Comments by "Paul Aiello" (@paul1979uk2000) on "Is A European Federation Inevitable?" video.

I think a European superstate or federation is only a matter of time and mostly because of the US and China. Basically, if we Europeans want to protect our political, economic and social interest, we're going to have to work a lot closer together and the EU is the perfect tool to achieve that. The alternative will be the likes of the US, China, Russia and the likes playing games with us, dividing us for their own benefits, that would hurt our economy and could weaken our social system. The UK with Brexit could be a prime example of that where now the UK is weak, the US will likely try and take advantage of that by weakening the health care system, food standards, workers rights and so on. So Europeans have two choice, either we get together or we become irrelevant in a world where we have far bigger powers that individual European countries can't hope to compete with the likes of the US, China and India in the long run but together we can. Got to remember that the EU came about after the second world war to prevent another war from happening among European countries, but it also came about because of the US and Soviet Union, basically, Europeans were too small and a mess at the time to compete with them, it's the same story now but with the US, China, India and others and that's going to get a lot worse for smaller countries as the decades go by, in other words, they'll become irrelevant on the world stage and that will likely harm their political and economic interest, something the EU allows it's members a much bigger voice, especially on economic matters but it's clear that more integration is going to be needed if we are to compete, now the question is, when will that penny drop. Also, we've got to remember that it's not quite as clear cut on how popular the EU is among it's members or what percentage of them want to leave, we've seen time and time again how distorted those numbers become when it comes to what people think and what they are likely to do and we see that with parties in a lot of the EU countries, they say a lot when not in power but it's a different story when in power because it's them that gets hit if they get it wrong, in other words, many are just talking from the outside for political gain with some sectors of the public, but even the countries that are disgruntled with the EU, none show any signs of wanting to really leave, the UK being the exception that never truly wanted in in the first place. Also, countries leaving isn't that big of a deal as long as there are more countries joining, we saw with the UK leaving, there was a lot of noise on that but it's not really changed anything for the EU as it's likely going to continue to expand further east.
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@dw8609 Well Poland is braking the law so what do you expect? After all, they agreed to the terms when signing up to the EU, if they don't like those terms, they can try and gain support from other EU members and have those terms changed or they can leave the EU, but braking them whiles in the EU will get them into trouble and rightly so. For the record, support for the EU in Poland is actually quite high, it's just the government that has beef with the EU not the people. As for Greece, they lied to join the Euro, they created their own problems and mainly because they wanted cheap money that the Euro created for them, basically, their problems are of their own doing and that's the case for Italy and Spain as well for lagging behind with reforms, but hey, it's easy to blame others for your own mess, the UK does it all the time for the mess it gets it's self into lol. As for the EU economic and military power, it's still very strong on the economic front and can be on the military front with more integration, the UK leaving the EU is a setback but there are many others that want to join the EU so it's irrelevant in the long term, in fact, getting rid of countries like the UK that holds the project back could be a massive blessing for the EU in the long run. Denmark's op-out is also irrelevant, as they can change their mind at any time in the future. As for the Germans, I think you misunderstand the EU project, as countries modernize by joining the EU, they need less money from the richer EU members and in time they end up paying in the pot, in other words, the burden on Germany and other rich EU countries becomes less as the eastern EU members close the gap with the western countries. Beside, I think you really misunderstand the EU project, most countries join the EU not because of the money but because of the security it brings which brings in a lot more investment which helps to modernize the countries, the money helps bit the other things are far more important over the long run. Stop thinking like a Brexiteer in thinking a few billion is a big deal to economise that are massive in comparison to those billions. Unelected dictatorship, that's a good one, I really hope you're not a Brit because that's really funny considering the government the UK has when it comes to unelected position lol.
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@KRYMauL It doesn't really matter if they are called a country or state, it's just a name, what matters is the institutions that run over them which in the case of the EU and it's members, it's a hybrid country. Personally, I think it's better we all get together in areas that makes sense, some things can be done better at an EU level by pooling our resources together whereas other things can be left at a domestic level, it's getting the balance right that matters the most which is the real area where the EU and many of the members keep arguing over, getting the right balance.
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@Pidalin Dark humour isn't a problem if done right and is usually both ways but it can be wrong if it targets a specific group of people like it's picking on them, but if it's both ways and making fun of one's self, it's not as bad, still it all depends of the dark humour we are talking about. I don't know if it was a thing in other European countries with whites painted their faces black but it was in the US and UK and was mostly done because they didn't want to pick a black actor, thankfully, a lot of that has changed and we're a lot more open, still, I'm only 42 and even I remember it as a kid it being like that and it was around that time when it was being phased out, but still you can still see the struggle continues with the Black Lives Matter movement, so we've still got some way to go. As for EU countries cultural differences, really we're not really that different from each other, the UK for instant likes to think they are closer to the US but if you look at how they live and the system they live under, it's far closer to the European norm in countless areas like the sports we play, the cars we drive, the social system, laws, government and countless other things, the only real thing the UK shares with the US is the language but apart from that, they are very different from each other.
