their army how they want. You make it sound like we're in the occupation period after the world wars, but the limitations doesn't exist anymore they can do whatever they want.
actually no, we're not allowed to build carriers and atomic bombs
@@Tom-kl7xq For the atomic bomb it's pretty much the same for everyone, and for the aircraft carrier i don't know where you saw that but i've never heard of it.
@@Tom-kl7xq France have carriers
The current Japanese constitution forbid Japan to have armed forces, therefore only self defence forces with limited role, exist.
@@arnodobler1096 France and UK are the only militar atomic nations of europe. Thats why they have as well carriers.
11:30 EU was never intended as a country, as you said yourself, there were many wars (very many) on the continent and EU was the idea to counteract them. You could almost say the EU is like a chain that ensures that no war breaks out. Because now the members cannot simply declare war on the neighboring state and so on.
I got some stats for my country:
98,1% of Greek students know English and 94,1% also know a second foreign language!
"United in diversity" is the EU motto. We are not trying to become one nation, we respect each other¨s language and culture. We are like a bunch of random friends you meet from all over the world at university attending the same classes. Most people here speak several other languages and we just love traveling around and learning about each other. The goal is never to become one but to live side by side. I imagine the EU will grow in the future as more countries are currently trying to join.
About the euro though.... there are quite a few countries that fit all the necessary conditions to gain euro, but won't. There is no set date forcing you to do it, so many countries prefer sticking to their currency because of different economical levels of the country.
We used to be occupied by our neighbour. Another neighbour used to be the same country with us. Another neighbour was under occupation with us. We are the same in our pains from war. We are the same people. Why not just "abolish" those borders and freely become friends and lending each other stuff instead of stealing them.
You're so american when you say history will repeat in Europe. 😉 With pandemy all european countries understood collaboraring is better than fighting ourselves. We have so many benefits belonging to Eu than leave. Hoping in future you will have a living experience in Eu and you will be welcome
After what's happened in the UK. I can't see anyone else wanting to leave
What many people don't know about the EU: We have the largest electrical grid in the world, stretching from Poland in the east to Portugal in the west, Norway in the north to Greece in the south. Hey there, France, got a problem with your nuclear reactors again? Here's Spain, and here's Germany, no problem, we will help you out. That, above all politics, is the biggest achievement we have reached, and it was a technological challenge we have mastered. It's not perfect yet, but we keep on working on it.
One of the achievements I personally benefit from is: No more border controls. I live in south Germany, close to the Czech Republic, and I remember the days when you waited an hour or so to have your passport checked before you could drive on. Nowadays, there's only a sign where the border used to be, saying "Welcome to the Czech Republic", and in the other direction, it says "Welcome to the Federal Republic of Germany". However, you have to be careful, as national rules and regulations still apply. While it's perfectly right to drive 100 km/h on a country road in Germany, in the Czech Republic only 80 are allowed.
The many different languages are a bit of a problem; I'm not a genius, so I can't know them all. However, strangely enough, Great Britain has left the EU (there was a much debated public vote there), but English seems to be the language spoken by almost all of the younger EU citizens, although none of us except the Brits had it as their native tongue.
While the founding fathers and EU pioneers wanted a United Europe because after WW2 it was very clear that European`s were tired of war and had been severally devastated, wanted a way to create peace and stability, they started working out a way to gradually get closer, this wasnt going to happen overnight. the gradual economic and political intertwining is there to help foster a more of a PanEuropean spirit. The EU is not a country (at least not yet), it is just a supranational intergovernmental entity. No EU army, just EU battlegroups with what 1500 troops, yeah you have PESCO and military cooperation's but not a United Army. Language wise, for the most part its normal for Europeans to be bilingual if not multilingual, knowing your National Language, English, and most often one of the main EU working languages (meaning French or German, aside from English). Aside from that the EU manages to preserve the peace and rejoice in the various cultures. Maybe it is different in the US, but at least between the youths there is a growing sense of EU pride, love and respect towards it because it has a lot of value. Greetings from Malta
As for the power discrepancy in the European Parlament between larger and smaller countries, it doesn't quite work like that. A German Social Democrat is much more likley to vote with a Swedish and Slovenian Social Democrat, than with a German Conservative. So the makeup of the EP is more along political lines rather than national lines.
