Youtube hearted comments of Paul Aiello (@paul1979uk2000).

  1. A lot of what Germany said makes a lot of sense and reforms are needed to the EU before it can expand, otherwise hardly anything will get done with so many countries and only one can block things from happening. I'm also starting to come to the conclusion that if the EU can't get these reforms done at an EU level, they really should start focusing a lot more on the Euro Zone, they are more likely to want to make the EU work and more likely to want to do reforms than countries that are dragging their feet on the outside of the Euro, now that's not to say that all the none Euro Zone countries are like that, some are not which don't qualify to join the Euro but it's clear that others are not in the Euro because they don't want this integration and are mostly in the EU for economic benefits which is fine but not when it's holding the rest back. So yeah, either the EU needs to go multi speed or a lot more focus on the Euro Zone is needed if they can't get these reforms done at an EU level, the last decade or two have been a waste with not much reforms and integration in the EU and Europeans can't afford to stay like that with a rising China and a US that's only getting bigger, the simple reality is, we either change or we're going to get pushed aside by the bigger powers and the only way we are going to compete with the US and China long term is if the EU countries integrate a lot more and work closer together, the alternative is that EU countries will get pushed aside on political, economic and social matters, that will weaken living standards and our voice around the world.
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  2. I don't know, I'm British and thought it was a crazy idea that the UK left the EU, I can't see us joining any time soon for a number of reasons. The main reason is the EU and it's members, it's highly likely that even if the UK wanted to join, the EU or one of its members would block us joining for at least 2 decades or more, after all, not much has changed in the UK and the UK has always been a troublesome member, if the EU was to let us back in, they are going to want to see some major shifts in how the political system sees the EU projects, as well as the media and public, all that takes a lot of time to change and for now, there is no real incentive for the EU to want us back after how the UK has behaved. With that said, the UK could join the single market and custom union, that would protect the economy and living standards but the UK wouldn't have a say in EU law making that the UK would have to abide by, maybe that's something the UK will just have to accept to get back on good terms with the EU and it's members. Truth be told, with everything that's going on in the UK with Scotland, Northern Ireland and even Wales talking more about independence, it's going to be hard to predict the next 10 years for the UK because unless this government gets its act together, I can see one or two of the UK members leaving the UK union over the next decade. Basically, as long as this Tory lot is in power, there is no hope in getting on good terms with the EU because they are going out of their way to pick a fight with the EU and then we have Labour that are too weak and scared to death to even mention Brexit that things don't bold well for the UK. The only silver lining in all this is the Tories themselves, if they keep going the way they are doing, keep protecting Boris and the hard line Brexiteers, they could implode by the next election, that could open up the door for closer ties between the EU and UK but I suspect that would only be the case if the Tories get humiliated at the elections which they might be heading in that direction and if the Tories are smart, they would get rid of Boris and the hardline Brexiteers in the party because they are dragging the party down and personally, I hope the Tories are dumb and stick with Boris so they can sink.
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  3. As a Brit, I'm happy to see Germany rise up on the military front, I know not all Brits will think like that, especially Brexiteers who seems to think we are in the old days of who has the biggest military, UK or France lol, in this case, it will be clear that Germany does. Anyway, I understand going off Germany history on why the country didn't want to be a major military power but times change, Germany is nothing like the country it was, Germany can contribute a lot of good to the world, especially in the EU and I really have to wonder if it's high time EU members need to start integrating more on military, security and energy matters, that would save a lot of money, reduce duplications and have a lot more clout around the world, it would also make Europeans in the EU a much more credible force on the world stage, the economic might is there but the political side needs some work because others take advantage of our division, even the US does that at times. So yeah, I think it's high time we start looking after our own interest and not being so dependent on the US, this includes the UK which I think will rejoin the EU, maybe decades later as France wouldn't let us in any time soon.
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  4. I would love to sign it, unfortunately, those Brexiteer clowns took my vote away, but anyway, I hope this gets enough support to make real changes to the gaming industry.