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@Pidalin Dark humour can work of it's poking fun at both sides and yourself but it's bad if it's poking fun at a specific group of people and keeps going at that, it's probably why political correctness came about but now they are going overboard on that. In the end, it's a fine line in getting the right balance of humour without it being offensive to some people.
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@questionmark3219 Never say never, after all, people thought the same thing about the EU we have today shortly after the second world war that it would never happen and yet here we are. The reality is that things change depending on need, in the case of the EU, it came about so that it could compete better with the US and to prevent another war in Europe, it was very successful in that but clearly more work is needed on the political side of things if Europeans are going to compete with the US, China and India in the long run, they are going to have to integrate a lot more, it's that pressure that's pushing the issue and it's not about whether we want it or not but that we need it if we are to protect our political, economic and social interest, the alternative is being pushed aside. You've got to also remember that none of the EU members want to leave the EU or the Euro, their main problem is how to reform the EU to work better, that's where they need some work on and it's why the UK clearly didn't understand the EU and it's members in why they got no help from a single EU country on Brexit, mainly because the UK wanted to dismantle the EU whereas the EU members want to reform it. In any case, what we see with the EU integrating more will in time happen on the world stage with a world government and trust me, it won't be because we want it, it will be because the alternative would be a lot worse with how quickly we are advancing, after all, imagine tech in a 100 or 200 years with 200 countries, I don't fancy our chances of survival as a people as tech filters downwards and becomes cheaper and more advanced.
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@questionmark3219 It wasn't so much the aim of a common country but more integration, which in the longer run likely leads to the same thing more or less. We've got to also remember that the reason it's happening isn't because the people want it but more because we need to do it to compete on the world stage, it all started after the second world war when Europe was in ruin, they knew back then that they could only compete with he US by banding together, they also knew by doing so, it's very likely to prevent another war from happening in Europe and it's becoming more the case with how the world is developing that more integration is going to be needed if us Europeans in the EU want to protect out political, economic and social interest around the world. The alternative is that we would get pushed aside by the big players like the US, China and India in the long run and if we do get pushed aside, that will weaken our economy, our political interest and our social welfare system as the likes of the US will try to weaken it for their own ends, something they've already tried to do a few time only for the EU to hit back at them. So I don't look at the EU as an option but more of a need, sooner or later, we Europeans will realize that when others take advantage of us and who knows, maybe Brexit for the UK will be the perfect test case as many countries are already taking advantage of them.
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I agree with that, power should be at an EU level where it makes sense, boarder control, the military, foreign policy, currency, many laws and regulations and so on, basically things where it makes sense, the rest could be left to each EU member to run however they want within reason. But clearly there are many areas EU countries could do much better if they work together as one and in a polarizing world where we have superpowers like the US and China, as well as India rising, I think us Europeans are going to have to integrate more if we want to protect our political, economic and social interest, otherwise, the other powers will take advantage of us just like they are starting to do with a Brexit Britain which is ironic that the UK is a valuable lesson to other EU members of what could happen without EU protections.
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@Pidalin Dark humour isn't really a problem in the EU as long as it's not offending others or it's both ways. Anyway, I do think the world needs to unite but I don't think we've got a few hundred years to do that, probably 100 years but at the end of the day, I think tech progress will force us together because it's becoming more dangerous as we advanced more, basically, we don't have to worry about aliens, at least not for a while, we should be a lot more worried about ourselves because we got 200 countries, all of which are advancing at a decent pace, it's not hard to see as we advanced more with 200 countries how bad that could end up for us all. But anyway, clearly the UN doesn't work for a world government, the EU is showing promise that it could work on a world scale but that's a long way off, the irony being, many others around the world are trying to emulate the EU but are not doing it as successful and mostly because they are letting anyone in and rushing it.
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@KRYMauL Switzerland is an odd country that's surrounded by the EU that if the EU wanted, it could strangle trade going in and out of Switzerland that I suspect in the longer run, I think Switzerland will find it very difficult to not be in the EU, especially if the EU or others start getting tough on banking secrecy, it's tolerated for now but I suspect it's only a matter of time before they clamp down on it.
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@KRYMauL Well yeah it's great for criminals, that's why it's so secret but it's not doing the common people any favours with these crooks hiding all this money as I suspect a lot of that is supposed to be paid as tax revenue, in a sense, they are stealing from everyone else. As for the EU, I don't mind what it becomes, a United States of Europe, a Confederation or whatever, just as long as it works, it's balanced and fair and improves the living standards then it's all good. Sooner or later it will likely happen so the EU countries can compete better with the US and China because our biggest weakness at the moment is having a divided voice and others do take advantage of that, especially the US, Russia and China.
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