In US terms, a Democrat from California in the house of representatives is way more likely to vote with a Democrat from Vermont, than with a Republican from CA.
Czech person here, I was living in Brno and Zlín for a long time and visited Prague many times. Our cities have some really nice historical buildings and in the case of Zlín, mostly the nice small houses with red roofs, but in other cities they are various buildings with balconies, ornaments, nicely decorated doors, windows etc. Even little statues. Living in these cities I always took them as granted, thinking they look nice but I have seen them for so long, it became like just buildings to me. But seeing people from the USA visit Europe and wonder about our architecture makes me appreciate these old buildings way more now.
Je suis entièrement d'accord avec vous. L Europe c'est magnifique nos villes sont très belles, chargées d histoire. L architecture est magnifique. Le nombre de beaux édifices est impressionnant. Rien qu en France il y a plus de 40 000 châteaux. Vous pouvez penser que c est le cas dans plusieurs pays européens. J adore les pays d Europe très content d y vivre le citoyen est bien protégé malgré des imperfections. Tous nous faisons face à la Russie pour l Ukraine. La Russie devrait être avec l Europe. Nous espérons que les choses s arrangeront. Les état Unis n ont pas aider à calmer poutine c était très facile de le pousser à la guerre et de prendre prétexte de cela pour saboter les gazoducs de la mer baltique oui ce sont les américains qui ont fait ça pour essayer de mettre l industrie allemande en difficulté la politique des États-Unis est très sournoise. Je suis sur que les choses vont s arranger. Mais les États-Unis avec la Chine alors là c'est une autre histoire. Le président Macron commence à prendre du recul vis à vis des États-Unis là dessus. En tout cas vive l Europe.
8:21 The European Coal and Steel Community was not a military union. It is actually the opposite, it was fromed to prevent war between old rival countries.
The EU is NOT a country. The EU is a union between countries, who agree to follow common rules about food production, agriculture, climate change prevention etc. And working together as an union gives the small countries of Europe a bigger voice in the world, so countries like USA, China, Russia, India won't just walk over us. The whole thing is about working together towards a better future for everybody.
And there are actually quite a few countries who have submitted their application to join the EU.
I just found this video and I think it's cool to see someone from US trying to understand complicated European politics and stuff. For someone outside EU these things can be very confusing so I'll do my best to try to explain how these things work.
1. Yes, our history is full of wars and violence. But it was ww2 that changed the whole "game". You see, after ww1 Germany was in chaos because of war reparations and other economic problems. Ww1 winners and their treatment of Germany actually led to ww2. So to avoid new potential wars and to learn from their own mistakes, all allied countries agreed after ww2 they will never ask for reparations from Germany or Italy. When financial crisis hit Greece several years ago, some of their populist politicians started talking about reparations from Germany but those statements weren't taken seriously. But it tells you how in 1945. nations of Europe decided to turn a new page. Of course it took years and decades to build these new friendships. It's not like the French and the Dutch woke up one morning in late 1940s and said Hey, let's forgive the Germans for everything they did to us. It took many years. Before World wars, France and Germany fought against each other every 20-30 years. Ever since the end of ww2 it's been almost 80 years since France and Germany haven't fought each other. And not only they stopped hating each other, they see each other as friends and partners. And they are not the only ones. Austrians and Italians, Hungarians and Romanians, etc., once most hated enemies have now become friends. Like I said, it takes years and even decades but it's worth it. We are aware of our history, history full of violence, and that's the reason we don't ever want to repeat it.