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  5. You get a sense from Brexiteers that any deal with the EU is bad, I mean seriously, what do the Brexiteers think the UK should do, cut all ties off with the EU? I'm not being funny, but whether we like it or not, the EU is by far our most important partner and for all the talk about these so-called free trade deals the UK is signing around the world, the economic benefits from them is so tiny that it's almost not worth it and the UK would need to sign a heck of a lot more deals and better ones at that to replace what we had in the EU. Closer relations with the EU is in the UK's interest, more so now with how the US is going off the rails, which is probably why Brexiteers are so angry, because this Brexit reset is likely just the start for further closer relations with the EU over the long term, maybe even to the point of joining the single market, custom union or even the EU, that's what the hardcore Brexiteers are really angry about, it's certainly not the fish which lets be honest, the economic impact is so small to not matter, but the Brexiteers will use any excuse like fish to try and drive there point home. The good news is, after so many years of Brexit, the Brexiteers have lost a lot of credibility thanks to their lies, support for the EU and closer relations are higher among Brits than they've been for a long time, in other words, Brexiteers can scream all they want, far fewer people are listening and thanks to Trump, that's just helping the EU case.
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  6. To be fair, some companies even in Europe are hard to pin down to which country, like when I was younger, I didn't realise Adidas or Puma were German, I thought they were British or American. There's also the factor of how some companies rebrand themselves in the country they are doing business in, for instance, when I was younger, my friend thought Ford were British lol, many companies do that because they know there's a percentage of consumers that are more likely to buy if they think the product is from their own country, so it doesn't surprise me if that tricks goes on in the US.
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  7. Whichever direction the EU goes, there's a lot more talk about it in the EU and among its members, it also looks like momentum and support is building to do some real change and as for when there are serious talks of treaty change, I suspect 2025 onwards with the gauntlet more or less being set to no later than 2030. The reason I say that is because, if there is no progress happening by then and there are no real signs of new members being able to join the EU by 2030, a lot of these countries could give up on the idea of joining the EU and look at other options, after all, they are not going to wait forever. But this isn't a blank cheque for these new countries that wants to join the EU, there's still a lot of work and reforms they need to do, but the EU needs to get its act together and show that the door is actually open for these countries to join, it would encourage more reforms in those countries, whiles at the same time, give the EU and its members enough time to discuss and reform the EU, so it can work better internally and with new future members and I think 2030 is being seen as the limit, that if there are no signs of change, no hope of these countries joining, I suspect a lot of them will give up and find other solutions away from the EU. So the clock is ticking on both side that I think serious talks need to start happening by around 2025, even if it takes months or even years to come to a conclusion, there are needs to be signs that progress is happening, after all, just look at Turkey, they more or less abandon the idea of joining the EU because real progress wasn't happening and fair enough, a big part of that problem was Turkey not doing enough reforms, but part of the problem is the EU and some of its members more or less shutting the door, many of these eastern European countries feel like they are in the same boat that joining the EU is a pipe dream, if many of these countries act on that, the EU could lose a lot of support from these countries, which will harm it's future plans of expanding in those regions, which longer term will hurt EU and it's members interest, especially if the EU wants to compete with the US and China long term. To put it bluntly, the EU and it's members have been wasting too much time over the last decade and now are playing catch up and need to find solutions to make this work, and there are many options if the political will is there to make it happen. Also, let's be blunt about this, you can't have economic integration without political integration, if we want to reap the benefits of further economic integration, we're going to need further integration to set standard laws, rules and regulations throughout the EU countries, on top of that, if European countries really want to compete better with the US and China, we're going to need further political and economic integration, especially on the political side, because that is where we are weak and both the US and China already take advantage of that, whereas it's a lot harder for them to do that on the economic side because we are a lot more integrated there, which makes us stronger. Also, when it comes to integration, it's not an absolute and in one direction, there are many things that can be done at a local level and done better, and not so much national level but local city level, but there are also many areas that are better being done at a supernational level with the EU, especially on the economy and external political matters and it's a fine line in getting the right balance, but things will need to change if the EU and it's members want to remain competitive with the US and China long term and I suspect it's going to be external forces like the US and China that's going to dictate the direction the EU goes, mainly because of the reality check that's needed for us to compete with the bigger players, so unless that reality changes, I don't see many alternatives but to integrate further and the European elections is not going to change that reality, regardless of outcome, all it can do is delay it. The alternatives if Europeans do go in the opposite direction, it's going to be a lot harder for the EU and it's members to protect its political, economic and social interest, which over the long run could weaken many of those areas as pressure from both the US and China builds on them trying to push their values on us, for now, we are strong enough to push that back, but without further integration, I think it could be hard for Europeans to protect these values and let's be blunt, the US have tried many times to push it's own values and standards on Europeans, they've failed because the EU is strong enough to stand up to them, but that can change in the future and likely will if we don't change, basically with further integration and more new EU members.
