Comments by "Nigel Johnson" (@nigeljohnson9820) on "Coronavirus: Spain wants EU to unite behind €1.5 trillion COVID-19 recovery fund" video.

  1. The fundamental weakness in the EU system is that the member states are not really united as one. It is questionable if this is even possible or desirable. Even members of the euro zone are in fact competitors, there success does not contribute to the common good. It is one of the myths of the EU, that what is good for one member state is good for all. This has been the justification for the membership fee. In practice the one rule fits all has benefited some disproportionately to others. Germany and the Netherlands have done very well out of EU membership, while must others have done less well to varying degrees. The problem is highlighted when EU funds are used to set up industries in the poorer member states at the expense of closing other operations in the richer states. Sure this is wealth redistributed, in fact it is forced wealth redistribution, but how does it help the tax payers of the richer states to know that their taxes are actively being used to fund a competitor in another member state? This is really a zero sum gain. Someone must lose for another to gain. The only real winners are the multinationals who stand apart from the EU and make their money from manufacturing in the poorer parts of the union and selling to the richer, and still managing to pay less than their fair share of the tax bill. The drive for federalism is one solution, since it puts a super state in control of all the member states and acts as a central collection point for the taxes collected from the member states. The argument is that citizens are less bothered about the success of one region if that region contributes to their welfare through collective taxes. This is a macrocosm of the relationship between local councils and national governments. The problem is the system breaks down as the scale increases, what just about works for a national government is unlikely to work for a huge federal super state, the stresses between the rich and poor become just too great amplified by the distances involved. The problem is worse for the EU where there are significant cultural differences between member states. Reading the comments on this report highlights the problem, with talk of resentment about providing aid to feckless and financial irresponsible states, in this case Spain. One solution is to concentrate even more power at the federal level, with government controlled directly from the center. It is then impossible to call any member state feckless as all decisions are taken by central government. But this seems far too similar to the old Soviet or Chinese model of central government, and central planning, and no one want the EU to emulate these failed systems. The alternative federal system is to follow the example of the US. This does not solve the inequity between member states, it just stops complaints about it from having effect, and of course the system is just as open to corruption and financial failure, as is evident today with the current US adminstration. Ironically, the EU was closer to a solution in its early days, when it was the common market, a loose collection of independent states working for the common good. As it stands, the existential threats the EU faces, of which Covid-19 is just one, will ensure its destruction.
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