2. To someone outside EU it might seem we are 27 different people with over 20 different languages but the truth is, almost all Europeans are bilingual, some use 3 or more languages. And English is our lingua franca. You can see Irish, Greeks, Finns, Portuguese and Poles hanging out together and they will all speak English to each other. So those linguistic barriers are long gone because everybody can understand everybody. And when people understand each other, they get to know each other. And when they get to know each other, they make friendships. And friends don't invade each other. They work together and create alliances and unions. If India can have over 100 ethnic groups and many different languages and they still exist as India, or if Russia can have over 100 ethnic groups and many languages and still exist as a country for centuries now, or Brazil or you name it, why couldn't Europe do that too? The only difference is Europeans still don't have that European identity. Yet. But I noticed among younger population that's changing a bit. More and more European people are starting to feel more European and less national. I'm not saying they don't feel like Germans or French or Spanish but I noticed European identity has become more popular in recent years. You can see now both national and European flags during the protests or other events. Every public building has 3 flags, regional, national and European, while 20-30 years ago there were only regional and national flags. And yeah, 9th of May is a real thing, it's just nobody celebrates that. It's not a holiday or anything. It's only mentioned on the news like Hey guys, it's 9th of May, the day when ww2 in Europe ended in 1945 and when EU foundations were laid in 1950. And that's pretty much it.
3. Of course sometimes we don't agree when it comes to economic or political issues, but it's dialogue and diplomacy we use now, not threats or guns. For example, last year when member states had to agree on budget and which member state gets how much money because of pandemic, Netherlands, Austria and Denmark disagreed with France and Germany, and it took days before they all agreed. Imagine if something important happens in US and governors from each state have to approve that plan or action. And if even 1 disagrees, you have to start all over again. Of course it's impossible for 50 people to agree on everything. Same thing goes for EU member states. And that's why it feels like EU is very slow when it comes to decision making. This is why we have several institutions so that every country can get a chance to say what bothers them, It's not like the bigger states do exactly what they want and smaller states have to be silent. It's like US Congress. House of Representatives depends on each states population while the Senate has the same number of senators for each state. Something like that exists in EU too but it's a bit different and too complicated to explain in this comment.
4. What will the future of EU look like? It's hard to tell. Look where EU was 30 years ago. I bet no one back then could ever imagine that one day they won't need passports to cross the border and they would all use the same currency. And today it would be impossible to go back to how it was. In the next 30 years, who knows. Maybe EU will become a federal country, maybe not. I personally would love that because I think EU can become a new superpower with US, Russia and China. What EU needs to do is to bring itself closer to people and do several crucial changes and some reforms. Union in this form can't be a superpower and it needs to be, especially in these times when free world countries should stick together. It would benefit both EU and US. Because EU would finally build its own armed forces and wouldn't have to rely so hard on US protection, and US could have a strong and reliable ally instead of having many smaller and vulnerable allies. And who knows, maybe one day we will have both federal European Union and your English Union.
But until then, we the people in EU can't really complain. EU has brought many amazing stuff to us and I can't see how anyone could ever go back to how it once was when we didn't have all of this. I'm trying to imagine a scenario where I need my passport to go to Italy which is like 30 mins drive from my home and change currency whenever i cross the border. I don't think I could do that again. I don't want that ever again. I feel both European and Croatian and I really believe that people all over EU will realize one day what we need is more European and less national interests. Strong and stable EU benefits all member states. Weak and unstable EU means going back to 20th century and I think nobody wants that
Yes, we did fight forever - but we did so, because we didn't have the EU then! So because of history we value what we have now with the EU. Fighting or invading another EU country sounds as bonkers to us as the USA declaring war on canada.
Yes but, "...as the USA declaring war on Canada." would be better phrased as "...As Texas declaring war on Louisiana or washington declaring war on Oregon." Because the US has states, also with different laws per state, much like we have different laws per country.
You understand that prolonged peace in Europe has nothing to do with the EU right? If any organization can take credit for that it would be NATO
@@kevartje1295 You do realise that there has been something like an American Civil War, right? It's not that bonkers....
@@swanpride I'm not saying it's bonkers, I'm making a better comparison.
here in the EU we dont hate our neighbors like in america! we respect and understand that we need each other!
