Eh hard disagree there, the way I see it there is no more squabble between France and Poland than there is between Texas and California or between Spain and Romania compared to New york and Virginia. In fact, I would say we have LESS of it.
The only thing we need is to actually stop ignoring the forest for the tree and see that the world moved on beyond our petty local borders and we're lucky enough to have found a system where we're stronger together, to the point where we matter in the world and can't be ignored or pushed aside, while also protecting the core of each of our own cultural societies (langugage, history, ...), and only fools would let that go because they're too close minded to see it.
I interned for one of the delegations in the European parliament and I've also worked in the public sector California. The US is a country, the EU is a bunch of cats fighting under a blanket.
Must be incredibly humbling experience to not realize EU is a union of independent countries and the US is a federation of states until you work for one of the delegations, wasn't it? Most of us pick up on that even without professional experience about it.
See the thing is when we studied law in Europe a long time ago we were sold on this dream that Europe would become like the United States and we'd a abandon our national prejudices kind of like how people sometimes talk about it in these threads.
Then you get there all bright eyed and it's just a bunch of boomers squabbling to fuck each other over to get 0.03% tax advantages on peach liquor exports for their region. Or just completely delusional people living in a kumbaya fantasy world and just throwing money at the wall for vanity projects that will never be implemented because there's five layers of separation between them and the ground.
It really takes the soul out of you. The way people work in the US and China is completely different. They DO things. Europeans just talk about doing things, and then talk behind each others backs.
Sorry if this is not cogent Im hangover
> See the thing is when we studied law in Europe a long time ago we were sold on this dream that Europe would become like the United States
Eeh, what school was this? I think most public schools (at least those me and people near me) attended, it was taught that EU is nothing like the US, as we're all individual countries and everyone wants to remain as such, but we still want to collaborate although we're somewhat different from each other, and been killing each other since forever. I guess that's why second world war and similar things are such a big part of our history lessons, rather than diving deep into the history of US or Australia or whatever.
> It really takes the soul out of you. The way people work in the US and China is completely different. They DO things. Europeans just talk about doing things, and then talk behind each others backs.
For me the difference is between politicians and people actually doing the work. And my personally experience points towards this split existing equally everywhere, in China, in the US, in Europe and everywhere else I've been. The higher up the political ranks you get, the more people like to talk, the less they like doing.
I feel like this is very evident in the US too, looking at how productive and efficient companies are vs research labs living on grants vs federal government vs local governments, the scale is completely different, and same goes in Europe as well, at least from what I can tell.
Evidentially, in the high ranks of the European Parliament, things are exactly the same as higher ranking politicians everywhere, they just like to talk and grandstand and pretend to know what they're talking about. But I think this is true in the US too, or in China, these sort of people just like talking and discussing things forever, for better or worse.
> it was taught that EU is nothing like the US, as we're all individual countries and everyone wants to remain as such
It's written into the treaties that this will not be so. The goal of the EU is "ever closer union" and the people at the top of it routinely talk about a federal Europe in which the individual states disappear.
Individual states do not disappear in a more federal Europe. Otherwise that wouldn’t be a confederation… It’s about delegating some authority and decision making to a common entity, but each nation state stays sovereign. I don’t understand how people are confused about that concept, there are lots of federated entities in the world, with various level of delegation to the federal level. And that works well. The distinctions between states aren’t erased, the culture between states isn’t erased.
> It's written into the treaties that this will not be so.
What exact treaty are you talking about, and what does it verbatim say? I've heard this so many times before, yet no one is able to link to concretely what they refer to. No texts I've seen has called for the dissolution of nation states in the EU or any of the other political structures.
> we were sold on this dream that Europe would become like the United States
Sorry but that's just made up bullshit. The EU is not a "United States of Europe", and thinking along that line will ineviatably lead to tons of misconceptions.
> Then you get there all bright eyed and it's just a bunch of boomers squabbling to fuck each other over to get 0.03% tax advantages on peach liquor exports for their region.
Congratulations, you summed up how politics work in all regions of the world.
The European parliament and US congress are both just as united and fragmented.
We disagree internally until we find a common posture that we adopt.
I'm not sure why you talk California public sector instead of something involving multiple states that have differing views, that makes your comparison useless, that's why I say US congress.
Note that your misunderstanding of the situation and lack of knowledge about it is not rare per se, to give an exemple that's why a fair amount of brexiter politician were surprised the EU didn't break itself in internal fight over the UK deal (while they were used to the inside squabble when they were a member, and they failed to notice the similarity with their own parliament compared to their country).
The EU-related structures in Brussels are about as united/fragmented as the US Congress, indeed.
But the national governments are nothing like US state governments. A lot more political fragmentation, plus they still consider themselves executives of sovereign nations with various vital interests and also historic resentments. Few Californian politicians will base their programs on suspicions towards New Mexico. In Poland, "don't kowtow to the Germans" is still a living idea and current PM Tusk is regularly accused of doing precisely that.
The European nations are not unified similarly to the USA because we do not have the common history of being a bunch of immigrant colonies glued together.
Exactly. I'd even go as far as saying German overreach and arrogance ten years ago killed the EU for good. Before that it genuinely felt people were at least trying. Now it's a walking corpse.
What is even your point in all those messages ? If we were to take all of your comments in this thread, and we all agree with no exception to them, it doesn't change anything to the conversation, it doesn't make any point, it does't provide anything interesting, you're just dead set on commenting in a loop that the sky is green
Think about it, what are you saying that adds to a German company successfully launching into space from Norway ?
It's an opinion just like all the others here... every morning before US wakes up there are a bunch of articles by EU readers for EU readers patting themselves on the back for getting something built without US influence.
Inevitably it turns into the same tired discussions that either:
A) Actually, it's not completely EU because it has x% of American parts
B) America Bad
Then, the one person who comes in to give a different opinion is met with your comment. I see it constantly.
For things to go somewhere theg need purpose. I'm willing to bet this will go nowhere, like all other European projects. I'm just giving reasons why. Don't be so think skinned. I wish the EU would have worked since I'm European. But I lost that hope a long time ago. This is a flash in the pan and the US / China will take 100% of the space launch market because, unlike Europe, they have the will to do things.
That was not a useful metaphor, but by all means try again (if you want) and teach us something interesting (and concrete) based on your unique experience.
We are not mere states of a federal country but sovereign countries despite the narrative some would like you to believe.