Comments by "Paul Aiello" (@paul1979uk2000) on "Why Macron Thinks “Europe Could Die”" video.

  1. Yeah, I used to have high regard for Germany, but over the last decade, they've been doing too many mistakes and showing poor leadership on the European stage, it really got exposed over the last few years with the energy dependency on Russia, which Germany played a big part in pushing on that. I want to see a strong Germany, showing good leadership, but under the current government, I don't see that happening, they need to wake up to the reality of how the world is changing and like you say, too many are showing cowardly and backwards policies, and it's surprising to see with everything that is happening from Russia, the US, China and the Middle East, if this isn't a sign for waking up, I don't know what is. As for Macron, I don't agree with everything he says, but he is right about the EU and what we need to do as Europeans, our divisions are making us Europeans weak, and it doesn't have to be that way, we've already got the institution in place with the EU, it's just a matter of doing reforms to it and giving it the powers in certain areas that it can protect our interest better.
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  2. I don't think it's anything to do with Europe dying, that's ridicules considering that a lot of the countries are modern and democratic, there's no reason why they can't continue to have a high quality of life just like many other small to medium size countries around the world. What Macron is saying is about European influence around the world, being able to shape our own destiny, being able to protect our political, economic and social interest, and Macron is right, at an individual country level, we are limited in what we can do just like most nations around the world, it also means a lot of international laws, rules and regulations being made by big powers, which currently are the EU and the US, and maybe China someday. Macron is right, we need to get our act together considering how the world is shaping up with a hostile Russia, a growing power in China and a less reliable and unpredictable US, and in the EU, our biggest weakness is our division, having 27 voices pulling in all directions, which other powers are more than happy to take advantage off and divide us more. We in the EU countries need to find common solutions, to find ways to come together and pool resources to protect our interest, that will likely mean pooling more resources into a common EU military, foreign policy and capital market. But in any case, this isn't about decline or dying, this is about protecting our interest, because even if we don't pull together, we can still have a high standard of living, it's just that the global rules will be made by bigger powers around the world, which will be able to pressure us to change our rules to fit their own interest, the EU can protect our interest, if given the means to do so, but it's up to us in the EU countries to figure out a way of doing that which is fair to all EU members and it's citizens, but either way, the clock is ticking and we've wasted way too much time already.
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  3. @Letsthinkaboutit-mb7nn Demand does seem to be growing over the last few years, but yeah, I think we've still got some way to go, but personally, if we don't get our act together, then the US and China are going to continue to grow in power whiles we Europeans will get marginalised which will make it harder to protect our interest, so either decline or we get our act together and pool our resources together to protect our interest. The real question is how long is it going to take for the penny to drop that with have limited choices here, simple because European countries on their own are too small to compete with the likes of the US and China, but together through the EU, we can.
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  4. Independence from the US, I agree on, but keep them as friends. Like you said, the US policies are becoming more erratic with each passing government, they are becoming less reliable as a partner and becoming too self-serving that we in the EU really do need to start looking after our interest more, especially with how unstable the world is getting. So keep the US on friendly terms but let's have more independence from them, whiles also doing what's in our interest, even if it conflicts with US interest, no difference to what the US does to EU intrest.
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