EU is not independent and is a mere satellite of the US. I feel sorry for feel good hipsters that currently feel superior to the US in terms of freedom and democracy.
hmm, not sure why you felt the need to add that part. Were you even responding to my question or just reading off an internal script :P
As far as freedom goes, I can only speak for Belgium, my country. I am certainly envious of the economic freedom you see in the US. We have slid a little too far to the left over here. We also don't have the same level of free speech as the US: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_revisionism_(negatio...)
That being said, I won't be jailed for smoking a joint or experimenting with psychedelics. Our government isn't secretive and elusive in the way yours is and I'm not terrified of ever landing in prison here.
Don't take free speech at face value. While theoretically you do have free speech, we have a large amount of overly-broad crimes one can commit. If you do or say something that a person of power doesn't like, they can and will use a different law to get you for it. It then boils down to, one being willing to spend years of one's life and absurd amounts of money trying to fight this charge, or just dealing with the charge and hoping it doesn't end horribly.
The part about EU politicians talking the talk, but not walking the walk is a response to your comment :D
But when the feel good G7 hipsters showed up, I knew everything had changed. I mean they can't even figure out a simple Kyoto protocol, you know?
And Switzerland is not part of the EU, I'm not sure if that's good or bad in this situation.
Although not a certainty I would imagine Belgium, France, and Germany would be good candidates also.