Your opinion about the European Union

[Jonny]

From 22nd - 25th May there are the Europe elections.
So I think it´s time to start a discussion about the whole thing.
Do you like the EU, or not, are there things you want to criticise?

I think the EU is a good thing. Not because of economic things or something, I actually don´t care about this... :P
But the background to unite Europe is what I like.
But I really can´t stand this people who want that everyone knows that they vote for their beloved UKIP. They also use always the same arguments, like the MPs of the European Parliament are paid, far-right, unelected ********* and the whole upcoming elections are ("as always") fake. And that the EU is just a dictatorship controlled from Berlin (dafuq?:|).
If I could vote, I would vote for the European Federalist Party :g.

Anyway, what is your opinion?

[Greevb]

It's like America just no guns and soft drugs :g

[Xpand]

Europe is this:
The USA rules;
The banks rule;
People watch football (soccer for our USA friends);
Governments sink money into making the rich richer;
Poor countries recieve economic boosts only to spend them on high end business cars and mansions for private companies and their owners;
Lies.
Some immigrants (the annoying minority) try to make the host country the same as the country from where they came from because the local laws don't abide by their beliefs, instead of at least tolerate (not even saying adapt) to the western culture that welcomed them.

[Jonny]

This is like:
In Turkey:
Turk to Kurd: "You're in Turkey, so speak and behave turkish!"
In Germany:
German to Turk: "You're in Germany, so speak and behave german!"
Turk rejects: "No! I'll never be german, I'm a Turk!"

[Oryx Crake]

Xpand: honestly that doesn't sound to different from most national governments atm.

What the EU ostensibly does is create a forum, where the european nations, which have been more or less constantly in one war or another with each other for the better part of 2000 years, can discuss issues without resorting to violence. It's more than that of course, but the greatest lasting value it has, if you ask me, is that it makes the european countries beholden to one another in a way which makes war a bad idea both for europe as a whole as well as for the individual nations. Of course nothing is perfect but speaking cynically, this is about as much as the EU can do.

[Greevb]

I got banned from a EU base for protesting against a bombing of a children's school in Iran; was promptly heckled as a terrorist and escorted out of my Biochem class by two undercover officers that looked like inspector gadget and reluctantly had to bite the bullet and resign from the class wasting my money. So the EU has display great courage and honor in my case. Then again I've been in touch with US installations and NATO installations for a decade; which muddles my opinions. Though I'd rather be on the economy here in Belgium then anywhere near my resident state WA or a EU base.

But that's just me.

[KronicReaper]

America and the EU governments are both trash and they don't care about the people, they just care about big business and spending a lot of peoples tax dollars on stupid parties and vacations.

[Rapier Racer]

I'm not sure the EU is a good thing, from two standpoints.

One, it seems like all the important decisions and choices are made by people who were never elected by anyone, so what right do they have to make huge decisions that will effect the lives of many? Elected politicians are bad enough. Some EU laws annoy me as well, take the simplest one, the BBFC has been replaced by the European body PEGI for games rating. PEGI are way harsher than the BBFC was on games so that's just more nanny state censorship bullshit I've got to look forward to in the future. I realise that's not the most important thing in the world on the grand scale, it's just a small example.

Two, looking at it from my countries view, I don't see the need for the UK to be a member of the EU and pay such huge fees for the privilege. It's a bit of a slap in the face when the UK government is forcing austerity measures down everyone's throat and making cuts to all sort of the things across the board and yet is handing over 40 MILLION pounds a day to the EU?? That's the general figure I've seen in lots of places.

There should just be free trade arrangements between European countries (Including the UK) and the US, there is no need for the rest of this EU nonsense.

Just for the record, I have nothing against any European country or people, I just don't like a lot of what the EU does.

I could say more but I don't want to write an essay out here on the forum, I think this post is long enough that some people won't read it already

[Jonny]

I still think that the EU was foundation stone for things like the Schengen Area.