We have never been able to count on USA support. Even when they did finally deign to join WW1 and WW2, it was because the USA itself was threatened and they wanted to depend on western European support. Even so, they wouldn't send us tanks etc until we agreed to pay. And after we agreed to exchange technological research and Britain sent ours to America, America refused to send anything back on the belated and patronising grounds that it might be captured by the Germans.
One of the reasons behind the EU was to halt wars between members and so far it has worked.
I don’t really see the EU shrinking in the near future due to the fact that we all witnessed the clusterfuck that is Brexit and we don’t wanna be next.
However, we don’t know what sort of political shocks could happen to stir things up.
However, the shape the EU takes in the next 30 years internally is very much up for debate.
Brexit is brilliant
More than happy with Brexit. It feels great being our own boss again and not having to ask the Germans if we can do something.
@@Steve-gc5nt Tell us one thing that you can do now that you personally couldn't do before leaving the EU.
If Brexit is so great you must have lots of things to choose from so mentioning one concrete benefit shouldn't be difficult.
Also frankly it's going to be way more clusterfucky for a surozone county
To understand most sane British people you have to accept that 'the continent of Europe' is a (admittedly very large) Island off the coast of Great Britain ...
Ah ah ah ,makes my day
as a romanian, we always speak more languages ,because most will travel to work in diffrent countries ( were the economy is much better, France,then italy,then spain, until now all went to Uk, now to nordic countries most, and germany was always a place to work since forever), European Union will grow,but slow and steady ,there are many steps to join and takes time. We were always hard working ,but being from a poor country and with a large gypsi community we had a lot of criminals that created a stereotype that we are all gypsi and thiefs, the whole brexit was centered on the fact that est-europeans like us are stealing jobs from UK people( but the english never work in fasst food,services,truck drivers, farms ,etc , now they are crying for workforce ,and most romanians went to germany or nordic countries). Also EU was always centered around Germany/France, they are the pillars of EU, also Uk was one of them
Thanks to the EU, I, a Portuguese student, am able to study for my favorite course here in Ireland, for 1/5th of the cost for foreigners. And I think I’ll be staying in Ireland.
Well the EU is as well an international organisation as it is a supranational entity that directly governs certain fields of the shared /pooled policy fields. It can be argued that it is both a confederation as well as a in-part federation. The German constitutional court called it a "StaatenVERbund" which is more than just a confederation but not yet a fully flegded federation.
DK: The EU is a trading platform, not a country. It is not a United States of Europe. That is a united Europe. It is a trading platform for member countries. A cooperative utility association which exchanges goods, labor, knowledge and culture (+ crime). And the EU is also a social mediator that helps the less fortunate up to the same economic and solitary level or standard as the others (companies, sectors, local districts, rural areas and countries), so that we all can exchange goods at an equally competitive level. The problems or challenges in the EU arise when the EU seeks to deprive countries of their sovereignty here and there.
That around an EU army. A peacekeeping EU army - perhaps. An EU defense army - that's an impossibility. NATO must do the work until we stop believing that weapons are a solution. Thank you for spending your youth learning McJibbin
Is NATO brain dead ????
I was a student just before the single market and the eurozone started. We dreamed of having a stable international currency . And we made it, (and we went through crisis and got out of it). We dreamed of the single market, able to level up the standards of living in backward European countries and to streghen us and to become a major bloc on the international level. And we made it. We dreamed of enjoying freedom to travel, with no border check and no currency exchange rate, to work and retire and settle as we please. And we made it. At the time, I never expected the EU would do so well in my lifetime. There was a serious lack of popularity of the European ideal at the time. And now we have public opinion support because European citizens are now aware of the advantages of working together (and not against one another, or even worse, being at war). And now I can watch videos of American people discovering the EU !! I was stressed when the EEC grew and become the EU and many new members joined in. But that is the miracle of the EU : it works and moves ahead, just as Schuman put it in his statement for the creation of the Stell and Coal Agreement (the date of birth of European building). Europe couldn't be made at once. It is a process that takes place through crises and through the way Europe overcome crisis. Europe is an ideal, a hope for the future for Europeans (even if it is not perfect of course). I am very proud of being part of it. I feel safe, do not fear my country to be invaded or at war with our neighbours. I have trust in the future of Europe and our abiity to overcome difficulties and adapt and defend our values. For sure, union means strengh and a single country alone accounts for peanuts to face challenges coming ahead. And as many put it, we understand Europe as a Union because we are all willing to keep our differences.