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  8. I've been keeping up with events but this puts it into context what's really been achieved in the EU, it's been a busy year. As for the EU corruption scandal that's going on, I don't see that as a negative, in fact, it's a good thing, because it allows the EU to clean house, we should be a lot more worried about corruption that goes undetected around the world and now this scandal is going on, it's likely going to scare some that want to do corruption in the EU because the spotlight is on them, so the scandal might look bad on the surface but overall it's a good thing to clean things up and as the saying goes, never let a crisis go to waste. As for EU gas storage, the EU countries are doing a lot better than expected, it peaked at around 95% and is currently at 83.5% with it actually going up over the last week, something I didn't expect deep into winter and if that continues, it doesn't look like gas is going to be an issue for this winter or the next winter and I suspect the reason gas reserves are going up and not down is because of the mild winter but more importantly, the reduction of gas consumption that's happened over the last year, around 26% I think it was and I suspect EU countries will reduce gas consumption by around 10-15% this year, the high energy prices are pushing consumers and businesses to become more energy efficient and that could put the EU economy in good standing once energy prices stabilize as the overall economy will be a lot more efficient. Anyway, it's going to be interesting what this year will bring, I suspect a lot more renewable energy will be installed and more work on integration in some areas.
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  9. I highly doubt Italy would leave the EU, they stand to lose far more than the UK is losing, being out of the EU, mainly because Italy has an unstable political and economic system, them being out of the EU wouldn't do them any favours when it comes to investment in the country, especially as having easy access to the EU market is a big advantage. What we really should remember is that the UK is a special case, they've never had the vision of a united Europe, they joined the EEC whiles more or less lying to its people about what the project is about, a lot of the other EU countries might have issues with how it's run, but none really want to rip the project apart, which is more or less what the UK wanted, any issues other EU members have with the project is more about wanting to change the project, to serve their interest better, this is a massive difference on the UK compared to every other EU country, even Hungary and Poland were they complain, is more about wanting to change the project, not rip it apart. The truth is, the UK never wanted in the EU in the first place, it's always been a troublesome country and had by far the most op-outs out of any EU country, a common theme with pretty much every other EU country is that they want change and reforms done to the EU, many are not happy with how it's currently run, but that's a long way from wanting to leave the union and hence, we see the same pattern with Eurosceptic parties throughout the EU, they tell the people things like wanting to leave the EU or the Euro, but once in power, they change their tune as reality kicks in, we saw that in Italy over the last few years, only for the current government to tone it down a lot once in power, because if they went thought with what they were saying, it would be them that would get it in the neck once it impacts the people, in that sense, they are smarter than the Conservative party in the UK, or maybe, they saw what was going on in the UK with Brexit and thought, this isn't for us, probably why support has been going up for the EU in every EU country, and ironically, even in the UK. My point I'm getting at, it's easy for the party that's not in power to say they'll do this and that for the people, it's another thing delivering on that, hence why opposition parties promise more than they can deliver, and if they win power, they tone it down as reality kicks in.
