As a Polish and EU citizen I totally support the EU. It's the best place to live in on earth, better than the US and China. I am also worried that populist politicians across the EU blame it for their own faults and people believe that. What we need to realize is that our strength comes from Unity and standing together and cooperating very closely.
for an EU citizen all one has to know is that with a single card you can travel anywhere on the mainland without any extensive checks, and generally for a citizen all eu countries have more or less the same laws.
In theory, I've been rejected entry to the netherlands and Poland for not carrying a passport, thankfully I was going to pass through and while a detour sucked I could get where I needed. There's some nuance to it. I should add I'm swedish, so with a passport I can basically get into any country on this planet.
@@captaineflowchapka5535 Yeah for sure, but I've been told time and again my national ID (Issued by swedish police) should be enough, and it's not been the case. Most of the time, but if it's not all the time then it's not working as intended :/
@@JohanHultin ah sadge , wait u said poland and danemark , there is the posibility that there is some funky asterix there (cuz they don't use euro , i assume there is other shenanigans)
You can imagine that creating some sort of union between different counrties, who each have their own politics, history, economy, etc. is pretty hard. So to get to where we are today, there need to be a lot of exceptions to rules and countries need to work together.
@@justmike-yt Also no. That’s because US States did not rule themselves first before they joined a Union with other States. Culturally it is even more impossible to compare US States with European countries, especially due to very long histories in Europe which don’t exist at all in America.
Except the EU is pretty much the opposite of the US. You guys may not know it but we can't elect any of the members in EU Parliament, meaning we have no say in what regulations get put through.
2:17 It's not crazy and all countries pay a memebership fee. This membership fee is used for three things: 1) paying for the costs that are coming with running such a large organization, like civil servants working for the EU directly or the negotiators that arange the trade deals with other countries, maintaining buildings etc, 2) funding projects of common interests like the Galileo satellite program or the Erasmus student program, and 3) invest in infrastructure projects in regions and countries that lag behind. This means that there's net beneficiaries and net payers in the EU, with Germany and the Netherlands for example paying more money than is reinvested from EU funds, while others like Poland or Bulgaria receive more funding than they pay in membership fees. However the benefit of being a member outweighs the costs by far - you are a member of the single market and customs union which allows companies within the EU to work without any barriers and it also allows companies to take advantage of all the trade agreements the EU has negotiated (there's more than 800 individual agreements; 49 of them are free trade agreements, the rest is bilateral agreements regulating certain aspects of trade. The USA for example has more than 100 individual agreements with the EU covering different topics of trade and other cooperations). This means that while a country might pay let's say a membership fee of 20 billion per year the net benefit it gets back is always way more. It also means that individual people can travel freely within all EU member countries and can also work everywhere in the EU.
True, the membership fees are quite tiny in comparison to the benefits the members get, something the UK is finding out the hard way with Brexit. Still, I've got to wonder what people shortly after the second world war would think of the EU, chances are, they would likely think this wasn't possible and yet here we are and I've got to wonder how much more integration will happen in future, especially now Putin has likely given the EU and Europeans a shot in the arm to go further on integration over the next decade.
@@paul1979uk2000 it's more like the eu 'leaders' are using putin to push for more integration, aka even more transfer of autonomy to unelected regents.
@@paul1979uk2000 just out of ww2 with ww1 still in everyone memory? they would f*** love it no doubt and all of them just for the pure security concerning war again between eu member, wich is that set up was already unlikely (and probably even more after decade of traveling/mixing between country) cant imagine a single citizen wou would agree for a war against an other eu country by our time, they litteraly might have familiy in it and such it wouldnt work
Thats why complaining about beeing a net payer is so dumb. There is probably not a single country that profts more from the eu than germany. Yes, we give the EU more money than we get back from it butour economy profits so much that the additional taxes outweigh the EU membership fees tenfold.
@@bremer1701 weird, it doesn't seem to me that a trade agreement, which is what germany is profiting from, has to be coupled with constant transfer of national autonomy. germany doesn't need the eu, the eec was more than enough.
There is no 'European Passport'.We have only one..which is accepted in every European City. You simply have that Passport from that Country where you were born in.
If you are a citizen of a country that belongs to the European Union, take a good look at your passport. It states it is a European passport. So, although there are no purely physical European passports, all those passports are in fact European passports, with all strings and asterisks attached that come with such a document as defined by the various European Union treaties. Something doesn't have to be physically separate to still be able to exist ;) Unfortunately, that also means those strings and asterisks can be taken away any time your government decides it no longer wants to be part of the union, like what happened through Brexit and which is why many English can no longer use their European possessions (like a house in a EU country) like they could before.
Europe is a beautiful mess. It is mine beautiful mess. A series of independent sovereignties that decide to work together to improve each other's lives and strive for unity in voice, opinion, values and culture. A place where compromise is central and where there are countless exceptions and no one is 100% satisfied, but where people know that if the interest of another improves, self-interest can also reap the benefits. A place sometimes plagued by inaction by rules and discussions but also a place where principles are enforced and certain lines are never crossed. Simply because we believe in something bigger than our own small country. Being European makes me feel in a way that I'm a citizen of the world and that's a damn good feeling.
Good for you. I am Dutch, and most people in my country won't agree. Resentment towards the EU is actually growing in my country, most people dislike the EU. They like certain benefits like Schengen so they won't leave (yet), but it would not be a bad thing if the EU would understand that you can't keep pushing without your victim pushing back. Funny btw, countries in Eastern Europe want to join while countries in the west grow more resentful and in the case of the UK actually left. The future of the EU might not be as bright as soe people hope.
Number of Astrix can be easily explained with this: Many EU countries are over millennium old each with its own culture, laws and existing agreements and relations with other countries. USA had clean start 2 centuries ago and still has complicated relation between states.
Yep - not to mention the horde of "countries within other countries" that exist in Europe - with Monaco, the Vatican, San Marino, etc. Europe in general is just incredibly complex and individual to each nation who has their own culture and history throughout 1000s of years - and any attempt to unify all these nations under common rules and guidelines is not an easy task. So with this in mind, the European Union's basics are actually quite simple all things considered. In its most basic terms it can be seen as "free trade, free transport, free work - and collective effort to bring all member states up to equal standards". That's the general gist of it all.
But relative to the world a common culture,,.. emanating from Rome and Athens,, with ethics and laws based in Christianity,...If not so far away Australia ,New Zealand, Canada could belong ..
@@kevanbodsworth9868 That's a common misconception. While there are some basic common denominators, cultures and customs in different European regions are vastly different.
@@lady8jane There were a great number of perspectives which can be taken on the subject, it is impossible to form a single, all-embracing conception of European culture.[ Nonetheless, there are core elements which are generally agreed upon as forming the cultural foundation of modern Europe. One list of these elements given by K. Bochmann includes A common cultural and spiritual heritage derived from Greco-Roman antiquity, Christianity, Judaism, the Renaissance, and its Humanism, the political thinking of the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution, and the developments of Modernity, including all types of socialism; A rich and dynamic material culture that has been extended to the other continents as the result of industrialization and colonialism during the "Great Divergence" A specific conception of the individual expressed by the existence of, and respect for, a legality that guarantees human rights and the liberty of the individual A plurality of states with different political orders, which are feeding each other with new ideas; Respect for peoples, states, and nations outside Europe.[6] Berting says that these points fit with "Europe's most positive realizations". The concept of European culture is generally linked to the classical definition of the Western world. In this definition, Western culture is the set of literary, scientific, political, artistic, and philosophical principles which set it apart from other civilizations. Much of this set of traditions and knowledge is collected in the Western canon. The term has come to apply to countries whose history has been strongly marked by European immigration or settlement during the 18th and 19th centuries, such as the Americas, and Australasia, and is not restricted to Europe. The Nobel Prize laureate in Literature Thomas Stearns Eliot, in his 1948 book Notes Towards the Definition of Culture, credited the prominent Christian influence upon the European culture:[8] "It is in Christianity that our arts have developed; it is in Christianity that the laws of Europe have--until recently--been rooted."
@@kevanbodsworth9868 Hey, you are talking to an archaeologist and historian and ... you know ... you are just wrong. There is no unified European culture, there is no such thing as "white culture" and even assuming that all European countries are rooted in Christianity is racist AF as there are several European countries with majority Muslim populations.
Greece and a bunch of slavic countries as well they made them members of the eu ...i think they did that because they did not want russia to have a strong impact around eu
@@adampustos1155 thats true and they are still in the eu and countrys like albania and kosovo have a long history of battling europes enemy's and yet they are not in the eu i think thats quite odd and both albania and kosovo are great america supporters and lovers
To be fair, any EU without Greece is an incomplete EU. It's shit because we basically pay for many of the southern European countries, but I'm happy to. Greeting from the Netherlands
Far from all the administrative and political technicalities of the EU, let me tell you what it means to me being an ordinary EU citizen. That's naturally my own experience only, but.... I am a French citizen who lives in a French-speaking town of Eastern Belgium. I live in a border area where three countries meet, Luxembourg is a 20-minute drive away, and Germany is a 30-minute drive away. As Belgium is a small country, the French border is an hour-drive away, and the Dutch border is a 90-minute drive away. So, I can freely and easily drive to five different countries with no border or customs check - just like changing state in the US. Being in this multicultural environment, I'm also multilingual: French (my mother tongue), German, as well as some Dutch and basic written Luxembourgish (an interesting Germanic idiom with some French influence). And English as you can guess here. That's what the European Union means for me, the riches of being a multicultural person who lives in a free and peaceful environment.
Beautifully written :) And yes, I agree with this 100%. As a EU citizen, over the years I have learned 4 foreign languages (my native language being the 5th one for me) which is awesome and it opened new worlds to me, but speaking of a new world - the ability to just travel across Europe freely and mostly being able to pay with euros everywhere is just unbelievable. The cultural richness it brings is sometimes overwhelming, yet I love it so so much. I'm very grateful to be living in this day and age and just being able to enjoy Europe today.
I'm Spanish, but got to learn in a german highschool, went on holidays to France and feel just like at home. I speak fluently Spanish, English, German, Catalan and French and I understand Portuguese, Italian and Dutch. I've traveled all around west Europe, been in 8 different countries qnd never used my passport.
@@angelcosta4383 That is very impressive. I remember being on Holiday im Schwarzwald at a campground near the Titisee. Or Titi lake. I visited the Rheinfälle in Switzerland and went on a day trip to Straßbourg in France. Where i ordered a frozen yoghurt, despite knowing 0 french for a conversation, but it somehow worked. The french people where you usually very nice and understanding of my inability to communicate with them. I also went on vacation in France twice. The lake there was beautiful. But yeah, I'm German and only know English as a second language. I once tried to learn spanish but didn't get very far on my own. But i cannunderstand dutch to some degree. And with that, I mean I can read it. But it's so close to German that understanding isn't very hard. I'm currently trying to learn it. I also don't like traveling very much on my own, but should I ever visit spain, i will try my best at broken spanish unless I learned it by that point. I also went on vacation in the netherlands last year. English can get you very far there on the west coast. I didn't have any problems with communication unlike my roommates, who only speak German. Have a nice day and pro tip: Never visit Cologne during Carneval season unless you're there to get drunk. Everyone only comes here during that time to get drunk! It's insane!
As a Greek citizen, we indeed gave deceptive statistics about our economy when we requested to join the eurozone. But it was at a point where government corruption was at its peak and they thought that it would be a great idea to just "fake it till we make it" into the eurozone
Don't worry if you don't understand the EU. 95% of Europeans don't understand it either. We have entire university courses dedicated solely to the art of understanding the EU and its rules, and that's not a joke. But it's not actually that bad. When you travel, the information on the rules within your country of destination is freely available on the Internet, in your language, usually with bullet points highlighting how the rules are different from your country of origin. Perhaps the best part of the EU is that any official language WITHIN the EU, is also the official language OF the EU, so any information on the EU rules MUST be made available in all official EU languages, by law. So all it takes is a couple of google searches and you will know pretty much everything there is to know. Even permanently moving to another EU country is usually no different from moving within the borders of your country. Once you register your new address with the utilities and the taxman you can just live your life as you normally would, and you don't have to worry about being double-taxed, or any service provider giving you any trouble or anything like that. Just be aware that some exceptions may apply. It's kinda like moving in to a new neighborhood, and going to greet the neighbors: They'll make you feel right at home, but you better ask before you give that peanut-butter cake to your neighbor's kid, who may or may not be allergic to peanuts.
I grew up in the Southern Netherlands, close to germany and Belgium, we just do not even notice the borders. I cross a border twice just going to work, We do not even slow down
Well that because you are allowed to drive faster on the highway in germany than in the netherlands. I think rob means crossing the borders on 'not highways'. Between the netherlanda and belgium there are a lot of roads going trhough both countries and you dont even notice. There are even small 'islands' of belgium surrounded by the netherlands... or towns that are half dutch and half belgium.
The official rules around the EU are pretty confusing, but in reality the entire group of countries is too dependent on each other to really make a problem out of it. Either for military, techonlogical, monetary or comfort reasons (or a combination of these), most countries within Europe HAVE to work together, to benefit them both. It's mostly just legislative stuff that separates the countries...
5:09 No, the UK only uses pounds. We always had to exchange euros for pounds when travelling to the UK, or pay by credit or debit card and pay the bank fee for conversion, which is a lot more expensive than exchanging currency beforehand.