As someone who was born in union times, this is such an interesting perspective.
Because I'm type "What the fuck is a border" due to my age, and I never really thought what it must've been like to see it grow because for me it has always been there. As a rock to stand on, a house to live in, a cradle to protect me, an ideal to guide me, take your pick.
I never really stopped to appreciate and savour it, thought about the troubles that were there before my time.
So thank you.
"US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Australia...we'll form our own great English Union..."
...And we'll call it...Oceania!!!
So Orwell was right after all..🤔🙄😳
Actualy the name CANZUK start to roll few time ago. Not Oceania. Oceania are the name of the australia continent.
@@ricardoxavier827 CANZUK does not include the US and you don’t get Jose’s 1984 joke, do you?
Or the USA could just join the
@@kewl2152 ...the what???
When we are talking about the cooperation of each member state in making laws and regulations, all member states (MS) actively cooperate in that. For example, the EU wants to make a new act about food safety. From each member state authority, actively give their comments on the basic text. When all MS are happy with the text, it's going to the European Parlament for adoption.
Each country, depending on its inhabitants' number, have a strictly certain number of parliamentarians. Each MS votes for them each 5 years. These parliamentarians in European Parliament (EP) don't represent their country. They represent political parties. It is too much to explain about party life in the EU, but you can find a video about that.
Each country has a commissioner, that he or she is a minister, and a general directorate is a ministry in classical meaning. The commissioners choose a president between themselves. Ursula von der Leyen is the president of the European Commission (EC) and it is an EU government.
Which is why it is a system that can only fail.
There is still massive problem that countries of former eastern block are considered second grade countries with second grade people. You mentioned food safety, we have problem with double standard of food, we scream about that many years and EU did nothing. Western companies make same products for us with lower quality then for western europe, they say different market wants different taste, what a bullshit! We want sprite or fanta like they have in the west, we want chocolade with real cacao inside, we want real natural orange in juice, not orange color from lab. Western companies think that we are pigs and we eat everything and EU did nothing. But ofcoruse, that food is probably safe, but worse quality for us. What is not always safe is food from Poland, they have some problems with that in Poland, they have constantly some salmonela in that or something, but there is no other option than buy meat from Poland, it's the only country in EU which can make enough meat for all of us.
actually the union might began with kings marriage by convenience , all royals are in the same family
I love your curiosity! 🇪🇺
I mean, it does work well. It's so great to be able to freely travel between countries, trade, and emigrate, it's like. You have all the benefits of being your own country, wíth the additional benefits of being in a close union with neighbors. I don't see how this is bad, I think the EU is one of the most interesting, and in my life (with passions i have such as history, culture, traveling) one of the things that improve my life sooo much.
I recently discovered how great international trains in the EU are, it's so cheap and fast to go to basically anywhere from the Netherlands. I'm so grateful for all these things, the EU is great.
Also, the US cities were built with efficiency in mind, but spoiler alert: no. A road with public transit, bike lanes and proper walkways, are 3 times (or more) efficient than US roads. let alone, safer. It's pretty fascinating. Oh you should DEFINITELY check out the channel ''Not just bikes'' he lived in canada, the US and some other places and explains certain topics so well, often comparing where he lived in the US to places that do it better, with actual proof and sources along with it. It's my favorite youtube channel and the reason why I started studying mobility.
Same, love the EU
I live in western Germany, close to the Dreiländereck with Belgium and the Netherlands. From my childhood I still remember a border wall in the middle of the road in Herzogenrath/Kerkrade. I never want that again.
