Dymphna and I just finished another stint on the radio show hosted by Fausta and Siggy.If you want to listen to us rant and rave, here’s the permalink.
Fausta and Siggy run a great radio gig!
[Nothing follows]
At the siege of Vienna in 1683 Islam seemed poised to overrun Christian Europe.
We are in a new phase of a very old war.
2 comments:
Hello,
I just listened to you Radio Program, and i would like to ad some point:
I am a citizen of the EU. But if I wouldn’t be one, I would think it’s a copy on the SU, listening to the panel. But it’s not like this. - I share many of your concerns, and I like your blog - BUT the EU is actually liked in many European countries.
The South-European countries, the latin-euros, like it, because they all struggled with huge corruption, nothing really worked etc. the EU on contrast represents to them stability. Clear Guidelines etc. Talk to Italian or Portuguese lawyers, they will tell you.
Then the new Europeans like it, because they feel back home to the European family. They hated the Russians and they still hate them today. Its true, that Poland and other easterners have objections, but still, most young people are very happy to see their country being part of the European family. I was actually invited for a party by a polish friend who was so happy the day his country entered the EU. Then the Germans like the EU, because they feel like they act again, after years - and still today - feeling shame when thinking of Germany. The British are no big fans of the EU, but even there you find many people talking positively about the EU.
And don’t forget how the EU contributed to build infrastructure. When you go to Ireland, you feel like every 4th street was build and paid for by the EU. PreEU Ireland was poor and underdeveloped, PostEU Ireland is one of the richest countries in the world, they even overtook Switzerland in Terms on buying power. I assume something like this will happened in Eastern Europe too.
And there is something else: i am in my mid twenties. And I am lucky to travel a lot. And its funny to see how Europeans feel as Europeans outside of the continent. People refer to you as the "euros", you stick easily together with other Europeans. even the Americans talk of "the Europeans...". This also when there is a group of young Americans and young Europeans, you hear the yanks saying: "tell the euros..."
So I think there is really a touch of "Europa" in the air. (I am not specially pro EU or something; I just would like to tell you how I feel about it. There are many things I don’t like, but other things I like a lot. I think many people feel like that. Just because there are some things they don’t like, they don’t want to destroy the whole thing)
Oh yes, somebody said in the radio show, that EU was build out of economic motivations. Well, I don’t agree. The idea was to prevent further wars between the states. Monnet is known as the father of the EU. He actually had most of his ideas already on the Paris Peace meeting in 1919, you can read them in Salters book from 1931, the united states of Europe. But as we know, the idea came up only after the Second World War in form of the coal and steel organisation.
And about this free trade zone in the Middle East... we cross the bridge when we come to it, as the Irish say. Until then the Middle East needs to overcome their own problems.... I don’t think that Is an EU concern for the moment.
Just my two cents.
Keep up the good work.
Well, from a Nordic perspective the EU is a "dead man walking". As it should be.
A quote from Prof. Roland Vaubel in The Wall Street Journal, 30 July 2007
The European Union’s democratic deficit is notorious. [...] On top of all this, consider last week’s launch of the so-called Intergovernmental Conference to hash out the details of a “Reform Treaty” based on the agreement leaders reached at a summit in June. It’s pretty much the same as the Constitutional Treaty that French and Dutch voters rejected two years ago. [...] The Reform Treaty is nothing but the old draft in a new guise to avoid another round of referendums. And as a result, the EU’s democratic deficit is not narrowing but widening.
Ceterum censeo EU esse delendam
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