And because of the brexit the UK is now not a member of the EU anymore. Well, look at where they are now, because that brexit caused more problems than expected. Think of economical: products from outside the UK got more expensive, other prices went up, truck drivers from oytside the country are not allowed to work in the UK (e.g.Polish ones), so the result is a lack of trick drivers in the UK... and so on... Thanks to that druk guy, Johnson... O, sorry... Only drunk at illegal parties...
@@qwertyTRiG But I guess those shops will return you pounds, it's like that here in Czech Republic, many shops accept euro, but they will always return CZK to you.
@@qwertyTRiG It's actually pretty good way how to get rid off your extra euro cash from vacation, just spend it in shops, some of them have relatively good exchange rate.
you have to follow his thought process, he asked that question after non-eu countries that use the euro had been introduced which is understandable and a good question.
@@Brookspirit There arent really downsides on the euro. Except for old people that still think the old coins will keep their worth of back in the days.
@@murderboytje i don't know about NL, but here in Italy the arrival of Euros has made more damages than anything. In 2002 everything that was selled at 1000 Lire (0,52 cent Euros) it was automatically selled at 1 euro. (1936,27 Lire). If you ask a german, he will probably say that Euro was the best thing happened since ever.
@@9tommy145 Prices went up here as well. But it isnt as simple as just looking at what prices do. Export, tourism, EU support. Enough to consider. And especially Italy is a country that had a lot of support because of it.
You are crazy like hell. The EU is the worst thing that could ever happen to the country's with good economics. Time after time, we have to pay for the other country's debts like Spain Italy and Greece. While our economics are being wrecked by the country's i have mentioned And for the record, i'm a Dutch citizen and no fucking way i'll ever be an "European"
Amen, although sometimes it feels like the Fourth Reich. I mean for an entire continent to band together in the way we have after millennia of fighting and the largest and most bloody conflicts since writings invention is truly baffling. When talking to non Europeans I usually say my nationality, but if it’s someone who understands the EU I say I am a EU citizen.
@@swedishbloke There is no such thing as a "Eu citizen" We are all different in langauge, culture, religion, you name it. This is exactly the reason why my ID says: "Nederlandse" (Dutchman), and not "EU citizen". In the very beginning when the EU was founded by the North Western European country's, it could have worked out. But in the last 20 years all kinds of country's have been added to the EU, that have norms and values that are complete te opposite of what the North West European country's are representing.
@@swedishbloke I think being part of any kind union feel the same. Think about London, England, Scotland. All part of the same union and be so different. Let's not mention Italy, Spain or Belgium. I met an American guy once that told me he felt Texan, not American and that he felt distant from someone from New England like someone from another country.
Greece: In the past Greece was not always complying with the European rules, that's why the ironic wording. The most eastern peninsula in the north of Greece is called Athos, an Greek Orthodox self governing monastic region, where women are not allowed to enter, and men only (with a special visum) for religious reasons.
Not complying is a little bit of an understatement. Greece was not fullfilling the criteria for joining the Euro and suddenly they did. They used financial tricks to hide that they are not ready to join and tricked the country into the Euro. They should not have been accepted. This is one reason why the got financial problems later on.
"It's crazy they have to pay". Not really. Those funds are funneled back to member states in things like farming subsidies etc. So a farmer in Poland or in Denmark can get subsidized to keep production going, thus strengthening production on european soil rather than go bankrupt at the lower cost of production (and thereby lower living standards) that non-EU member states can offer. It's a way to ensure local production and build an internal market without relying on much cheaper products made outside of the EU. It's literally paying to keep industries alive rather than outsourcing production to China. It's a bit protectionist so to say but it helps keep several industries alive on home-soil rather than see them fail and be dependent on foreign import. It does however level the playing field internally amongst EU member states so that a polish farmer and a spanish farmer gets the same economic incentive to keep doing their business. The 2nd part of it is that it forces industries in those member countries to adhere to a common standard, so a pillow made in Romania has to abide by the same product standards as one made in France. So it gets streamlined and you won't buy a pillow from Romania that is full of toxins while the one made in France is all good and non-toxic. Overall, being a former member of the Socialist Youth Party and originally against the EU, I now see it as a project of solidarity, ensuring the same standards of materials and living across the entirety of the EU, rather than it being this institution in favor of corporations exploiting poorer states and undermining workers and customers rights and protection. I'll gladly pay my fair share if that means that eastern european countries has a stable industrial production and sees a rise in living standards, although it might personally cost me a bit more each year. It's a project of solidarity and co-dependence.
and... the funds are not allocated by local politicians, so they can't really use this money for their own popularity... doesn't stop any politician to claim the EU success are their own and all the problems are EU fault...
Old video, but still not too many short answers. So here is mine :) The European Union is an incredibly complex task of unifying a large group of nations that each have their 1000s of years of independent culture and lifestyles and intertwined histories. However, the European Union in its basics is actually quite simple: - Free trade between members (and close associates). - Free living/work/study opportunities between members. - A strive to collectively bring up all member nations to a high level of function (meaning the less developed nations receive more funding, infrastructure, etc). - Common overarching rules and legislations that regard cross-border matters (such as trade, digital infrastructure and use, large-scale electronics development, etc). - Unified military aid (sometimes theoretically called the EU army, although the army branches are still separate and tied to their individual nations which can opt out if they want) These are the main overarching themes of the European Union. The entire intend is to improve efficiency and economic benefits and ease of living for neighboring countries that have close economic ties. That's also why you will see some nations like Denmark which didn't opt into the Euro currency, but the Danish Crown currency is still bound to the Euro so they fluctuate equally and can be traded without risk of loss or difference in inflation. (less so for the UK Pound, especially post Brexit).
This video was just too confusing. I studied all that stuff in college, to me it makes sense…But I suggest looking for a video giving a view in a historic context, starting with the founding states ( treaty of Rome) who wanted cooperation in Europe to avoid other wars. And it has been an evolving process ever since.
It's clearly confusing but so is European history, I've been studying the EU project now for about two decades and it's remarkable what us Europeans have achieved over the decades in the aftermath of the second world war. For me, I think things could be simplified in many areas, I also think the EU needs to engage a lot more with the citizens so they know what's going on, I think that's part of the problem why there are so many Eurosceptics, they are not engaged enough with the project to know what is going on and much of the media is quite happy to fill in the blanks in a very distorted way, we saw a lot of that in the UK with Brexit.
@@paul1979uk2000 i would like a stronger EU, more political power to it and all the stuff you probably know and hear from most of the more hardcore "fans" of EU. Obviously it's incredibly hard, may easily never happen and we don't even know if it's the right path, consolidation before continuing to expand (accept new countries) or first expansion, development and then a more centralized power? Who really knows. Good thing is, as i remember, Germany-France first and France-Italy after started projects that include things like a political exchange, sort of, where each other take a look at what happens and how it happens inside each other parliament, in what i think is a long and slow road towards a more united EU core in regards to legislation, way of thinking and policies. That's my 2 cents based on what i learned in school about how the EU works. One can only hope the EU works (imho actually it works and worked pretty well) and keeps improving itself continuously, without it we are nothing when it comes to interacting with the rest of the world.
@@argus0ia It won't be easy and shouldn't be a knee-jerk reaction to what's going on in Ukraine right now but it's been needed for a while now, some just don't want to see it, but then again, who would have thought after the second world war that we would have a union like the EU we have today? they would have laughed and said it's never going to happen and yet here we are. I think more integration is needed on security, military and energy matters is needed with everything that is going on with Russia and Ukraine but I also think veto voting needs to go or be reformed with majority voting becoming more of a thing, as long as Poland and Hungary are playing games, there's likely going to be an hold on the EU expending with more countries, the irony being is that Poland and Hungary want the EU to bring in many more eastern European countries and yet they are the ones that holding the EU from doing it lol. Anyway, I think with everything that's happening with Putin and Ukraine, we're going to get some pretty big changes in the EU over the next 5-10 years, this is a major wake-up call that we need to cooperate better, work more closer and integrate.
I think the most important aspect of the EU is the fact that it is a peacekeeper. France and Germany set up a economic pact after WW II that made the long standing aspect of conflict over two mining and steel producing regions go away. From that on the union became bigger and more involved over the decades and this prevented armed conflict which was an issue on the continent for many centuries. Today it is complex but we had the longest era of peace in the history of the continent. From my point of view the next big step will be to decide if the EU will become one state with more central power over budget and legislation.
I don't think it's a good idea to make an entire state about all the countries in the EU. They are different countries for a reason... Different cultures & values are spread across the continent. You can't apply the same laws everywhere. Different climates & languages would complicate this even more.
That's pretty much how it started out with the Coal and Steel Community, the idea is to share coal and steel among the countries as that played a big part of creating war at the time, which made it harder for the countries to go to war with each other. As time went buy, it became a political and economic union and unlike some people would want us to beleave, it was always a political and economic union in the making, even before the UK joined the EEC and the main reason is simple, you can truly have a free flow of goods with no restrictions unless you harmonize a lot of rules among the members, hence why around 50% of members laws, rules and regulations are done at an EU level. Part of the advantage of that is that it pushed for higher standards as no member would vote on lower standards, it basically means, the EU sets a high standard that the members have to abide by, can't go lower than them but can always have higher standards than the EU sets, it's a big part of the reason why EU countries have such high workers rights, food standards, living standards and so on.
I think the European Union will risk a lot by doing this - mostly because the effectiveness of such a central state system would fall somewhere within the average of all member states - meaning any country that objectively functions better and more efficiently than the average EU state, will see a net loss from such an act. And many of these nations might consider leaving, in the face of the EU going towards extreme centralization. In theory, with optimal conditions, it would be a net benefit to everyone. But the real life risks and imperfection of the conditions spanning from highest to lowest ranking member nations is a big step to overcome.
You got it right. We are, especially my country France 🇫🇷 and Germany 🇩🇪 Here's an cool thing, if you're holding EU passeport, you can freely travel all Europe without problem. No borders. It's called the Schengen area. We're using the same currency € but not all of us UK uses the pound/sterling As French, keep it mind, our country is still remained a Colonial Empire which means we have Overseas Territories across the Globe.
The "Ban women" part of Greece is a semi-authonomous region held by a group of historic monasteries. Because of their cultural and religious value, Greece has given them very broad authonomy, including in who they allow to enter. They are... kind of weird, and iirc the ban is for female animals as well, except for cats (as breeding cats helped historically control mice and other pests, who did not obey the ban).
1:05 That “spot in the middle” is the Swiss Confederation (Switzerland). A notorious neutral country. They joined the United Nations (UN) in 2002. 4:35 The Switzerland currency is the Swiss franc (CHF). As of today 1 Feb. 2022: $1 = CHF 0.92 6:38 Don’t forget the French overseas territory Saint Pierre and Miquelon of the east coast of Canada.
Well, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon was a DOM in the past (Département d'outre-mer -> Overseas Mainland France) and therefore EU territory. But then it became a COM (collectivité d'O-M -> French but not mainland France) and therefore ceased to be EU territory, so EU citizens needs now proper immigration documents.
It’s cool that you accept that you don’t know certain things or don’t understand, yet you try to educate yourself, appreciate that. Greetings from the country where the Schengen treaty was signed!
I think the easiest way for Americans to understand this is: EU= USA, Country= State.. there's federal laws (EU), and state laws (Own Country laws)... follow that logic for work, business, police/military, cooperation etc and you get how it works
That's not a 1:1 comparison especially about the army especially because they're not one entity. But yeah basically it's the simplest simplification with a lots of errors that are necessary for an American to understand the main idea.
EU wasn't initialy thought beyond the first country members, so it's logical when it expended organically that it ran into unforseen legal issues, hence the plethora of asterisks.
Even with the airplane. If you travel from Amsterdam to Rome. You can just step out your plane and you are in the streets. No passport check or anything 😂
7:44 for the Dutch caribbean islands, on Aruba, Curacao and Sint-maarten any EU citizen can live on the Dutch islands provided they can prove that they can provide enough income for themselves, and people on those caribbean islands are EU citizens and can move to any of the other Dutch islands or to any EU member country on the mainland provided they can prove they can provide enough income for themselves after the move as well. For moving to the Dutch Sint-Eustatius, Bonaire or Saba islands or any non-dutch island the laws are complicated due to many confusing exceptions though.
And to add to the fun: the other part of Sint-Maarten is French and is called Saint Martin. France and the Netherlands have a land border. In the Caribbean. Halfway around the Earth.
hey Charlie yes the EU sadly has a few (kuch) asterisks, but it is not as uncommon as you think. look at all the things in the US that are decided purely on state level, many of those things stem from the colonial past and the states not being able to agree on things and not wanting to let go off to much of the power they had when forming the union.
Not sadly. Some of just don't want EU to fuck up our country more than necessary. Like the minimum wage. Just because all the other dingbat countries can't figure out how the unions and companies negotiate, we now risk legally wage dumping to a level where you can't sustain yourself. Oooh yes let have working poor like Germany that seems so awesome. Let's just give the EU more power to destroy what we've built. Yes I know there's benefits. But the downsides are way to big for countries that actually already had figured out how to make it work decently.