@@claudiakarl7888 No reason you need the eu for that to happen again.
9:52 No, we aren't one country and I think some sant to go towards that, some not.
I knew about the bananas, but did you know, the orange color in carrots was bred in by my people, the people from the Netherlands, to honor the king (willem van oranje/william of orange). The carrot in the wild was purple or white, we made them orange.
The UK invented the modern Banana
If memory serves lord Cavendish
I do see the EU growing as something bigger and better than just "a big country" or just "another simple continent".
Why should it last ? It works (somehow) now and that is good. When it doesn't lets make something different.
20:30
The whole point of this is:
Before: The elected parlament appointed the representative to the European Parliament
After: The Voters elected a representative to the European Parliament directly.
I feel like Americans might not just be pessimistic about the European project but also a little jealous. And people from outside often tend to forget that while we have sovereign nations, we also have a common European identity on top of that. I feel like especially young people identify strongly with their fellow europeans.
8:17 actually not a military union, tho we might be going towards that. And there was American comittee on United Europe in 1948, which wanted military union as well (I guess).
In USA you dont have the club culture. And the Ultras...
The champions league are our new war field, and like the militar, we have different types of armies inside the clubs, in a multi layer war zones.
Start to understand football clubs culture, and you will find out.
One more detail: We dont have street gangs here. Only footbal fans with business.
@@ricardoxavier827 Why are you commenting this under my comment. Hello from Finland
14:25 If you wanna know why US cities are so different check out the channel Not Just Bikes
About the number 38, it was indirect elections (election by great electors, ie directly elected representants) with an egal number of representants for each countries (basically a senate or higher house in any other country than the USA) , it is now a parliament or lower house with a number of representants for each country indexed on the population (with a minimal number though).
The thing is, the EU is a lot, but something it is not is a Military Alliance. Much of the idea with the EU is to have similar rules for economics, legislation, customs, etc. Some call the EU a concept of peace, if countries forge closer ties with each other, it will be more difficult to wage war. That the EU would become one and the same country as the United States may never happen and if it does, it is probably many decades away. However, I believe that the EU has a relatively bright future, most of those who are skeptical belong to the older generation. It would also not surprise me if the UK rejoins, however, it will probably take 20-30 years for that to happen.
I miss Sam...
The EU is probably not going to grow that much in "size", besides maybe some balkan countries. It will not diminish either however. The covid crisis has shown if anything that members, even when divided politically, have no intention of separating, and that they're more than ever conscious that they can only count on each other rather than exterior to EU help when shit hits the fan internationally. They've all engaged into a program of restoration of the economy where they've subscribed to financial help from the EU (750 billions in total) that they'll then have promised to reimburse over 30 years from 2028 to 2058. That's how confident every current member is that they're not going to leave the EU in the following few decades.
Everyone has seen how terrible the consequences of leaving the EU are thanks to the massive failure and farce that the brexit is. And that's from a country that only had one foot in the EU, not having Euro as their money and so on; so just imagine the damage and mess for a country that would have to leave and redo their own currency; and this in a situation where every country in the world besides China is damaged economically by the current crisis.
It's not happening, no one will be leaving.
Rules and laws may change, but countries won't leave.
I m no historian, but the united Europe is really way way older, but those days (middle ages) couldn't make it work. But make no mistake, due to royalty the whole Europe was one (sort of) and all the royalty spoke all the major languages. It is said, if queen Victoria was still alive, WW1 wouldn't happened, she was the grandma of Europe :-D she wouldn't let her grandkids fight :-D :-D and I am happy we evolved so much that I am proud to call myself eu citizen. I do so love how you said "I just want to learn" that is sooooo awesome.
We are not a "big country" and don't want to be (for the moment), we are a union of countries. The main goal of this union is to be so united we cannot fight anymore. We didn't forget our wars, it's the opposite. We learned from them. Don't forget we are less interested (as whole) about being first and rich. We are looking for stability, happiness and safety.