The question is - what is the dream exactly?
I am as cosmopolitan as they get, but I also abhor central planning and elitism. And, unfortunately, this is what EU has become.
Can you give some examples of such central planning, and your objections to it? FAFAIK the only "planning" the EU does is to regulate exploitation of the commons (like fisheries). Other than that, the EU mostly concerns itself with setting minimally accepted baselines for all member states to follow (i.e. harmonizing existing policies).
Plans to force all member countries to have higher taxes, for instance. Or regulated VAT rates.
Makes doing business and order of magnitude easier.
Re:UK votes to leave EU
by MacsHeadroom on Saturday June 25, 2016 @01:43AM
(#11975382)
How? Honestly curious.
From what I've been able to find, the EU established a common format for VAT invoices, so it's now easier to scan and file your tax receipts, especially when dealing with businesses in many different countries. Also, VAT declaration forms now have a similar layout in all member countries.
Also, it appears that for international consumer sales, the seller may now apply its own country's VAT instead of needing to know the VAT regulations of the buyer's country.
What plans? (honest question).
There is always a new biggest integration opponent. I don't know who it would be right now, but I could easily imagine France if Marine Le Pen becomes their next president.
Evaporative cooling.
As long as the new biggest integration opponent is less opposing to integration than UK was, it will still be beneficial to integration efforts.
I propose NL under Geert Wilders. It will be a total disaster but it could actually happen.
Re:UK votes to leave EU
by sievebrain on Friday June 24, 2016 @05:57AM
(#11968319)
Germany has benefited from being able to be a swing voter in the council votes due to QMV. With the UK gone it will now have to nail its colours to the mast if it wishes to resist significantly more redistributive and socialist policies supported by the southern countries, instead of acting as a decider knowing what the UK will do. This could change the politics in Germany in unpredictable ways.
Re:UK votes to leave EU
by emp_zealoth on Friday June 24, 2016 @07:02AM
(#11968732)
Money transfers are necessary for eurozone to stop blowing up in people's faces, sadly
> Its dream, while noble, does not speak to ordinary people.
Maybe not ordinary old guya. Many young people have a cosmopolitan attitude. They see themselves as Europeans first, and they like the freedom to live and work anywhere, not just within some postage stamp sized area like Slovenia.
I disagree that the dream is "dead"---in fact, Brexit might make it easier to integrate, since the biggest integration opponent is now gone