7:17 they forgot Norway who owns the island Svalbard, the big island north of scandinavia right underneath the northpole. Svalbard is visa free island but you have to get through Norway to go there. Edit: Svalbard also has a seed vault with different plant seeds from around the world in case of an apocolypse or something. During wintertime they experience polar nights, around 3 months of complete darkness. And in summertime, 24/7 sunshine but its still always cold. Except for the summer of 2020 when they had record temperature of around 89.6 fahrenheit, 32 celsius.
@@craftah Exaclty, but i do understand it. It basically means that invidual country's can not make their own laws anymore. I'm from The Netherlands, i don't need a Belgium city like Brussel who decides for me how i must live, eat, or like. The fact that we have a our own governement is a pure farce. Brussel (EU headquarters) is running the show now. One positive thing is that especially East European country's are beginning to restist against Brussels law making. Often Easter Eurpean country's say "Fuck you EU, we won't comply" The EU is one big pile of shit.
The ban women thing in Greece is Mt. Athos. It is part of Greece where monks live (in many monasteries). They basically have their own government, where abbots of monasteries deal with legal stuff. The ban of woman is purely out of theological reasons, since Mt. Athos has virgin Mary as its patron saint, so (technicaly) virgin Mary is the woman one allowed there. Their argumentation on the ban is, that since its purely a monk republic, any woman could distract them from their jobs and spiritual duties. Hope that clears it all (sry for my English)
And that is how The netherlands rules the world. MUHAHAHAHAHA 😎 Funny how he uses the titel "Kingdom" onley for The Netherlands and the UK who is out now.
@@corneliusantonius3108 The bilderberg group is dominated by germans, created by former nazi's even. We dont rule squad, not even our internal politics.
@@simdal3088 Prince Bernard is actually Lord Xenu The Galactic Overlord. The Dutch royals founded it in 1954 in a meeting in a Bilderberg hotel in The Netherlands. Members were/are The Dutch ryals, Freddy Heiniken Beatrix The present chairman is King Willem Alexander of The Netherlands and Nelson Mandela was a member too. And Bisshop Tu Tu Too Too. The goal waas to put the Netherlands back onto the economic map again after worldwar 2. But seriously: The Bilderberg meeting (also known as the Bilderberg Group) is an annual conference established in 1954 to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. The group's agenda, originally to prevent another world war, is now defined as bolstering a consensus around free market Western capitalism and its interests around the globe. Participants include political leaders, experts from industry, finance, academia, and the media, numbering between 120 and 150. Attendees are entitled to use information gained at meetings, but not attribute it to a named speaker. This is to encourage candid debate, while maintaining privacy - a provision that has fed conspiracy theories from both the left and right. Meetings were chaired by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands until 1976. The current Chairman is Henri de Castries.
EU is complicated especially when you get a crash course like in that video. Remember the EU is not a country so each individual country can and have opted out on certain aspects of it. Essentially it is a trading block called the single market. You’re right in that the UK have since left the EU.
As someone who was born in Bavaria (Southern Germany, but not really Germany), went to school in Switzerland and now living in The Netherlands, I always say: "I'm half German and half Polish, so that mix in itself is already too confusing to understand, not to mention the different countries I lived in. Hence why I see myself as European."
greece entered a very serious financial crisis a few years ago. called the Greek public debt crisis. following one of those asterisks, the EU stepped in to restore Greek finances. in hindsight I would say they did a good job
@@nickburns8096 not that I know. after joining the EU, interest rates drop. it is valid, it seems to me, for all those who have entered. Rates depend on the health of the economy, if investors find it dangerous to invest in Greece, rates are higher. If the growth is lower than the rates, it becomes dangerous If the growth is lower than the loans, the debt goes down, on the contrary it goes up. If no one wants to lend you anymore, you go into crisis and you can no longer pay employees and pensions Greece joined the EU in 1980, the euro in 2000. The low rates (and therefore the high availability of funds) have allowed rapid growth. However, the Greek government has exaggerated by mismanaging the debt, the EU directly caused nothing. In reality you are right, it is the EU's fault that it entered a crisis, without entry it would never have been able to get into debt and grow. In my opinion, growth is not a bad thing XD
@@nickburns8096 from what i can understand (not much, i don't like economics), the 2004 olympics had a big influence on the greek economy, the greek wanted to join the euro but they couldn't because of conditions, they lied and got into eurozone, greece entered crisis damaging euro in the way, eu tried to reestablish euro power by forcing greece into austerity and then i don't remember All the things i mentioned might not be true because i don't remember
@@wigosas On 1 January 2001, Greece joined the eurozone Austerity is a policy of northern European countries on EU spending It has nothing about the countries' domestic economy, at least until Greece accepted the intervention of the European Economic Commission If you search on the internet you will surely find everything related to the Greek crisis
Just a note from a Portuguese person: the statement about the islands made it sound like Madeira and Azores were colonies however when Portugal found them nobody was living there. So it isn't technically a colony since the people that were brought to populate the area were Portuguese. They spoke Portuguese and they have a Portuguese based culture. It's different from the Portuguese ex-colonies in Africa which Portugal let go in 1975. Those indeed had people with different cultures and languages. This means "letting go" of Azores and Madeira wouldn't make a lot of sense. Besides it would be difficult for them to work alone because of how little resources and industry they have. They are still autonomic regions with their own regional government but being part of the country lends them access to more options in relation to a bunch of stuff. For example a lot of the people there go to university in the continent.
You can actually also use the Euro in Switzerland. They ask you when you pay by card. Which currency you would like to use. Which is a really stupid question. There is a cheaper and more expensive option. And why would any sane customer ever choose the more expensive one? Idk, but they do.
Uh. No. As a Swiss living in Switzerland having Swiss Francs on your account you obviously cant pay in euros, also not every shop accepts it. + they will always give you the change back in Swiss francs.
I applaud you for delving into an unknown topic and wanting to learn, but CGP Grey might not be the best place to start for a basic introduction to a topic. I love his videos, but precisely because he has a tendency to explore complex details, rabbitholes and asterisks! Just look at his videos on the Vatican, City of London or even the Canadian-USA border. :)
You have to remember how it all came around - it was originally a free and equal trade agreement between a small number of nations. Adding in a common currency and other laws regarding freedom of economic migration etc. came later and was not always agreed by all members. However, some members would allow the reforms to go through as long as they were given individual discretion in the implementation of those changes within their own borders.
There is indeed a lot to learn there so do check other videos on it. And if it's confusing you then don't worry, it took me 25 years to learn that the Counsel of Europe and The European Counsel were not only different things, but that one of them doesn't even have anything to do with the EU lol
Yeah whoever came up with particular bit of European institutions naming deserves a special kind of hell. Also, Jesus, EU you had at least 2 treaties since inception of EU as a political entity, couldn't you rename it into something equally boring but a bit less confusing like "Cabinet of memberstate ministers"
7:38 Yes, people from the Outermost Territories can move to continental EU but not reverse ; EXCEPT FOR : the citizens of the countries which have outermost territories. Example : I'm a continental French, I can move 100% freely to French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique etc.
nie zesraj się. polska jest zobowiązana dołączyć do strefy euro po spełnieniu kryteriów, ale zawsze magicznie się okazuje że jeden losowy wskaźnik jest odrobinę poza zakresem. technicznie jesteśmy członkiem strefy euro, który po prostu jest za biedny by z euro korzystać.
no more confusing than say, oh i dont know, the gun laws that vary from state to state in the US when you have the same guy ruling all states, shouldnt the same laws apply everywhere? hmm?
One of the reasons for the confusion is, that individual countries had already made various mutual agreements before EU stepped on trying to harmonize the deals. Usually we just mark that with "exception". The origin of The EU is in European free trade and free trade is easier, If also there IS free movement and the laws are harmonized...
1:50 Basically, a Citizen of a EU country can go on vacations or live and work in any other country of the EU ( it's related to the FREEDOM of movement we have ) more easily than if s/he is from a third country ( like US, UK, Japan,.. ).
Hay all! I'm a Polish national, raised in Chicago, Illinois. Currently living in Great Britain. To break it down in the American language, the EU is more or less like the United States, but United Countries known to us as the European Union. The borders are open to us, like travelling from Chicago to L.A. with no passport or ID. The currency is what the EU would like for all the counties to use, like American's use only dollars. Due to its falling and rising rate, not all countries are willing to change to euro (It's not stronger than the GB pound but stronger than the America dollar). In the EU, there are currency exchanges, not like in the states where you get your checks exchanged to money, but you would exchange the Euro, Zloty, Dollars or GB pound into the currency of the country you are visiting/living in etc. As for the different agreements, yes it is a bit complicated. One of the comments below states due to the history, law's, free border trading etc. are considerations which need to be taken into account to respect the country that is willing to unite with all the others. There are plenty of benefits to this, just like in the states. For example, in Chicago firecrackers are against the law to be sold in stores and fired off, but if you drive to Indiana, you can buy them as they have a different law.
"Maybe ill get into more stuff about the EU" I'm already looking forward to the political discussions in the comments. I promise I'll keep it civil, but I know some people won't :)
@@jeroenrat6289 Yeah, I simplified it a lot, but the real reason is that the Euro had no system to handle the neccesary increase in inflation for more debt ridden member states back then. Usually such things are handled by wealth redistribution to poorer regions, but there just isn’t any political will in say Germany to pay for Greek welfare, especially when they did something stupid like lying to in order to join the Eurozone in the first place.
@@oscarosullivan4513 Yeah, any cultural issues would have to do with geography and a horrifying amount of historical trauma, not the personal lack of virtue of every single individual in an entire country. There is no such thing as a lazy country, only perverse incentives.
The fees paid are paid to the countries back (and admin) in the form of projects or funding. Rich countries pay more, poor countries receive more until they are "rich" enough to pay.
Exactly! When Ireland joined in 1973 we were the poorest country in the then EEC. We benefitted hugely from cohesion funds and the rest. And it worked. Now we are one of the most prosperous members. Now we are net contributors. It is our turn to help the new poorer members to better themselves.
@@johnkilcullen1051 (Please change your fiscal laws and stop being a tax heaven, you'll do way more for the rest of the EU than with a thousand years of your budget contributions)
@@maloflory a tax "heaven"? Our tax laws are transparent. 12.5% corporation tax on trading income, 25% on other income. They are not the lowest in the EU. Other countries may have higher headline rates but often special allowances and deductions reduce the effective rate to a much lower level. The trouble is the those allowances and deductions often benefit some companies more than others. There was an agreement among OECD countries to set a minimum rate of 15%. Ireland agreed to that. But it looks like the agreement may fall apart because of opposition to it in the US Congress.
@@johnkilcullen1051 12.5% is pretty low in the EU man. Before Macron France was at over 30%. But the major problem isn't the tax rate, it's your laws allowing the benefits to flee to the Carribbean. EU nations lose over €150B each year due to tax evasion, mostly going to tax havens in the Carribbean thanks to the EU tax havens (Ireland, Netherlands) with very, very flexible laws, serving as gateways for profits to flee the union. Giant companies haven't started putting their headquarters in Ireland because of your economic activity man (why would they choose a tiny island nation that was pretty poor before the tax evasion boom?), you're simply being used.
@@maloflory Intel has invested $14bn in its Irish plant, Pfizer has 6 plants in Ireland, Apple employs nearly 10,000 people in Ireland, Google, Twitter and others have their European headquarters and very large offices in the digital hub in Dublin. Tax is undoubtedly s factor but it is far from the only one. A good available work force, an established common law legal system and the availability of all the ancillary services a large company needs are also significant factors. Most of the dodges that allowed companies to park profits offshore have been closed off. The trouble with the French tax system is that it is less transparent. The effective rate of tax for a lot of French companies is much lower than 30%.
I'm really happy to be a EU citizen and I think that unifying as a single "country" will be our future. I don't think that it'll be a nation state but more like one collective bureaucracy and smaller local governments that can act independently on a certain level. Kinda like it is today but with only outer borders, one single flag/anthem, a combined armed force and single market. It'll be the only way to compete with giants like China and the US, especially militarily as we wouldn't have to rely on the US for protection against Russia or China. Even though the situation right now is really stressing and unsure I'm firmly believing that we can achieve the goal of a peaceful Europe
Europe didn't have the luxury to be formed as an unified empire in one war.... some tried, but it always failed. So the new strategy is to go the peaceful, "vote to join" route. Idk if it's done the right way though. I'd make a constitution with a couple core states (France and Germany would be good start) and if you want to join you need to accept that constitution. No asterisks, no own currency and other bs. United military instead of relying on NATO. It would take longer, but it wouldn't be such a mess.
It would be very hard to do, as a lot of country have different culture and tradition, so saying "fuck you're culture, follow our rules" wouldn't really attract much country
It's the original western civilization, based on countless previous civilisations. And we speak more languages than we have nations. Of course it's going to be complicated.
You remember funny mustache guy in the 30's? So he wanted to have Europe under a single flag, but he failed ofc. Now the people who funded him quickly turned around after his loss and started funding this EU project. Imagine the US as it is right now. Next what if I told you you are not allowed to vote for the pres, congress or any other part of the federal government. All you can vote for is your state government. And this gov is absolute, your state has to obey them. Meanwhile the federal government can do what they want and you or your state can not do anything against them. You are to obey. You are also to pay for anything they want, are not allowed to have a national identity and have to watch while people from other countries come to yours to work but then take the money home(so most is not returned in your local economy and your local population can not find work) So basically a dictatorship with additional steps.
This is the biggest pile of drivel I have ever seen. It was the people who opposed him i.e Churchill/De Gaulle that were in favour of the EU, the point being to foster co-operation and stop destructive wars. You don't know your 20th century European history at all.
