The Hanseatic league stretched from England to Novgorod, and highlights the strong need for small independent sovereign city states, rather than top-heavy bureaucracies like the EU.

The EU is an attempt by the European political classes to copy all the worst parts of the US political system, while ignoring the traditions of political liberty that (used to) make the US actually work.

Having said that, I am hopeful that once the EU finally collapses, Europe will be blessed with a lot of small independent competing nation states, so there will be some hope for liberty if the US continues along the path of becoming a modern Byzantium.

> The Hanseatic league stretched from England to Novgorod

The Hansa Teutonica had its capital in Lübeck.

One possible future of the EU is a union of regions, not nations. The EU will take over much of what the current nations think they are.

> I am hopeful that once the EU finally collapses

Neither you nor I will see the EU collapse. Just the opposite. It might even expand.

Indeed the UK had a couple of Hanseatic ports, in London https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steelyard and King's Lynn.

I don't understand people who think a trading nation can survive outside a free trade area either.

UK is outside of tree trade agreements with the Commonwealth (Australia, Canada, etc.) because of its free trade agreement (i.e. EU) with collapsing eurozone. That's not good business for them.

Well the CETA (Canada EU trade agreement) with zero tariffs and improved labour mobility is close to being settled by the sound of it. It is not clear if the UK would ever manage to negotiate to join NAFTA.

Wasn't it Hitler who called Brits 'a nation of shop-keepers' ?

What a trading nation would do is make a living of - for example - buying tea from India to sell across Europe. Not some low-level, small scale enterprise. That has never been the engine of the German economy. German trade has always been a by-product of craftsmanship and not its replacement.

Funny that you say that. Just a ten kilometers from where I live is this: http://www.haelssen-lyon.de/index.php?id=22&L=1

Also this: http://www.teaandcoffee.net/1107/tea.htm

> The Port of Hamburg is Europe’s tea capital number and handles more than 70% of all German tea imports, as well as some 50% of the European-wide traded teas.

Germany has been for centuries been heavy into international trade. The city where I live operates a large part of the world container fleet...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Container_ship

> The vast majority of the capacity of fully cellular container ships used in the liner trade is owned by German shipowners, with approximately 75% owned by Hamburg brokers

Agreed. Germany may import more into the EU market than anybody else including UK. That's not my point. My point is that from the British perspective it is much better to open borders and trade with India, Canada, Australia, US, then to try doing the same with the EU. They closed themselves in the EU-block distancing from emerging markets in Asia and from the Commonwealth while Indians for that example are literally begging them for business. To no avail as the UK can't have free trade agreements with India as long as it stays within the EU. The same EU by the way which is just in the process of passing laws that will kill the biggest British business and pride - the City.

If you narrow yourself to the trade and banking within the EU, yes I agree, Germany are bigger player than anybody else. Start thinking globally, and you'll soon realize that UK stands much better chances in global economy trading freely with the Commonwealth and Asia than turning their back to these markets and focusing on the local European block.

Think Hong Kong, think Canada, think Australia -- from UK perspective it is just better business to be in an free trade economic block with them then to stay in euro disaster zone. This is what they have been doing for centuries. UK is no.1 in the world in terms of value of items traded per capita. Yes, they are a nation of shop-keepers. EU seems to be one-size-fits-all solution that obviously doesn't work for them anymore and probably never worked. They'll exit, open borders to Asia, ex-colonies, trade with them, do their banking, logistics and all the other stuff they have been doing centuries. While Germany will still export/import in Hamburg, nobody minds, everybody just does what's the best for their country. No surprises there.

Germany is in the EU and trades very successful with China, India, Brasil, Russia, US, ...

http://atlanticsentinel.com/2011/03/bric1-germanys-new-bedfe...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/23/us-germany-china-i...

If the UK can't do that, it is not due to the EU, but because of local incompetence. Germany has high growth rates in trade with the countries and a huge export surplus (even with China).