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  10. I don't think the EU needs to follow an existing system that is out there, it's a new project that's work in progress and I think it would make more sense to create a new system whiles looking at the good and bad of all the other major systems around the world and try and improve on that, especially when connecting with the people because a lot of systems seem quite distant from the public, which I don't think is healthy for a democracy. I also think mandatory voting should be a thing as we tend to see that with lower turn out, it allows more of the radical elements in society to gain power which isn't good for anyone, also, considering governments impact us all, it makes sense that we all should vote, we also need to find ways to get people more involved in politics, I find it crazy how so many either don't vote or even know what they are voting on which isn't good for a democracy because a democracy is only as good as the people involved, hence the mandatory voting part, this should include the media that should be reporting on the facts and not fabricating the news as we see in the UK and US. As for the EU project, I think it's only a matter of time before it becomes a lot more integrated into some kind of united union that feels more like a single country than union that it is today and the reason for that is the US, China and a rising India, some will say Russia but let's be honest, Russia is a dying power that's lashing out, a bit like the UK is, after all, Russia has an economy that's only a bit bigger than Spain, in other words, they are no match for the EU, US and China if they put that economic might to any venture they choose. Anyway, I think it will happen and not because of want but because of need, realistically, if European countries want to protect out political, economic and social interest, we're going to have to band together a lot more than we've already done and I'm saying that as a Brit and even I know even with Brexit that we need the EU. The alternative is a weak union which will lead to other major powers like the US and China taking advantage of Europeans and very likely watering down many of our standards like food standards, workers rights and so on, something the US has already tried to do with food standards but are not in a position to do it yet, that can change if we Europeans don't get our act together and don't think it can't because major powers tend to bully smaller ones to get what they want, the UK might be a prime example of that with other trading nations getting far better terms out of the UK then they could when the UK was part of the EU. Anyway, I always feel it makes sense to have as much power at a local level in areas where it makes sense and I don't mean at a country level but more region level that's closer to the people of that region, power should only be reserve at a higher level when it makes sense, so the military, foreign policy, currency, boarder control, energy security and other things like setting high standards in many areas like workers rights, food standards and so on, it could be a 3 tier system where powers that make sense at a local level should be used there, then at a national level or state level if you prefer and then a supernational level like the EU and clearly a lot of work is still needed.
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  11. I think realistically, before the EU can bring in new members, it's going to need to reform the EU, especially on vetoes and majority voting, otherwise, more members will make the system unworkable. I think with vetoes, either it needs to go or it needs to be based on a percentage of countries to block something, not where it is now where anyone member can hold the rest to ransom, it's easy to see how that can create grid lock as more members join. The second is majority voting, that could be done on population size and amount of members that vote a given way, it could even be done in a way where you need a percentage of the population and members to pass or veto a motion. I think treaty change needs to happen over the next 3 years and whiles that is going on, the countries wanting to join the EU, can do the reforms needed to join, after all, joining the EU is no quick process and how quick it happens usually depends on the reforms the country does. In the case of Ukraine, a few things need to happen, the above reforms of the EU, the war in Ukraine needs to come to an end and a lot of reforms, the reforms part is probably much easier to achieve now thanks to Putin because any government in Ukraine will use the threat of Russia to push reforms through, they will also make the ones holding out feel guilty into pushing the reforms through, in other words, it should be much easier for Ukraine to do the reforms needed to join the EU then it was before the war, still the war will need to come to an end before that can start. But let's not kid ourselves, it's no quick process, there is no such thing as fast tracking a country in like Ukraine wants, how quickly a country joins is really up to how quickly the country in question does the reforms needed to join, some countries are quite fast on that, others drag their feet. One thing is certain, thanks to Putin's aggression, more countries want to join the EU than they did before the war, the EU is also more open to expending eastwards, that in time is likely going to get other countries to want to join but like I said above, first the EU needs to reform its self before any country can join, Hungary and Poland are proof that change is needed, which is ironic because Poland and Hungary are the two countries that want the EU to let these other countries in and yet they are the biggest roadblock from letting it happen, especially with Hungary. Also, what is it with some countries that seem to think that if they complain a lot or try to guilt them into speeding up the process of letting them in? That doesn't work, the EU is a very rules based organization, if any country wants to join, it really is up to the country in question how quickly they can join, in other words, do the reforms needed and solve the other issues they have, especially boarder issues, it's not magic, it's just common sense and hence why some countries join much faster then others.
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  12. It depends, change happens at a faster or slower pace depending on the need for change, we've seen a few signs of that with Covid and everything that is going on with the war in Ukraine, but clearly change is needed to smoother out the process and like the video pointed out, it's highly unlikely that any new country is going to join the EU until reforms are done to the veto and majority voting rules and I think the EU needs to work on this shortly after the energy crisis, so maybe summer to late next year as things ease off. If the EU countries don't get their act together on reforms, it's going to create a lot of gridlock and hold up the process of countries wanting to join the EU, whiles also holding back many reforms and changes needed doing in the EU. I'm also thinking that if the EU countries can't do this at an EU level, maybe they should put more focus on the Euro Zone as they are more likely to want change, reforms and integration compared to none Euro Zone countries, there are also areas like the military that countries in the EU could integrate already, so say France, Germany, Italy, Spain and a few others work a lot closer together on a single military, after all, you don't need all EU members onboard to allow many countries in the EU to work much closer together, in fact they did that with the Euro and Schengen zone.