@@CaptainQuo Then maybe you need to do better research. The foundations for what later would become the EU predate WW2 and 20 years before Churchill even came into office. If you want to credit someone, Jean Monnet would be the better choice. However since the early 1940's(possibly sooner) this idea became popular with the N-gang and they wrote up a long term plan to take over Europe in case the war would fail, the Europaische Wirtschaftsgemeinschaf that proposed a single union with a single currency, in English it was called the EEC. Several companies such as I.G. Farben(You know them, big N-Gang sponsors, they build camps for prissoners to make their chemical goods and created the gas to kill for the "showers") where all too happy to join. The entire founding was riddled with N-gangers. Even the first pres of the EEC was one(Not a direct member iirc but member of several related org). It was not until later for political reasons that the EEC switched from N-Gang to C-ist.
@@david6054 I studied it at university, actually. Yes I am familiar with Monnet, but comparing it to fascism is fucking moronic. The Nazis wanted to conquer Europe under German hegemony, not create a 'United States of Europe.'
@@CaptainQuo It's called a "plan B". Now I am not claiming it is completely identical, all I am saying is that the foundations were laid by them. not that the EU is run under N-gang ideology today. You do know that F-ism is not a form of government and that the N-Gang were a dictatorship right? Small but important difference. I think I called the EU a dictatorship which is also not 100% correct as we are not led by a single person or group of soldiers but a group of non elected politicians but other than that it fits so.... However I am not making the claim that we have it as bad or worse then the people here in occupied Europe at the time.
the EU is a flipping mess, I am Dutch, have lived in mainland Europe all my life, but do not understand it at all :p I just know a lot of inconvenient laws are forced on member states by the Union based out of Brussels... mostly... Strassbourg also at times... it;s weird.... Thanks for the video!
But, on the flipside, there are also a huge number of very good laws "forced" on the member states. BTW, EU decision making always involves the national governments. So realistically a lot of inconvenient laws are forced on member states out of Brussels... by the member states. Guess what you'll "know" tomorrow.
it's not a mess... it is only complicated.... very complicated. But if one actually studies how things work, it is doable. (and basically the only way to have some form of arrangement between vastly different nations. Overtime things will morphe into a more standardized form, but it may take many decennia before all nations are willing to transfer some of their power to Europe as a whole. untill then, this is pretty much the only way forward)
Could you name a couple of those inconvenient laws? I mean, that was the whole argument with Brexit: EU laws are hindering us so much! But I've yet to hear someone actually mentioning those laws that are supposedly so bad.
@@deathscythehellfunk During a phone-in at James O'Brien's LBC show there was one business owning lady who came up with one such law: she wanted to force her employees to work 70-80 hours a week, but EU labour laws prohibited her to do so.
@@Pizza_Man_ how did they not help either? The Greek government cooked the books. Not the EUs fault they needed assistance. I'll agree the austerity measures were too harsh on the Greek citizens though.
A lot of people want out of EU because a whole lot of our taxes go to all the southern countries and taxes have risen a lot in the last years. So they say it cost's more then that we as a country get back. Also they say the countries laws are overwritten by EU laws and not having any input in it
"Also they say the countries laws are overwritten by EU laws and not having any input in it" This is complete BS, the same BS Brexiters in the UK are spreading. You have an input, there is the EU Commission, which are the representatives of all member states, there is the EU parliament which gets elected. EU laws do not "overwrite" national laws. OK they do, but not like it sounds. When ALL the memberstaates agree on new laws, the law is brought up, parliament will decides on this. Then there is a certain time period of different years for the member states to make national laws from the regualtions. And only when the member states fails to make the laws or they do not comply to the sense of the law, the EU law will overright the national law. You don't have to apply laws that your gouverment did not agree to follow. There are countries who opted out from certain laws. "Also they say the countries laws are overwritten by EU laws and not having any input in it" This is also not true. We see it with the UK, what they have paid into the EU and what the UK is loosing now in trade and GDP. There are benefits for economy. And "they" must be nutters. Even the right wing Euro skeptic AfD in Germany took leaving the EU from their Agenda after Brexit.
Brexit a refrendum won by dubious means and a small majority in England and Wales with it being rejected in Northern Ireland and Scotland. As for the southern countries that reeks of xenophobia. You do know France has a mediterranean coast
Every legislative proposal starts on behalf of the European Commission (which represents the EU), which drafts the text. Commissioners may be elected by Member States, but they represent the EU and Commission' interests not the MS they come from! The proposal is than discussed in the Council of EU (which consists of representatives from Member States (usually ministers or attaches from Member states ( also not to be confused with European Council which consists of presidents/prime ministers from MS and sets EU priorities and politics), which task is to defend the interests of Member States and every State can propose amendments in the text or even opt-out of a particular clause. The proposal is than discussed in the European Parliament (which consists of deputes elected by Member States). Both Council of EU and European Parliament are co-legislators and work on the text together on equal basis. The text is officially adopted by the Parliament.
1:00 Thta would be Switzerland. they don't like alliances 1:15 That other region is former Yugoslavia, they used to be one crountry but broke apart ina bloody civil war in the 90s, since then they have no rebuild economically enough to qualify join the EU.
@ItsCharlieVest In Denmark (and presumably Sweden and United Kingdom) shops can opt-in to deal with euros alongside the DKK just to answer your question.
We’re usually pass across UE without passport, more easy for all of us (I’m spanish woman but studied in Ireland and UK, my daughter studies in Cambridge now), since my house to London by plane of course 1 hour 45 minutes, easy . I live in NW of Spain at the same distance of Madrid, London or Paris, by plane of course.
Simply put, if North America is the land of the free, Europe is the land of exceptions. Joke aside, I'm French and didn't know about most of what's said in the video, on a daily basis all these rules do not affect us much except when there is an economic crisis (like there is today). We basically "share the bill", so people living in the most wealthy countries of Europe tend to be hit harder when something goes wrong. Other than that, I find the lack of borders pretty useful. If I'm looking for a job I can't find in my country, I could in theory just move abroad and be ready to start a new job in a matter of weeks... "In theory" because, obviously, there are exceptions: working in the UK is harder now because of Brexit, same for Sweden because they don't use euros as their currency. But it's not that bad overall, it's mostly just paperwork.
Some parts of the UK (notably in border towns like Newry) will accept euros, though not at a favourable exchange rate. Lots of people cross the border between Newry and Dundalk for shopping, as various goods are cheaper either side thereof.
You are not the only one who find this confusing. Many Europeans find it hard to fully understand the whole picture themselves. Most only know half of it.
You can sort of use the Euro in Britain to roughly the same extent that you can use it in America. It's not illegal to use or anything. If you can find someone who's willing to take it (say, a bank, or a major international tourist attraction), more power to you. But it's not the local currency, so most businesses aren't going to want to mess with it. The pound sterling is arguably a better currency anyway; certainly it has more demonstrable long-term stability. Same is true of the Swiss Franc.
I'm Polish but from August 2007 I live in UK (which is not anymore EU member). I lived there, I completed my education there and now I work in UK. Since I have Polish Nationality and citizenship are I am still the citizen of EU?
Poland isnt in eurozone. It weird that someone miss that becose its a huge deal in EU. Poland has loots of problems with economy and people know that embracing euro will destroy whole country. The EU has huge amounts of money. And these amounts are often used to finance various projects in many countries. Unfortunately, some of these countries are taking advantage of this fact to steal these subsidies. E.g. Greece. One example is how the EU gave "rewards" for sowing trees. Satellite imagery was used to check the progress. The Greeks took advantage of this and planted artificial trees.
There also become a lot of resistence against the EU within the EU itself, because many people think the European Government in Brussels have become to much powerful, making laws that (to their opinion) should be made only by the local national governments. Brussels is therefore often seen as a more and more undemocratic (and expensive) institute.
The reason the UK is still in there is probably because it's from 2013, when the UK was still a valued member of the EU. Now it's the weird uncle who left, but still wants to eat at the family table.
As a portuguese I feel the need to say that our islands had no population whatsoever when they were discovered, so it's not a "just keep it" mentality... It was populated by portuguese that came from the mainland, the people who live there are portuguese and consider themselves to be as much portuguese as anyone from the continent. They are not "owened", as we believe in the self determination of nations and their people. We may have sins on our history but since the dictatorship ended we do not keep any territory under our flag against anyone's will.
If you don't know something, just look it up. Answers and knowledge won't come by asking empty questions. Since you know plenty of stuff most americans ignore, i am certain you are used to do it anyway.
The fuzzyness about overseas territories is because they have limited self-government/self-rule. They will mostly have their own flag. The outermost regions, which do not have their own government or flag, such as the canary islands, Reunion outside Madagascar or some Dutch and French Islands in the Carribean are fully EU citizens, and any EU citizen can travel, work and live there as if it was any other place in France/Netherlands/Spain. So yearh you can go retire there, like people retire in Florida
You got it right. You can retire in one of our French Overseas Territories such as Polynesia, New Caledonia, Guadeloupe, La Martinique, La Réunion, Saint Pierre et Miquelon. Only if you're EU citizen or holding an EU passeport. Even for work and travel.
@@christophermichaelclarence6003 The only problem is that you need French, while so many Brits have been in Spain that whole neighborhoods of elders make it through on English and broken Spanish. Just sad that the UK citizens have a harder time with that after Brexit
As a Polish and EU citizen I totally support the EU. It's the best place to live in on earth, better than the US and China. I am also worried that populist politicians across the EU blame it for their own faults and people believe that. What we need to realize is that our strength comes from Unity and standing together and cooperating very closely.
Maybe not the best but certainly better than North Korea
@@goryase3144 What about Russia, though?
@@goryase3144 you know I once was in North Korea and I can't complain
@@patrykranosz4826 wow really? Was it hard to get a visa as a Pole?
@@goryase3144 that's not much of an anchievement is it
for an EU citizen all one has to know is that with a single card you can travel anywhere on the mainland without any extensive checks, and generally for a citizen all eu countries have more or less the same laws.
In theory, I've been rejected entry to the netherlands and Poland for not carrying a passport, thankfully I was going to pass through and while a detour sucked I could get where I needed. There's some nuance to it. I should add I'm swedish, so with a passport I can basically get into any country on this planet.
@@JohanHultin if u don't have identification paper yhea they can reject you , but is the "meh" aproach they check but far less strongly
@@captaineflowchapka5535 Yeah for sure, but I've been told time and again my national ID (Issued by swedish police) should be enough, and it's not been the case. Most of the time, but if it's not all the time then it's not working as intended :/
@@JohanHultin ah sadge , wait u said poland and danemark , there is the posibility that there is some funky asterix there (cuz they don't use euro , i assume there is other shenanigans)
@@JohanHultin are you an eu citizen?
You can imagine that creating some sort of union between different counrties, who each have their own politics, history, economy, etc. is pretty hard. So to get to where we are today, there need to be a lot of exceptions to rules and countries need to work together.
It’s basically what the US did tho.
@@justmike-yt No, not at all. States are not countries and no people lived in the west of the country when the US was created.
@@MetDaan2912 True, but it follows a lot of the same principles. Especially when it comes to lawmaking and cultures.
@@justmike-yt Also no. That’s because US States did not rule themselves first before they joined a Union with other States. Culturally it is even more impossible to compare US States with European countries, especially due to very long histories in Europe which don’t exist at all in America.
Except the EU is pretty much the opposite of the US. You guys may not know it but we can't elect any of the members in EU Parliament, meaning we have no say in what regulations get put through.
2:17 It's not crazy and all countries pay a memebership fee. This membership fee is used for three things: 1) paying for the costs that are coming with running such a large organization, like civil servants working for the EU directly or the negotiators that arange the trade deals with other countries, maintaining buildings etc, 2) funding projects of common interests like the Galileo satellite program or the Erasmus student program, and 3) invest in infrastructure projects in regions and countries that lag behind.
This means that there's net beneficiaries and net payers in the EU, with Germany and the Netherlands for example paying more money than is reinvested from EU funds, while others like Poland or Bulgaria receive more funding than they pay in membership fees. However the benefit of being a member outweighs the costs by far - you are a member of the single market and customs union which allows companies within the EU to work without any barriers and it also allows companies to take advantage of all the trade agreements the EU has negotiated (there's more than 800 individual agreements; 49 of them are free trade agreements, the rest is bilateral agreements regulating certain aspects of trade. The USA for example has more than 100 individual agreements with the EU covering different topics of trade and other cooperations). This means that while a country might pay let's say a membership fee of 20 billion per year the net benefit it gets back is always way more.
It also means that individual people can travel freely within all EU member countries and can also work everywhere in the EU.
True, the membership fees are quite tiny in comparison to the benefits the members get, something the UK is finding out the hard way with Brexit.
Still, I've got to wonder what people shortly after the second world war would think of the EU, chances are, they would likely think this wasn't possible and yet here we are and I've got to wonder how much more integration will happen in future, especially now Putin has likely given the EU and Europeans a shot in the arm to go further on integration over the next decade.
@@paul1979uk2000 it's more like the eu 'leaders' are using putin to push for more integration, aka even more transfer of autonomy to unelected regents.
