Comments by "Paul Aiello" (@paul1979uk2000) on "Spain, France u0026 Germany: The New Powers of Europe?" video.

I remember thinking after Brexit, who would take over the spot of the UK and most assumed Italy would, me personally, I thought there was a chance it could be Italy but they are all over the place politically which it looks like they are falling behind Spain and other EU members both politically and economically. Poland had a chance of being a big player in the EU but with its current government and backsliding, they are losing a lot of trust among EU members. Ultimately, it was never going to change much from it being Germany and France being ahead with Spain, Italy and Poland all having a chance to have a bigger say but the ones that would win out are the ones that are more progressive towards the EU project and not the ones always blaming it for all the wrongs in the country and trying to dismantle it, so Poland had little chance in that, Italy has a much better chance if they stop blaming others for their economic situation. I do agree with most of what is said in the video, Spain seems the logical choice, they have a stable government, are progressive on the EU, have good connections with Latin America and Africa which will play into the bigger picture with EU relations and them. At the end of the day, there is nothing wrong with being sceptical about some EU policies but when it gets like it was in the UK or Poland where it doesn't matter what the EU does, they will be sceptical, it becomes clear they don't have the interest of unity at heart and end up weakening their own power because of it and we should remember, the UK when in the EU could have been a much bigger player, right up there with Germany and France but its sceptical views pushed the UK to the side among other EU members, in the end, you want to gain more power and influence in the EU, you really have to be more constructive and not obstructive, major mistakes the UK, Poland and even Italy are doing which is holding back their interest.
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There is far more to it than that, look at Hungary and Poland, they receive a lot of money from the EU and yet they are sceptical of the project. I think it boils down to one simply things, Hungary and Poland only wanted in the EU for the economic benefits and not to create unity among its members, a bit like the UK that likes to think the EU project should be economic only, whereas Spain actually want the EU project to work and are more constructive on that and not obstructive like some others are.
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@Eduardo de Vera The truth is, that's the price that needs to be paid if you want to modernize as a country, major reforms to modernize a country will turn a lot of sectors in the economy upside down, but if you want a modern living, the reforms are needed to keep pace with the first world and in fact, it's a common trend we keep seeing, southern EU countries keep falling behind the northern economically ones and having to do more major reforms and to get bailouts from the EU and other EU members to keep pace with them, this would be far less of an issue for the likes of Greece, Italy and others if they actually implemented the reforms when they should as it's a lot more manageable to do in small bite size reforms if they do it at the time but many fall behind so the reforms become bigger and bigger where it has a big impact on the people, but the alternative to not doing these reforms is that the country will suffer a lot longer term.
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