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  13. I suspect the quality of life in a country and how people are treated, especially lower classes has a big impact on crime rate, after all, you're more likely to turn to crime in hard times than not. I think this is where the real problem is in the US, the system doesn't treat lower and middle classes that well, there is a weak social system and safety net and the way the prison system is in the US is almost barbaric by other modern countries, which likely has the impact of someone returning to crime because of having less opportunities once they've paid their dues. What we see in other modern countries when it comes to the prison system wouldn't work in the US until they fix a lot of the core issues in society which leads to a lot of crimes and I don't think that is going to be easy to fix in the US, even thought it should be because the blueprint is already there in more or less every other modern country, they've figured it out, why hasn't the US? I suspect capitalism is a big factor or the degree of how capitalism is king in the US compared to other modern countries that are more like social democracies, basically capitalism but with big governments and a lot of social protections for it's citizens and it's likely many of these factors can play into whether you turn to crime or not.
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  14. I think longer range weapons would be useful for Ukraine to attack Russian supple lines, if they can take out enough of them, it will be harder for Russia to fight on the front line. As for Ukraine EU membership, that's a bit more complicated, there isn't such a thing of speeding up the process from the EU side and how quickly a country joins is really down to the country in question, basically, how quickly they do the changes and reforms needed to become a member, hence why some countries can join much sooner than others. In the case of Ukraine joining, the war would need to be over, I think there is a lot more political will on both the EU and Ukraine side to make it happen with reforms likely being enacted much faster in Ukraine because of what Russia has done, but there is also the EU side, there needs to be reforms on the treaties, especially veto rules and majority voting, without those reforms, I can't see the EU allowing any new country in and Hungary and Poland are a good reason for why there should be pause.
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  15. The land mass of Europe is a bit weird when it comes to defining what is Europe and what isn't, and many people will have different views on what defines Europe. I come to the conclusion of defining it as European ideals, culture and values over geography, and I know that's not very accurate but even the EU bends the rules on what countries can join the EU, regardless of if they are in Europe or not but more based on European ideals, culture and values, and it wouldn't surprise me if the EU continues to expend, over the long run, it could expand out of Europe based on those ideals, culture and values and that the EU could probably do it on a case by case base per country, but that's going to be some time away as there is enough in Europe for the EU to chew on. In any case, it's complicated, and this debate has been going on for a long time, and honestly, I don't really think it matters in modern times.
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  16. They should rephrase it to a profit concern, which is really what it's all about, after all, more options and competition on a level playing field, less potential profits for Apple. But honestly for Apple, the red flags were there with that putting their own services ahead of others or by not even allowing rival services to compete with Apple's own products, that alone is reason enough for governments to go after them.
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  17. I think most would prefer if Le Pen didn't win but it wouldn't be a disaster for the EU, many thought Brexit would be a disaster for the EU but it had little impact overall. Also, if there is one thing I've noticed about these parties is that they say a lot of things to win power but once in power, they tone it down, it's easy to say you're going to do this that and whatever when out of power but once in power, their neck is on the line. Le Pen likely realize that if you go too extreme, that party will likely never win an election again, in other words, if they win here, this is their chance to prove themselves but that also means being more of a moderate party, extreme parties rarely do well long term so once in power and if they mess this up, that could be the end of them as a party, so even if they win, reality will kick in and they'll likely tone things down because it's their neck on the line.
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  18. It's quite misleading to say what the EU has or hasn't done because it's got limited powers in what it can do, a lot of powers in these areas remain with the members of the EU and not the EU it's self and I think it would make more sense to combine the EU and all its members in what they have done.
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  19. Wind turbines are so hit or miss on if they work or not or if they are a scam, it's also hit or miss when it comes to the rated power and what power you'll actually get. For these test to be more useful, real world numbers are needed on the average power being generated, the wind speeds over that time and how high the turbine is or if there were any obstacles in the way. Without this kind of information, these videos don't really tell us much. I also find with these smaller turbines, they don't work that well in urban areas, which makes solar a much better choice unless there are wind turbines that can work well in urban areas without having to be really high.