@@paul1979uk2000 just out of ww2 with ww1 still in everyone memory? they would f*** love it no doubt and all of them
just for the pure security concerning war again between eu member, wich is that set up was already unlikely (and probably even more after decade of traveling/mixing between country)
cant imagine a single citizen wou would agree for a war against an other eu country by our time, they litteraly might have familiy in it and such it wouldnt work
Thats why complaining about beeing a net payer is so dumb. There is probably not a single country that profts more from the eu than germany. Yes, we give the EU more money than we get back from it butour economy profits so much that the additional taxes outweigh the EU membership fees tenfold.
@@bremer1701 weird, it doesn't seem to me that a trade agreement, which is what germany is profiting from, has to be coupled with constant transfer of national autonomy.
germany doesn't need the eu, the eec was more than enough.
There is no 'European Passport'.We have only one..which is accepted in every European City. You simply have that Passport from that Country where you were born in.
Or put another way, any passport of a member country is a European Passport.
If you are a citizen of a country that belongs to the European Union, take a good look at your passport. It states it is a European passport. So, although there are no purely physical European passports, all those passports are in fact European passports, with all strings and asterisks attached that come with such a document as defined by the various European Union treaties. Something doesn't have to be physically separate to still be able to exist ;) Unfortunately, that also means those strings and asterisks can be taken away any time your government decides it no longer wants to be part of the union, like what happened through Brexit and which is why many English can no longer use their European possessions (like a house in a EU country) like they could before.
Most of the time you're fine with just any documentation or no documents at all.
Heck more than thrice iv accidentally went to sweden for groceries
Europe is a beautiful mess. It is mine beautiful mess.
A series of independent sovereignties that decide to work together to improve each other's lives and strive for unity in voice, opinion, values and culture.
A place where compromise is central and where there are countless exceptions and no one is 100% satisfied, but where people know that if the interest of another improves, self-interest can also reap the benefits.
A place sometimes plagued by inaction by rules and discussions but also a place where principles are enforced and certain lines are never crossed.
Simply because we believe in something bigger than our own small country.
Being European makes me feel in a way that I'm a citizen of the world and that's a damn good feeling.
Europe should be below sea level.
The Quality of life is way better in Europe. I can assure you
@@bernardmcavoy1864 Why
@@oscarosullivan4513 Why not?
Good for you. I am Dutch, and most people in my country won't agree. Resentment towards the EU is actually growing in my country, most people dislike the EU. They like certain benefits like Schengen so they won't leave (yet), but it would not be a bad thing if the EU would understand that you can't keep pushing without your victim pushing back.
Funny btw, countries in Eastern Europe want to join while countries in the west grow more resentful and in the case of the UK actually left. The future of the EU might not be as bright as soe people hope.
Number of Astrix can be easily explained with this: Many EU countries are over millennium old each with its own culture, laws and existing agreements and relations with other countries. USA had clean start 2 centuries ago and still has complicated relation between states.
Yep - not to mention the horde of "countries within other countries" that exist in Europe - with Monaco, the Vatican, San Marino, etc. Europe in general is just incredibly complex and individual to each nation who has their own culture and history throughout 1000s of years - and any attempt to unify all these nations under common rules and guidelines is not an easy task. So with this in mind, the European Union's basics are actually quite simple all things considered.
In its most basic terms it can be seen as "free trade, free transport, free work - and collective effort to bring all member states up to equal standards". That's the general gist of it all.
But relative to the world a common culture,,.. emanating from Rome and Athens,, with ethics and laws based in Christianity,...If not so far away Australia ,New Zealand, Canada could belong ..
@@kevanbodsworth9868 That's a common misconception. While there are some basic common denominators, cultures and customs in different European regions are vastly different.
@@lady8jane There were a great number of perspectives which can be taken on the subject, it is impossible to form a single, all-embracing conception of European culture.[ Nonetheless, there are core elements which are generally agreed upon as forming the cultural foundation of modern Europe. One list of these elements given by K. Bochmann includes
A common cultural and spiritual heritage derived from Greco-Roman antiquity, Christianity, Judaism, the Renaissance, and its Humanism, the political thinking of the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution, and the developments of Modernity, including all types of socialism;
A rich and dynamic material culture that has been extended to the other continents as the result of industrialization and colonialism during the "Great Divergence"
A specific conception of the individual expressed by the existence of, and respect for, a legality that guarantees human rights and the liberty of the individual
A plurality of states with different political orders, which are feeding each other with new ideas;
Respect for peoples, states, and nations outside Europe.[6]
Berting says that these points fit with "Europe's most positive realizations". The concept of European culture is generally linked to the classical definition of the Western world. In this definition, Western culture is the set of literary, scientific, political, artistic, and philosophical principles which set it apart from other civilizations. Much of this set of traditions and knowledge is collected in the Western canon. The term has come to apply to countries whose history has been strongly marked by European immigration or settlement during the 18th and 19th centuries, such as the Americas, and Australasia, and is not restricted to Europe.
The Nobel Prize laureate in Literature Thomas Stearns Eliot, in his 1948 book Notes Towards the Definition of Culture, credited the prominent Christian influence upon the European culture:[8] "It is in Christianity that our arts have developed; it is in Christianity that the laws of Europe have--until recently--been rooted."
@@kevanbodsworth9868 Hey, you are talking to an archaeologist and historian and ... you know ... you are just wrong. There is no unified European culture, there is no such thing as "white culture" and even assuming that all European countries are rooted in Christianity is racist AF as there are several European countries with majority Muslim populations.
Greece was involved with some creative book keeping to become a member of the Euro zone.
Greece and a bunch of slavic countries as well they made them members of the eu ...i think they did that because they did not want russia to have a strong impact around eu
@@lukejacobs9131 Only Greece lied about its economy to get to adopt the Euro though
@@adampustos1155 thats true and they are still in the eu and countrys like albania and kosovo have a long history of battling europes enemy's and yet they are not in the eu i think thats quite odd and both albania and kosovo are great america supporters and lovers
To be fair, any EU without Greece is an incomplete EU.
It's shit because we basically pay for many of the southern European countries, but I'm happy to.
Greeting from the Netherlands
@@Snaakie83 actually not really ..greece brings no significant value to the eu nor its neighbouring countrys
Far from all the administrative and political technicalities of the EU, let me tell you what it means to me being an ordinary EU citizen. That's naturally my own experience only, but.... I am a French citizen who lives in a French-speaking town of Eastern Belgium. I live in a border area where three countries meet, Luxembourg is a 20-minute drive away, and Germany is a 30-minute drive away. As Belgium is a small country, the French border is an hour-drive away, and the Dutch border is a 90-minute drive away. So, I can freely and easily drive to five different countries with no border or customs check - just like changing state in the US. Being in this multicultural environment, I'm also multilingual: French (my mother tongue), German, as well as some Dutch and basic written Luxembourgish (an interesting Germanic idiom with some French influence). And English as you can guess here. That's what the European Union means for me, the riches of being a multicultural person who lives in a free and peaceful environment.
Beautifully written :) And yes, I agree with this 100%. As a EU citizen, over the years I have learned 4 foreign languages (my native language being the 5th one for me) which is awesome and it opened new worlds to me, but speaking of a new world - the ability to just travel across Europe freely and mostly being able to pay with euros everywhere is just unbelievable. The cultural richness it brings is sometimes overwhelming, yet I love it so so much. I'm very grateful to be living in this day and age and just being able to enjoy Europe today.
@Kainos Teleos Moien neighbor, from "le Luxembourg Belge".
I'm Spanish, but got to learn in a german highschool, went on holidays to France and feel just like at home. I speak fluently Spanish, English, German, Catalan and French and I understand Portuguese, Italian and Dutch. I've traveled all around west Europe, been in 8 different countries qnd never used my passport.
Best comment imo, thank you!
@@angelcosta4383 That is very impressive. I remember being on Holiday im Schwarzwald at a campground near the Titisee. Or Titi lake. I visited the Rheinfälle in Switzerland and went on a day trip to Straßbourg in France. Where i ordered a frozen yoghurt, despite knowing 0 french for a conversation, but it somehow worked. The french people where you usually very nice and understanding of my inability to communicate with them. I also went on vacation in France twice. The lake there was beautiful. But yeah, I'm German and only know English as a second language. I once tried to learn spanish but didn't get very far on my own. But i cannunderstand dutch to some degree. And with that, I mean I can read it. But it's so close to German that understanding isn't very hard. I'm currently trying to learn it. I also don't like traveling very much on my own, but should I ever visit spain, i will try my best at broken spanish unless I learned it by that point. I also went on vacation in the netherlands last year. English can get you very far there on the west coast. I didn't have any problems with communication unlike my roommates, who only speak German. Have a nice day and pro tip: Never visit Cologne during Carneval season unless you're there to get drunk. Everyone only comes here during that time to get drunk! It's insane!
As a Greek citizen, we indeed gave deceptive statistics about our economy when we requested to join the eurozone. But it was at a point where government corruption was at its peak and they thought that it would be a great idea to just "fake it till we make it" into the eurozone
How you felt about the EU is how I felt learning about the American political system when my ex-wife studied in Florida lol
Don't worry if you don't understand the EU. 95% of Europeans don't understand it either. We have entire university courses dedicated solely to the art of understanding the EU and its rules, and that's not a joke. But it's not actually that bad. When you travel, the information on the rules within your country of destination is freely available on the Internet, in your language, usually with bullet points highlighting how the rules are different from your country of origin. Perhaps the best part of the EU is that any official language WITHIN the EU, is also the official language OF the EU, so any information on the EU rules MUST be made available in all official EU languages, by law. So all it takes is a couple of google searches and you will know pretty much everything there is to know. Even permanently moving to another EU country is usually no different from moving within the borders of your country. Once you register your new address with the utilities and the taxman you can just live your life as you normally would, and you don't have to worry about being double-taxed, or any service provider giving you any trouble or anything like that. Just be aware that some exceptions may apply. It's kinda like moving in to a new neighborhood, and going to greet the neighbors: They'll make you feel right at home, but you better ask before you give that peanut-butter cake to your neighbor's kid, who may or may not be allergic to peanuts.
I grew up in the Southern Netherlands, close to germany and Belgium, we just do not even notice the borders. I cross a border twice just going to work, We do not even slow down
Well, to be fair when I go from Germany into the Netherlands, I always slow down :D
Well that because you are allowed to drive faster on the highway in germany than in the netherlands. I think rob means crossing the borders on 'not highways'. Between the netherlanda and belgium there are a lot of roads going trhough both countries and you dont even notice. There are even small 'islands' of belgium surrounded by the netherlands... or towns that are half dutch and half belgium.
@@SikkyCheesecake Yes, I made a joke 🥲
The Irish border is seamless
@@atropatene3596 I got it. I thought it was funny. :)
The official rules around the EU are pretty confusing, but in reality the entire group of countries is too dependent on each other to really make a problem out of it.
Either for military, techonlogical, monetary or comfort reasons (or a combination of these), most countries within Europe HAVE to work together, to benefit them both.
It's mostly just legislative stuff that separates the countries...
5:09 No, the UK only uses pounds. We always had to exchange euros for pounds when travelling to the UK, or pay by credit or debit card and pay the bank fee for conversion, which is a lot more expensive than exchanging currency beforehand.
And because of the brexit the UK is now not a member of the EU anymore. Well, look at where they are now, because that brexit caused more problems than expected. Think of economical: products from outside the UK got more expensive, other prices went up, truck drivers from oytside the country are not allowed to work in the UK (e.g.Polish ones), so the result is a lack of trick drivers in the UK... and so on... Thanks to that druk guy, Johnson... O, sorry... Only drunk at illegal parties...
Some border towns like Newry have many shops which accept euros.
@@qwertyTRiG But I guess those shops will return you pounds, it's like that here in Czech Republic, many shops accept euro, but they will always return CZK to you.
@@Pidalin I would imagine so, yes. I don't live close to the border, so I'm not that familiar.
@@qwertyTRiG It's actually pretty good way how to get rid off your extra euro cash from vacation, just spend it in shops, some of them have relatively good exchange rate.
Americans: “So… it’s not a country?”
this guy is a true american even when explained to him he still doesn't understand Switzerland in NOT in the European union and can't use the Euro
you have to follow his thought process, he asked that question after non-eu countries that use the euro had been introduced which is understandable and a good question.
@@AclibButLikeTheRealOne your for real?
why are you so stressed about someone just understanding one thing not immediatly? just relax a little bit man...
@@Schmudini what are trying to say?
Nah, happens with other countries with rigid import laws, too. And even a lot of Europeans don't really understand Switzerland ;)
What was confusing was travelling around Europe and having to use different currencies in each. The Euro has made life much easier.
It wasn't that difficult. There are many downsides to the Euro.
For Germany the Euro is too weak, and for Greek its too strong for example.
@@Brookspirit There arent really downsides on the euro. Except for old people that still think the old coins will keep their worth of back in the days.
@@murderboytje i don't know about NL, but here in Italy the arrival of Euros has made more damages than anything. In 2002 everything that was selled at 1000 Lire (0,52 cent Euros) it was automatically selled at 1 euro. (1936,27 Lire).
If you ask a german, he will probably say that Euro was the best thing happened since ever.
@@9tommy145 Prices went up here as well. But it isnt as simple as just looking at what prices do. Export, tourism, EU support. Enough to consider. And especially Italy is a country that had a lot of support because of it.
The European Union is one of the greatest achievement of the uman civilization. I'm very privileged to be European.
You are crazy like hell.
