Re:Croatia to switch to euro, enter passport-free Schengen zone
by gghhzzgghhzz on Saturday December 31, 2022 @07:39PM
(#34202313)
What was in the public realm is the only thing that matters.
The votes in the 70s / 80s, which were the basis of what we have now were about trade, not peace via trade.
you are referring to 'they' without qualifying 'they'.
Political union was never on a ballot paper in most countries. In the cases it was (Maastricht referendums) then it was not conclusive .
Well, yes and no. What actually happened was that a united Europe was the desired outcome, with some discussion about the degree of unity. But they realised back in the 1950s that it would take some time, and they started doing it by steps, starting with the industry. So in that sense it was both. But that’s not what people mean when they moan about the EU being a perversion of the EEC which was supposed to be purely economic. It is usually followed by how the evil EU duped them and stole their sovereignty. It was not. The economic policies were tools to achieve a political goal.
> but the original impetus was not federalism
The original impetus was a political union to avoid war and an “ever-closer union”. While federalists were never the majority, the target was clearly integration. Again, this is in the preamble of the Rome treaty establishing the EEC.
> Hence the need for political union.
Again, this is backwards. Political union required economic union as a first step.