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  20. I think longer term, more and more countries are going to continue to join the Euro because of stability and economic sense, I also think longer term that power in the EU is going to shift in favour of Euro Zone countries, something it's kinda already doing but that's going to be more the case in the future as more countries join it and none Euro countries become more isolated. Also, from a business investment point of view, I suspect most would rather invest in Euro countries because they don't have to worry about currency fluctuations unless they have their own currency pegged to the Euro which kinda reduces a lot of the flexibility those countries have if it's pegged, after all, think about it, if a product is being manufactured in a Euro Zone country with the aim at selling to EU consumers, those businesses don't have to worry about currency fluctuations in those Euro countries and that creates price stability, in other words, Euro Zone countries are always likely going to get more inroad's investment over none Euro countries, more so as those eastern EU members modernize and become richer, because they won't have the advantage of cheap labour any more. Still, with I think the video said 20 countries being in the Euro out of 27, it's by far the most dominant when it comes to balance of power and I think that's why others will join in time, even the ones that don't want because the alternative is that they get more isolated in the union.
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  21. I think an EU elected president would be a good idea, it could be done with merging the current president and EU Commission together and have it directly elected by the people, that would help to remove a lot of the sigma that Eurosceptics use against the EU in saying it's not democratic, I also think that merging the two would reduce a lot of the confusion in the EU and around the world, something that really needs to happen. I also think the European Parliament should be given more powers, especially in being able to create new laws and regulations, whereas now that is with the commission. I think those two things would help the EU in the eyes of the citizens when it comes to supporting the project, it would also be bad news for Eurosceptics, because it will reduce their arguments down on why they don't like the EU or will push them into the more radical thinking on why they don't like the EU, in other words, fewer people will listen to them.
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  22. As a Brit, I remember all the jokes the Brits did on the Germans, but if you look closely, it was envy of Germany being more successful. Being as a Brit myself, I don't have any problems with the Germans or Europeans, in fact, I think it was crazy that the UK left the EU, but I do know that many Brits are petty, especially on the Germans and the French, and they cover that up with jokes and humour. As for the German political and economic problems, these are very likely short term problems that the Germans will recover from, Germany after all has an impressive record through history of recovering from far worse and coming back stronger, and the problems they face today are tame in comparison. I will say that I think Germany needs to shift away from manufacturing to something else, because I think manufacturing will get taken over by A.I. and robotics, in the sense that it will be able to offer cheaper labour, be more productive and because of those two factors, manufacturing can be done much closer to the markets the goods are being sold in, meaning far fewer exports needed, because of that, I think Germany needs to start investing in other areas, high-tech seems like a logical choice as that is the future, and Germany are more than capable of being the Silicon Valley of the EU if they put in the right policies, and high-tech is one area that the EU countries are lagging behind compared to North America and Asia.
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  23. Majority rules are very likely to come in at some point as I highly doubt the EU would let any new country join the EU until those rules have changed. The question is, how do they bring those rules in, I think personally, they'll try and do it over all EU members but if some countries continue to be stubborn, the other EU countries will likely get creative in finding solutions around it, maybe even going to the extent of doing in over a core group of EU countries maybe the Euro Zone as they are more likely to pass these rules than none Euro Zone countries, but the EU and it's members will try to do it for all it's members but if it keeps getting blocked by one or two countries, I think the rest will get creative in finding ways around it, something we've already seen a few signs of last year.
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  24.  @tomorrowneverdies567  It will very likely happen over the next 5 years, they'll have an all night session, lock the doors and don't let anyone out until they all come to an agreement. 9 out of 10 times that works and we should remember that the eastern EU members want the EU to expand more than the western EU countries, so there is that card in play. If it comes to it and there is no movement, more drastic measures might be needed, either by finding a solution to kicking out countries like Hungary or centralizing power more at a Euro Zone level, the Euro Zone is the vast bulk of the EU and countries that are in that are more likely to want the EU project to work compared to countries that drag their feet. In any case, if the EU doesn't get its act together and offers some kind of sign of hope that those countries can join, they will eventually give up and turn to Russia or China, they are not going to keep waiting for the EU and it's members to get its act together and I think the EU has 5 years to find a solution to this.