The EU is the worst thing that could ever happen to the country's with good economics.
Time after time, we have to pay for the other country's debts like Spain Italy and Greece.
While our economics are being wrecked by the country's i have mentioned
And for the record, i'm a Dutch citizen and no fucking way i'll ever be an "European"
Amen, although sometimes it feels like the Fourth Reich. I mean for an entire continent to band together in the way we have after millennia of fighting and the largest and most bloody conflicts since writings invention is truly baffling. When talking to non Europeans I usually say my nationality, but if it’s someone who understands the EU I say I am a EU citizen.
@@swedishbloke There is no such thing as a "Eu citizen"
We are all different in langauge, culture, religion, you name it.
This is exactly the reason why my ID says: "Nederlandse" (Dutchman), and not "EU citizen".
In the very beginning when the EU was founded by the North Western European country's, it could have worked out.
But in the last 20 years all kinds of country's have been added to the EU, that have norms and values that are complete te opposite of what the North West European country's are representing.
@@swedishbloke I think being part of any kind union feel the same. Think about London, England, Scotland. All part of the same union and be so different. Let's not mention Italy, Spain or Belgium. I met an American guy once that told me he felt Texan, not American and that he felt distant from someone from New England like someone from another country.
@@zedtrek ever heard of brexit?
I like Americans who are trying to learn but the astonishing lack of knowledge even in the inquisitive Americans is just scary.
Greece: In the past Greece was not always complying with the European rules, that's why the ironic wording. The most eastern peninsula in the north of Greece is called Athos, an Greek Orthodox self governing monastic region, where women are not allowed to enter, and men only (with a special visum) for religious reasons.
Not complying is a little bit of an understatement.
Greece was not fullfilling the criteria for joining the Euro and suddenly they did.
They used financial tricks to hide that they are not ready to join and tricked the country into the Euro.
They should not have been accepted.
This is one reason why the got financial problems later on.
Too late to kick them out
"It's crazy they have to pay".
Not really. Those funds are funneled back to member states in things like farming subsidies etc. So a farmer in Poland or in Denmark can get subsidized to keep production going, thus strengthening production on european soil rather than go bankrupt at the lower cost of production (and thereby lower living standards) that non-EU member states can offer. It's a way to ensure local production and build an internal market without relying on much cheaper products made outside of the EU. It's literally paying to keep industries alive rather than outsourcing production to China.
It's a bit protectionist so to say but it helps keep several industries alive on home-soil rather than see them fail and be dependent on foreign import. It does however level the playing field internally amongst EU member states so that a polish farmer and a spanish farmer gets the same economic incentive to keep doing their business. The 2nd part of it is that it forces industries in those member countries to adhere to a common standard, so a pillow made in Romania has to abide by the same product standards as one made in France. So it gets streamlined and you won't buy a pillow from Romania that is full of toxins while the one made in France is all good and non-toxic.
Overall, being a former member of the Socialist Youth Party and originally against the EU, I now see it as a project of solidarity, ensuring the same standards of materials and living across the entirety of the EU, rather than it being this institution in favor of corporations exploiting poorer states and undermining workers and customers rights and protection. I'll gladly pay my fair share if that means that eastern european countries has a stable industrial production and sees a rise in living standards, although it might personally cost me a bit more each year. It's a project of solidarity and co-dependence.
and...
the funds are not allocated by local politicians, so they can't really use this money for their own popularity...
doesn't stop any politician to claim the EU success are their own and all the problems are EU fault...
@@kolerick cough cough orbán
Old video, but still not too many short answers. So here is mine :)
The European Union is an incredibly complex task of unifying a large group of nations that each have their 1000s of years of independent culture and lifestyles and intertwined histories.
However, the European Union in its basics is actually quite simple:
- Free trade between members (and close associates).
- Free living/work/study opportunities between members.
- A strive to collectively bring up all member nations to a high level of function (meaning the less developed nations receive more funding, infrastructure, etc).
- Common overarching rules and legislations that regard cross-border matters (such as trade, digital infrastructure and use, large-scale electronics development, etc).
- Unified military aid (sometimes theoretically called the EU army, although the army branches are still separate and tied to their individual nations which can opt out if they want)
These are the main overarching themes of the European Union. The entire intend is to improve efficiency and economic benefits and ease of living for neighboring countries that have close economic ties. That's also why you will see some nations like Denmark which didn't opt into the Euro currency, but the Danish Crown currency is still bound to the Euro so they fluctuate equally and can be traded without risk of loss or difference in inflation. (less so for the UK Pound, especially post Brexit).
„Switzerland doesen‘t use the Euro that must be hard“ Laughts in Swiss Francs
Also it's blank space - lol
I think it's great the Swiss aren't part of the EU. Just the original 1950 proto aggrement. The best of both world's.
This video was just too confusing. I studied all that stuff in college, to me it makes sense…But I suggest looking for a video giving a view in a historic context, starting with the founding states ( treaty of Rome) who wanted cooperation in Europe to avoid other wars. And it has been an evolving process ever since.
You are not very smart but we accept you anyway but you should pay for air
@@balazsvarga2234 ejnye, hát így illik viselkedni?
It's clearly confusing but so is European history, I've been studying the EU project now for about two decades and it's remarkable what us Europeans have achieved over the decades in the aftermath of the second world war.
For me, I think things could be simplified in many areas, I also think the EU needs to engage a lot more with the citizens so they know what's going on, I think that's part of the problem why there are so many Eurosceptics, they are not engaged enough with the project to know what is going on and much of the media is quite happy to fill in the blanks in a very distorted way, we saw a lot of that in the UK with Brexit.
@@paul1979uk2000 i would like a stronger EU, more political power to it and all the stuff you probably know and hear from most of the more hardcore "fans" of EU. Obviously it's incredibly hard, may easily never happen and we don't even know if it's the right path, consolidation before continuing to expand (accept new countries) or first expansion, development and then a more centralized power? Who really knows.
Good thing is, as i remember, Germany-France first and France-Italy after started projects that include things like a political exchange, sort of, where each other take a look at what happens and how it happens inside each other parliament, in what i think is a long and slow road towards a more united EU core in regards to legislation, way of thinking and policies. That's my 2 cents based on what i learned in school about how the EU works. One can only hope the EU works (imho actually it works and worked pretty well) and keeps improving itself continuously, without it we are nothing when it comes to interacting with the rest of the world.
@@argus0ia It won't be easy and shouldn't be a knee-jerk reaction to what's going on in Ukraine right now but it's been needed for a while now, some just don't want to see it, but then again, who would have thought after the second world war that we would have a union like the EU we have today? they would have laughed and said it's never going to happen and yet here we are.
I think more integration is needed on security, military and energy matters is needed with everything that is going on with Russia and Ukraine but I also think veto voting needs to go or be reformed with majority voting becoming more of a thing, as long as Poland and Hungary are playing games, there's likely going to be an hold on the EU expending with more countries, the irony being is that Poland and Hungary want the EU to bring in many more eastern European countries and yet they are the ones that holding the EU from doing it lol.
Anyway, I think with everything that's happening with Putin and Ukraine, we're going to get some pretty big changes in the EU over the next 5-10 years, this is a major wake-up call that we need to cooperate better, work more closer and integrate.
I think the most important aspect of the EU is the fact that it is a peacekeeper. France and Germany set up a economic pact after WW II that made the long standing aspect of conflict over two mining and steel producing regions go away. From that on the union became bigger and more involved over the decades and this prevented armed conflict which was an issue on the continent for many centuries. Today it is complex but we had the longest era of peace in the history of the continent. From my point of view the next big step will be to decide if the EU will become one state with more central power over budget and legislation.
I don't think it's a good idea to make an entire state about all the countries in the EU. They are different countries for a reason... Different cultures & values are spread across the continent. You can't apply the same laws everywhere. Different climates & languages would complicate this even more.
That's pretty much how it started out with the Coal and Steel Community, the idea is to share coal and steel among the countries as that played a big part of creating war at the time, which made it harder for the countries to go to war with each other.
As time went buy, it became a political and economic union and unlike some people would want us to beleave, it was always a political and economic union in the making, even before the UK joined the EEC and the main reason is simple, you can truly have a free flow of goods with no restrictions unless you harmonize a lot of rules among the members, hence why around 50% of members laws, rules and regulations are done at an EU level.
Part of the advantage of that is that it pushed for higher standards as no member would vote on lower standards, it basically means, the EU sets a high standard that the members have to abide by, can't go lower than them but can always have higher standards than the EU sets, it's a big part of the reason why EU countries have such high workers rights, food standards, living standards and so on.
I think the European Union will risk a lot by doing this - mostly because the effectiveness of such a central state system would fall somewhere within the average of all member states - meaning any country that objectively functions better and more efficiently than the average EU state, will see a net loss from such an act. And many of these nations might consider leaving, in the face of the EU going towards extreme centralization.
In theory, with optimal conditions, it would be a net benefit to everyone. But the real life risks and imperfection of the conditions spanning from highest to lowest ranking member nations is a big step to overcome.
By “conflict” you mean “France kept stealing them or trying to steal them”?
No no germany the netherlands france luxembourg and belgium
Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands are the founders if I’m not mistaken.
You got it right. We are, especially my country France 🇫🇷 and Germany 🇩🇪
Here's an cool thing, if you're holding EU passeport, you can freely travel all Europe without problem. No borders.
It's called the Schengen area.
We're using the same currency € but not all of us
UK uses the pound/sterling
As French, keep it mind, our country is still remained a Colonial Empire which means we have Overseas Territories across the Globe.
Your empire is dead
Ireland was blocked by Gaulle
in a sense, they founded the coal and steel comunity which developed into the eu
@@oscarosullivan4513 Our Empire is kinda still alice. But People don't see it
The "Ban women" part of Greece is a semi-authonomous region held by a group of historic monasteries. Because of their cultural and religious value, Greece has given them very broad authonomy, including in who they allow to enter. They are... kind of weird, and iirc the ban is for female animals as well, except for cats (as breeding cats helped historically control mice and other pests, who did not obey the ban).
1:05 That “spot in the middle” is the Swiss Confederation (Switzerland). A notorious neutral country. They joined the United Nations (UN) in 2002.
4:35 The Switzerland currency is the Swiss franc (CHF). As of today 1 Feb. 2022: $1 = CHF 0.92
6:38 Don’t forget the French overseas territory Saint Pierre and Miquelon of the east coast of Canada.
Well, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon was a DOM in the past (Département d'outre-mer -> Overseas Mainland France) and therefore EU territory. But then it became a COM (collectivité d'O-M -> French but not mainland France) and therefore ceased to be EU territory, so EU citizens needs now proper immigration documents.
It’s cool that you accept that you don’t know certain things or don’t understand, yet you try to educate yourself, appreciate that. Greetings from the country where the Schengen treaty was signed!
I think the easiest way for Americans to understand this is: EU= USA, Country= State.. there's federal laws (EU), and state laws (Own Country laws)... follow that logic for work, business, police/military, cooperation etc and you get how it works
That's not a 1:1 comparison especially about the army especially because they're not one entity. But yeah basically it's the simplest simplification with a lots of errors that are necessary for an American to understand the main idea.
@@w花b True, it was indeed an oversimplification but most Americans only know America so it's near impossible to use better examples
EU wasn't initialy thought beyond the first country members, so it's logical when it expended organically that it ran into unforseen legal issues, hence the plethora of asterisks.
EU is basically organic growth after the European coal and steel community 1952->
6:00 it’s incorrect. Poland is in EU but not in eurozone. There might be more mistakes which I’m not aware of.
Switzerland, Norway and Iceland are silent members, they use several EU services like the single market, but without being a full member.
But , they paid like member or even more .
@@jeanpieerjean7356 Without being a full member they pay more to use those services and have nothing to say.
Even with the airplane. If you travel from Amsterdam to Rome. You can just step out your plane and you are in the streets. No passport check or anything 😂
not my experience, passport check when you check-in and when you arrive..
@@Duuk_the_Dog That's police, security checks like at all airports worldwide, not border checks. And you don't need a passport, an ID card is enough.
You do need to show some official ID, but no extensive border check.
7:44 for the Dutch caribbean islands, on Aruba, Curacao and Sint-maarten any EU citizen can live on the Dutch islands provided they can prove that they can provide enough income for themselves, and people on those caribbean islands are EU citizens and can move to any of the other Dutch islands or to any EU member country on the mainland provided they can prove they can provide enough income for themselves after the move as well. For moving to the Dutch Sint-Eustatius, Bonaire or Saba islands or any non-dutch island the laws are complicated due to many confusing exceptions though.
And to add to the fun: the other part of Sint-Maarten is French and is called Saint Martin. France and the Netherlands have a land border. In the Caribbean. Halfway around the Earth.
hey Charlie yes the EU sadly has a few (kuch) asterisks, but it is not as uncommon as you think. look at all the things in the US that are decided purely on state level, many of those things stem from the colonial past and the states not being able to agree on things and not wanting to let go off to much of the power they had when forming the union.
Hello fellow landgenoot
Not sadly. Some of just don't want EU to fuck up our country more than necessary. Like the minimum wage. Just because all the other dingbat countries can't figure out how the unions and companies negotiate, we now risk legally wage dumping to a level where you can't sustain yourself. Oooh yes let have working poor like Germany that seems so awesome. Let's just give the EU more power to destroy what we've built. Yes I know there's benefits. But the downsides are way to big for countries that actually already had figured out how to make it work decently.
He didnt talk about the organisation of the E.U. thats were the confussing kicks in
7:17 they forgot Norway who owns the island Svalbard, the big island north of scandinavia right underneath the northpole. Svalbard is visa free island but you have to get through Norway to go there.
Edit: Svalbard also has a seed vault with different plant seeds from around the world in case of an apocolypse or something.
During wintertime they experience polar nights, around 3 months of complete darkness. And in summertime, 24/7 sunshine but its still always cold. Except for the summer of 2020 when they had record temperature of around 89.6 fahrenheit, 32 celsius.
no they didt unless Norway have become part of the EU
An American's reaction to anything not American is usually 'Uuuuurgh!!! Me no understand!'
Yeah, that the EU or Europe are indeed very different things. A while ago I overheard someone saying that Brexit meant England leaving Europe
😂😂😂😂 I wouldn't mind if they become a State of the US as long as we get Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales back.
@@littleprincess8526 Scotland want to be part of scandionavia, for some reason
I love seeing non-Europeans be confused about what the EU is. It's so confusing at first, that's true.
bro even europeans dont understand the eu
@@craftah Exaclty, but i do understand it.
It basically means that invidual country's can not make their own laws anymore.
I'm from The Netherlands, i don't need a Belgium city like Brussel who decides for me how i must live, eat, or like.
The fact that we have a our own governement is a pure farce.
Brussel (EU headquarters) is running the show now.
One positive thing is that especially East European country's are beginning to restist against Brussels law making.
Often Easter Eurpean country's say "Fuck you EU, we won't comply"
The EU is one big pile of shit.
The ban women thing in Greece is Mt. Athos. It is part of Greece where monks live (in many monasteries). They basically have their own government, where abbots of monasteries deal with legal stuff. The ban of woman is purely out of theological reasons, since Mt. Athos has virgin Mary as its patron saint, so (technicaly) virgin Mary is the woman one allowed there. Their argumentation on the ban is, that since its purely a monk republic, any woman could distract them from their jobs and spiritual duties.
Hope that clears it all
(sry for my English)
"Okay, so what's up with this little guy in the middle?" (points at Switzerland). LOL
at least he didnt say sweden point for him but yeah geo and america lol
And that is how The netherlands rules the world. MUHAHAHAHAHA 😎 Funny how he uses the titel "Kingdom" onley for The Netherlands and the UK who is out now.
netherlands rules sh****
@@amosamwig8394 Bilderberggroup Muhahahahahaha
At the very least the Netherlands are kind of the rulers over the ocean 😂
@@corneliusantonius3108 The bilderberg group is dominated by germans, created by former nazi's even. We dont rule squad, not even our internal politics.
@@simdal3088 Prince Bernard is actually Lord Xenu The Galactic Overlord. The Dutch royals founded it in 1954 in a meeting in a Bilderberg hotel in The Netherlands. Members were/are The Dutch ryals, Freddy Heiniken Beatrix The present chairman is King Willem Alexander of The Netherlands and Nelson Mandela was a member too. And Bisshop Tu Tu Too Too. The goal waas to put the Netherlands back onto the economic map again after worldwar 2. But seriously: The Bilderberg meeting (also known as the Bilderberg Group) is an annual conference established in 1954 to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. The group's agenda, originally to prevent another world war, is now defined as bolstering a consensus around free market Western capitalism and its interests around the globe. Participants include political leaders, experts from industry, finance, academia, and the media, numbering between 120 and 150. Attendees are entitled to use information gained at meetings, but not attribute it to a named speaker. This is to encourage candid debate, while maintaining privacy - a provision that has fed conspiracy theories from both the left and right.
Meetings were chaired by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands until 1976. The current Chairman is Henri de Castries.
He left out that the Benelux 'union' Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg is the blue print for the European Union.
EU is complicated especially when you get a crash course like in that video. Remember the EU is not a country so each individual country can and have opted out on certain aspects of it. Essentially it is a trading block called the single market. You’re right in that the UK have since left the EU.
As someone who was born in Bavaria (Southern Germany, but not really Germany), went to school in Switzerland and now living in The Netherlands, I always say: "I'm half German and half Polish, so that mix in itself is already too confusing to understand, not to mention the different countries I lived in. Hence why I see myself as European."
greece entered a very serious financial crisis a few years ago. called the Greek public debt crisis. following one of those asterisks, the EU stepped in to restore Greek finances. in hindsight I would say they did a good job
Didnt the debt crisis in Greece happen largely because they joined the EU?
@@nickburns8096 not that I know. after joining the EU, interest rates drop. it is valid, it seems to me, for all those who have entered.
Rates depend on the health of the economy, if investors find it dangerous to invest in Greece, rates are higher. If the growth is lower than the rates, it becomes dangerous
If the growth is lower than the loans, the debt goes down, on the contrary it goes up. If no one wants to lend you anymore, you go into crisis and you can no longer pay employees and pensions
Greece joined the EU in 1980, the euro in 2000.
The low rates (and therefore the high availability of funds) have allowed rapid growth. However, the Greek government has exaggerated by mismanaging the debt, the EU directly caused nothing.
In reality you are right, it is the EU's fault that it entered a crisis, without entry it would never have been able to get into debt and grow.
In my opinion, growth is not a bad thing XD
@@nickburns8096 from what i can understand (not much, i don't like economics), the 2004 olympics had a big influence on the greek economy, the greek wanted to join the euro but they couldn't because of conditions, they lied and got into eurozone, greece entered crisis damaging euro in the way, eu tried to reestablish euro power by forcing greece into austerity and then i don't remember
All the things i mentioned might not be true because i don't remember
@@alessandrodamato5059 I'm not sure how wrong you are, but I do know you're wrong about when Greece joined the EU, as the EU didnt exist before '93
@@wigosas On 1 January 2001, Greece joined the eurozone
Austerity is a policy of northern European countries on EU spending
It has nothing about the countries' domestic economy, at least until Greece accepted the intervention of the European Economic Commission
If you search on the internet you will surely find everything related to the Greek crisis
Just a note from a Portuguese person: the statement about the islands made it sound like Madeira and Azores were colonies however when Portugal found them nobody was living there. So it isn't technically a colony since the people that were brought to populate the area were Portuguese. They spoke Portuguese and they have a Portuguese based culture.
It's different from the Portuguese ex-colonies in Africa which Portugal let go in 1975. Those indeed had people with different cultures and languages.
This means "letting go" of Azores and Madeira wouldn't make a lot of sense. Besides it would be difficult for them to work alone because of how little resources and industry they have. They are still autonomic regions with their own regional government but being part of the country lends them access to more options in relation to a bunch of stuff. For example a lot of the people there go to university in the continent.
You can actually also use the Euro in Switzerland. They ask you when you pay by card. Which currency you would like to use. Which is a really stupid question. There is a cheaper and more expensive option. And why would any sane customer ever choose the more expensive one? Idk, but they do.
Uh. No. As a Swiss living in Switzerland having Swiss Francs on your account you obviously cant pay in euros, also not every shop accepts it. + they will always give you the change back in Swiss francs.
There is a mistake: Poland is not in eurozone. We have our own currency called złoty.
Keep it that way.
The Eu is nothing esle than pure dictatorship
I applaud you for delving into an unknown topic and wanting to learn, but CGP Grey might not be the best place to start for a basic introduction to a topic. I love his videos, but precisely because he has a tendency to explore complex details, rabbitholes and asterisks! Just look at his videos on the Vatican, City of London or even the Canadian-USA border. :)
You have to remember how it all came around - it was originally a free and equal trade agreement between a small number of nations.
Adding in a common currency and other laws regarding freedom of economic migration etc. came later and was not always agreed by all members.
However, some members would allow the reforms to go through as long as they were given individual discretion in the implementation of those changes within their own borders.
There is indeed a lot to learn there so do check other videos on it. And if it's confusing you then don't worry, it took me 25 years to learn that the Counsel of Europe and The European Counsel were not only different things, but that one of them doesn't even have anything to do with the EU lol
There's also Council of EU :D
They do share a flag, though.
(And it is Council, not Counsel.)
Yeah whoever came up with particular bit of European institutions naming deserves a special kind of hell.
Also, Jesus, EU you had at least 2 treaties since inception of EU as a political entity, couldn't you rename it into something equally boring but a bit less confusing like "Cabinet of memberstate ministers"
small info correction, the United Kingdom left the EU in 2019.
7:38 Yes, people from the Outermost Territories can move to continental EU but not reverse ; EXCEPT FOR : the citizens of the countries which have outermost territories. Example : I'm a continental French, I can move 100% freely to French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique etc.
Poland is not in the EUROZONE. Our currency is polish ZŁOTY.
dobra wiemy, na chuj krzyczysz
nie zesraj się. polska jest zobowiązana dołączyć do strefy euro po spełnieniu kryteriów, ale zawsze magicznie się okazuje że jeden losowy wskaźnik jest odrobinę poza zakresem. technicznie jesteśmy członkiem strefy euro, który po prostu jest za biedny by z euro korzystać.
@@sznio XDDDDDDDDDD lepiej gdybys milczał
no more confusing than say, oh i dont know, the gun laws that vary from state to state in the US when you have the same guy ruling all states, shouldnt the same laws apply everywhere? hmm?
The "little white spot" that you mention is my country Switzerland ! ;-)
One of the reasons for the confusion is, that individual countries had already made various mutual agreements before EU stepped on trying to harmonize the deals. Usually we just mark that with "exception". The origin of The EU is in European free trade and free trade is easier, If also there IS free movement and the laws are harmonized...
1:50 Basically, a Citizen of a EU country can go on vacations or live and work in any other country of the EU ( it's related to the FREEDOM of movement we have ) more easily than if s/he is from a third country ( like US, UK, Japan,.. ).
Hay all! I'm a Polish national, raised in Chicago, Illinois. Currently living in Great Britain. To break it down in the American language, the EU is more or less like the United States, but United Countries known to us as the European Union. The borders are open to us, like travelling from Chicago to L.A. with no passport or ID. The currency is what the EU would like for all the counties to use, like American's use only dollars. Due to its falling and rising rate, not all countries are willing to change to euro (It's not stronger than the GB pound but stronger than the America dollar). In the EU, there are currency exchanges, not like in the states where you get your checks exchanged to money, but you would exchange the Euro, Zloty, Dollars or GB pound into the currency of the country you are visiting/living in etc. As for the different agreements, yes it is a bit complicated. One of the comments below states due to the history, law's, free border trading etc. are considerations which need to be taken into account to respect the country that is willing to unite with all the others. There are plenty of benefits to this, just like in the states. For example, in Chicago firecrackers are against the law to be sold in stores and fired off, but if you drive to Indiana, you can buy them as they have a different law.
"Maybe ill get into more stuff about the EU"
I'm already looking forward to the political discussions in the comments. I promise I'll keep it civil, but I know some people won't :)
1:04 that's Switzerland don't touch him , you can't . it's a European meme , you won't understand
Greece sort of kickstarted the Euro crisis (the reason the 2008 financial crisis hit Europe so hard) due to lying about their ecomomics.
I'm not so sure Greece was the reason for that financial crisis, (mortgage bubbles) but it surely didn't help them either.
@@jeroenrat6289 Yeah, I simplified it a lot, but the real reason is that the Euro had no system to handle the neccesary increase in inflation for more debt ridden member states back then. Usually such things are handled by wealth redistribution to poorer regions, but there just isn’t any political will in say Germany to pay for Greek welfare, especially when they did something stupid like lying to in order to join the Eurozone in the first place.
Though there were the lies that they are lazy
@@oscarosullivan4513 Yeah, any cultural issues would have to do with geography and a horrifying amount of historical trauma, not the personal lack of virtue of every single individual in an entire country.
There is no such thing as a lazy country, only perverse incentives.
The fees paid are paid to the countries back (and admin) in the form of projects or funding. Rich countries pay more, poor countries receive more until they are "rich" enough to pay.
Exactly! When Ireland joined in 1973 we were the poorest country in the then EEC. We benefitted hugely from cohesion funds and the rest. And it worked. Now we are one of the most prosperous members. Now we are net contributors. It is our turn to help the new poorer members to better themselves.
@@johnkilcullen1051 (Please change your fiscal laws and stop being a tax heaven, you'll do way more for the rest of the EU than with a thousand years of your budget contributions)
@@maloflory a tax "heaven"? Our tax laws are transparent. 12.5% corporation tax on trading income, 25% on other income. They are not the lowest in the EU. Other countries may have higher headline rates but often special allowances and deductions reduce the effective rate to a much lower level. The trouble is the those allowances and deductions often benefit some companies more than others. There was an agreement among OECD countries to set a minimum rate of 15%. Ireland agreed to that. But it looks like the agreement may fall apart because of opposition to it in the US Congress.
@@johnkilcullen1051 12.5% is pretty low in the EU man. Before Macron France was at over 30%.
But the major problem isn't the tax rate, it's your laws allowing the benefits to flee to the Carribbean. EU nations lose over €150B each year due to tax evasion, mostly going to tax havens in the Carribbean thanks to the EU tax havens (Ireland, Netherlands) with very, very flexible laws, serving as gateways for profits to flee the union.
Giant companies haven't started putting their headquarters in Ireland because of your economic activity man (why would they choose a tiny island nation that was pretty poor before the tax evasion boom?), you're simply being used.