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  25. The thing is with democracy, it's only as good as the people in it, how well they take part in it and how informed they are, we are seeing a lot of flaws in democracy around the world because of how badly informed a lot of people are on things. As for Poland and Hungary, both countries want the EU to expand, the EU is highly unlikely to expand without reforms to the veto and majority voting rules, if some countries like Poland and Hungary keeps blocking any change, they risk being isolated further that their power will be weakened, it's highly unlikely that the other countries will continue to be held to ransom over one or two countries and the rest will likely get creative in finding solutions around it, something the EU and its members are very good at doing. Personally, I think we need a multi speed EU with the Euro Zone being the main focus of power, after all, countries that join that are more likely to be countries that want to make the project work compared to the ones that don't want to join it and to be blunt, the Euro Zone is by far the biggest group of political and economic power in the EU and things get really bad where some countries continue to block things, it wouldn't surprise me if the Euro Zone countries split from the others and leave the rest to fend for themselves. Hungary is playing a very risky game of isolating its self whereas Poland might have a lifeline thanks to Ukraine in getting back into the fold and personally, I think Hungary is a loss cause that needs to be kicked out of the EU.
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  26. A lot of these sounds like her views on what she thought America was like and not what Europeans actually believe Americans are like, most of what she said are not my views of Americans as a European and I suspect each person's views are different from one enough. I was hoping we were going to get some kind of stereotype kind of views that many Europeans have of Americans but what we got his her personal views on what she thought America is like, a lot of which is to me not the views most Europeans have of the US.
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  27. For me, the veto rules need major reforms, that needs to happen sooner rather than later as it's holding back the EU in countless ways. The second is the European Parliament, as the video points out, it needs the ability to purpose laws, and more transparency is needed to bring the EU closer to the people in the union and for me, the Commission and Council of Europe are too distant from the public, which doesn't help the image of the EU. I also feel that reforms are needed more urgently because the union has more or less been at a standstill for the last decade with little to no treaty change and as we know, treaty change is going to be needed before any new country can join the union, a message the EU needs to make clear to countries that want to join that the door is open sooner rather than later, otherwise, they might give up and look elseware. Anyway, I think major reforms are needed over the next 5 years, starting with the veto rules as that is holding progress back in a lot of areas.
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  28. I'm all for a multi-speed EU, but there might be a few problems with this. On the political integration side of things, if there were an inner core of countries that can integrated further, the balance of power in the EU countries will shift dramatically in favour of those countries that choose to integrate, whiles the remaining countries are more or less pushed to the sideline as most of the big decision are done by the inner core, would the outer core countries feel comfortable about that? I highly doubt it. Then on the economic front, you can have a multi-speed EU, we more or less already have that with EU countries and countries like Norway, Switzerland and Iceland, but the problem with this is that you can't have an economic union without a political union that enforces the rules for all, otherwise you would have true free trade with each member making up their own rules to favour themselves, hence why those 3 countries I said above have to follow a lot of EU rules and regulations whiles having little to no say in making those rules, and if you want true open economic trade, you have to have a lot of political rules in place so it's a level playing field for all the members, otherwise it would be a mess. With all that said, I'm all for a multi-speed EU, just for the factor so some holdout countries stop holding back the EU and pro EU countries, but realistically, it will overtime likely focus far more powers and decision-making on those inner core countries that choose to integrate, especially as they are more likely to be by far the bigger player and likely to speak more with one voice compared to the rest, because of that, it would likely push the outer core countries to the fringes, whiles also putting pressure on those countries to want to join the inner core countries, basically, it would be far worse for the outer core countries then what it's like for countries like Norway and Switzerland now, whiles being a lot better for the countries that choose to integrate. With all that said, I think this needs to happen to get things moving, or to put it in more simple terms, to hell with the countries that keep dragging their feet at a time when we can't afford to do so with the rise of China and a hostile US, we need a strong EU, whichever form it takes and the Eurosceptics are hurting all our interest in EU countries by holding us back, hence why the likes of Trump and Putin loves the Eurosceptic movement, they are easy to take advantage off with the aim of dividing us Europeans into becoming weaker, something Trump and Putin plays on, so does China to a less degree.
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