@@maloflory Intel has invested $14bn in its Irish plant, Pfizer has 6 plants in Ireland, Apple employs nearly 10,000 people in Ireland, Google, Twitter and others have their European headquarters and very large offices in the digital hub in Dublin. Tax is undoubtedly s factor but it is far from the only one. A good available work force, an established common law legal system and the availability of all the ancillary services a large company needs are also significant factors. Most of the dodges that allowed companies to park profits offshore have been closed off. The trouble with the French tax system is that it is less transparent. The effective rate of tax for a lot of French companies is much lower than 30%.
I'm really happy to be a EU citizen and I think that unifying as a single "country" will be our future. I don't think that it'll be a nation state but more like one collective bureaucracy and smaller local governments that can act independently on a certain level. Kinda like it is today but with only outer borders, one single flag/anthem, a combined armed force and single market. It'll be the only way to compete with giants like China and the US, especially militarily as we wouldn't have to rely on the US for protection against Russia or China.
Even though the situation right now is really stressing and unsure I'm firmly believing that we can achieve the goal of a peaceful Europe
Europe didn't have the luxury to be formed as an unified empire in one war.... some tried, but it always failed. So the new strategy is to go the peaceful, "vote to join" route.
Idk if it's done the right way though. I'd make a constitution with a couple core states (France and Germany would be good start) and if you want to join you need to accept that constitution. No asterisks, no own currency and other bs. United military instead of relying on NATO. It would take longer, but it wouldn't be such a mess.
It would be very hard to do, as a lot of country have different culture and tradition, so saying "fuck you're culture, follow our rules" wouldn't really attract much country
Luckily you can pretty easily move to those Caribbean nations from the EU if you want because of some more well placed asterisks. 😅
I wonder what would happen if some intern would screw up and put asterisks on top of USA =D
It's the original western civilization, based on countless previous civilisations. And we speak more languages than we have nations. Of course it's going to be complicated.
You remember funny mustache guy in the 30's?
So he wanted to have Europe under a single flag, but he failed ofc.
Now the people who funded him quickly turned around after his loss and started funding this EU project.
Imagine the US as it is right now.
Next what if I told you you are not allowed to vote for the pres, congress or any other part of the federal government. All you can vote for is your state government.
And this gov is absolute, your state has to obey them. Meanwhile the federal government can do what they want and you or your state can not do anything against them. You are to obey.
You are also to pay for anything they want, are not allowed to have a national identity and have to watch while people from other countries come to yours to work but then take the money home(so most is not returned in your local economy and your local population can not find work)
So basically a dictatorship with additional steps.
This is the biggest pile of drivel I have ever seen. It was the people who opposed him i.e Churchill/De Gaulle that were in favour of the EU, the point being to foster co-operation and stop destructive wars. You don't know your 20th century European history at all.
@@CaptainQuo Then maybe you need to do better research.
The foundations for what later would become the EU predate WW2 and 20 years before Churchill even came into office.
If you want to credit someone, Jean Monnet would be the better choice.
However since the early 1940's(possibly sooner) this idea became popular with the N-gang and they wrote up a long term plan to take over Europe in case the war would fail, the Europaische Wirtschaftsgemeinschaf that proposed a single union with a single currency, in English it was called the EEC. Several companies such as I.G. Farben(You know them, big N-Gang sponsors, they build camps for prissoners to make their chemical goods and created the gas to kill for the "showers") where all too happy to join. The entire founding was riddled with N-gangers. Even the first pres of the EEC was one(Not a direct member iirc but member of several related org).
It was not until later for political reasons that the EEC switched from N-Gang to C-ist.
@@david6054 I studied it at university, actually. Yes I am familiar with Monnet, but comparing it to fascism is fucking moronic. The Nazis wanted to conquer Europe under German hegemony, not create a 'United States of Europe.'
@@CaptainQuo It's called a "plan B".
Now I am not claiming it is completely identical, all I am saying is that the foundations were laid by them. not that the EU is run under N-gang ideology today.
You do know that F-ism is not a form of government and that the N-Gang were a dictatorship right? Small but important difference.
I think I called the EU a dictatorship which is also not 100% correct as we are not led by a single person or group of soldiers but a group of non elected politicians but other than that it fits so....
However I am not making the claim that we have it as bad or worse then the people here in occupied Europe at the time.
its much more simplet for average person, you pretty much can go anywhere and use euro everywhere because everyone loves money
the EU is a flipping mess, I am Dutch, have lived in mainland Europe all my life, but do not understand it at all :p I just know a lot of inconvenient laws are forced on member states by the Union based out of Brussels... mostly... Strassbourg also at times... it;s weird....
Thanks for the video!
But, on the flipside, there are also a huge number of very good laws "forced" on the member states.
BTW, EU decision making always involves the national governments. So realistically a lot of inconvenient laws are forced on member states out of Brussels... by the member states.
Guess what you'll "know" tomorrow.
it's not a mess... it is only complicated.... very complicated. But if one actually studies how things work, it is doable. (and basically the only way to have some form of arrangement between vastly different nations. Overtime things will morphe into a more standardized form, but it may take many decennia before all nations are willing to transfer some of their power to Europe as a whole. untill then, this is pretty much the only way forward)
Could you name a couple of those inconvenient laws?
I mean, that was the whole argument with Brexit: EU laws are hindering us so much!
But I've yet to hear someone actually mentioning those laws that are supposedly so bad.
@@deathscythehellfunk During a phone-in at James O'Brien's LBC show there was one business owning lady who came up with one such law: she wanted to force her employees to work 70-80 hours a week, but EU labour laws prohibited her to do so.
@@freudsigmund72 Yes, I think I listened to the same show. Would have been hilarious, if it wasn't so utterly despicable and disgusting.
"Who're they paying" Yeah, we often think about that, why are we paying an "institution" that does mostly nothing for our countries.
Those institutions have websites where they explain what they do.
@@Twiggy163 those insitutions didn't help us italians, nor did they help poor Greece.
@@Pizza_Man_ how did they not help either? The Greek government cooked the books. Not the EUs fault they needed assistance. I'll agree the austerity measures were too harsh on the Greek citizens though.
A lot of people want out of EU because a whole lot of our taxes go to all the southern countries and taxes have risen a lot in the last years. So they say it cost's more then that we as a country get back.
Also they say the countries laws are overwritten by EU laws and not having any input in it
"Also they say the countries laws are overwritten by EU laws and not having any input in it"
This is complete BS, the same BS Brexiters in the UK are spreading.
You have an input, there is the EU Commission, which are the representatives of all member states, there is the EU parliament which gets elected.
EU laws do not "overwrite" national laws. OK they do, but not like it sounds.
When ALL the memberstaates agree on new laws, the law is brought up, parliament will decides on this.
Then there is a certain time period of different years for the member states to make national laws from the regualtions.
And only when the member states fails to make the laws or they do not comply to the sense of the law, the EU law will overright the national law.
You don't have to apply laws that your gouverment did not agree to follow.
There are countries who opted out from certain laws.
"Also they say the countries laws are overwritten by EU laws and not having any input in it"
This is also not true. We see it with the UK, what they have paid into the EU and what the UK is loosing now in trade and GDP.
There are benefits for economy.
And "they" must be nutters. Even the right wing Euro skeptic AfD in Germany took leaving the EU from their Agenda after Brexit.
Brexit a refrendum won by dubious means and a small majority in England and Wales with it being rejected in Northern Ireland and Scotland. As for the southern countries that reeks of xenophobia. You do know France has a mediterranean coast
Me, in Portugal, seeing someone claim the EU raised taxes to send to the southern countries: Fucker, what are you talking about?
Every legislative proposal starts on behalf of the European Commission (which represents the EU), which drafts the text. Commissioners may be elected by Member States, but they represent the EU and Commission' interests not the MS they come from! The proposal is than discussed in the Council of EU (which consists of representatives from Member States (usually ministers or attaches from Member states ( also not to be confused with European Council which consists of presidents/prime ministers from MS and sets EU priorities and politics), which task is to defend the interests of Member States and every State can propose amendments in the text or even opt-out of a particular clause. The proposal is than discussed in the European Parliament (which consists of deputes elected by Member States). Both Council of EU and European Parliament are co-legislators and work on the text together on equal basis. The text is officially adopted by the Parliament.
"to police that part of the world" is the most american thing I've heard lol
Glad to see someone who does not say nonsense while reacting ^^
I love that you look into Europe Charlie, its awesome to watch
1:05 This little guy in the middle is where i live now - Switzerland
1:00 Thta would be Switzerland. they don't like alliances
1:15 That other region is former Yugoslavia, they used to be one crountry but broke apart ina bloody civil war in the 90s, since then they have no rebuild economically enough to qualify join the EU.
@ItsCharlieVest In Denmark (and presumably Sweden and United Kingdom) shops can opt-in to deal with euros alongside the DKK just to answer your question.
We’re usually pass across UE without passport, more easy for all of us (I’m spanish woman but studied in Ireland and UK, my daughter studies in Cambridge now), since my house to London by plane of course 1 hour 45 minutes, easy .
I live in NW of Spain at the same distance of Madrid, London or Paris, by plane of course.
Simply put, if North America is the land of the free, Europe is the land of exceptions. Joke aside, I'm French and didn't know about most of what's said in the video, on a daily basis all these rules do not affect us much except when there is an economic crisis (like there is today). We basically "share the bill", so people living in the most wealthy countries of Europe tend to be hit harder when something goes wrong. Other than that, I find the lack of borders pretty useful. If I'm looking for a job I can't find in my country, I could in theory just move abroad and be ready to start a new job in a matter of weeks... "In theory" because, obviously, there are exceptions: working in the UK is harder now because of Brexit, same for Sweden because they don't use euros as their currency. But it's not that bad overall, it's mostly just paperwork.
I never undertood why USA people never learn about outside of there country at school
Some parts of the UK (notably in border towns like Newry) will accept euros, though not at a favourable exchange rate. Lots of people cross the border between Newry and Dundalk for shopping, as various goods are cheaper either side thereof.
Here NI, have an asterisk * 😄
@@yermanoffthetelly NI now has many asterisks.
You can use Euros in Switzerland but get back the change in Swiss Francs....
Poland is not in Eurozone, this video got it wrong...
The spot in the middle is Switzerland, a neutral country even during the world wars
You are not the only one who find this confusing. Many Europeans find it hard to fully understand the whole picture themselves. Most only know half of it.
Poland has their own currency as well, it's called the złoty. So they are also not in the Eurozone.
I love the fact you react to these kind of video
You can sort of use the Euro in Britain to roughly the same extent that you can use it in America. It's not illegal to use or anything. If you can find someone who's willing to take it (say, a bank, or a major international tourist attraction), more power to you. But it's not the local currency, so most businesses aren't going to want to mess with it. The pound sterling is arguably a better currency anyway; certainly it has more demonstrable long-term stability. Same is true of the Swiss Franc.
I'm Polish but from August 2007 I live in UK (which is not anymore EU member). I lived there, I completed my education there and now I work in UK. Since I have Polish Nationality and citizenship are I am still the citizen of EU?
Poland isnt in eurozone. It weird that someone miss that becose its a huge deal in EU. Poland has loots of problems with economy and people know that embracing euro will destroy whole country.
The EU has huge amounts of money. And these amounts are often used to finance various projects in many countries. Unfortunately, some of these countries are taking advantage of this fact to steal these subsidies. E.g. Greece. One example is how the EU gave "rewards" for sowing trees. Satellite imagery was used to check the progress. The Greeks took advantage of this and planted artificial trees.
There also become a lot of resistence against the EU within the EU itself, because many people think the European Government in Brussels have become to much powerful, making laws that (to their opinion) should be made only by the local national governments. Brussels is therefore often seen as a more and more undemocratic (and expensive) institute.
The reason the UK is still in there is probably because it's from 2013, when the UK was still a valued member of the EU. Now it's the weird uncle who left, but still wants to eat at the family table.
As a portuguese I feel the need to say that our islands had no population whatsoever when they were discovered, so it's not a "just keep it" mentality... It was populated by portuguese that came from the mainland, the people who live there are portuguese and consider themselves to be as much portuguese as anyone from the continent. They are not "owened", as we believe in the self determination of nations and their people. We may have sins on our history but since the dictatorship ended we do not keep any territory under our flag against anyone's will.
If you don't know something, just look it up. Answers and knowledge won't come by asking empty questions. Since you know plenty of stuff most americans ignore, i am certain you are used to do it anyway.
The fuzzyness about overseas territories is because they have limited self-government/self-rule. They will mostly have their own flag.
The outermost regions, which do not have their own government or flag, such as the canary islands, Reunion outside Madagascar or some Dutch and French Islands in the Carribean are fully EU citizens, and any EU citizen can travel, work and live there as if it was any other place in France/Netherlands/Spain.
So yearh you can go retire there, like people retire in Florida
You got it right. You can retire in one of our French Overseas Territories such as Polynesia, New Caledonia, Guadeloupe, La Martinique, La Réunion, Saint Pierre et Miquelon.
Only if you're EU citizen or holding an EU passeport.
Even for work and travel.
@@christophermichaelclarence6003 The only problem is that you need French, while so many Brits have been in Spain that whole neighborhoods of elders make it through on English and broken Spanish. Just sad that the UK citizens have a harder time with that after Brexit
The Canary Islands do have their own local government and flag (🇮🇨)