EU Summits Cause Merkel to Question European Unity

[another_liberal]

Source: Sputnik News

The German chancellor has expressed doubts that a meeting in Brussels between the EU and Turkey and another between the eight countries most affected by the migrant crisis represent the beginnings of a more united Europe.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has for the first time publicly expressed doubts that the EU will survive in its current form, after a meeting between the eight countries most affected by the migrant crisis, and a summit between the EU and Turkey. Merkel was asked whether the meeting of eight countries, led by Germany and backed by EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, represented a step towards a more united EU.

"At the moment, I don't think so," replied the German chancellor, the German press reported on Monday, interpreting the reply as a guarded departure from the usual response, that the EU is able to find a solution to any problem.

"This response is quite severely doubtful, in diplomatic German. As a rule, political and strategic questions are not answered in a way that can leave open the possibility of fundamental failure," wrote Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten [DWN].

(snip)


Read more: http://sputniknews.com/europe/20151130/1030980509/eu-unity-merkel-doubts.html

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Not at all surprising. The EU has acted anything but firmly united in regard to the Greek debt crisis, the response to Ukraine's civil war and, especially, the on-going Syrian refugee crisis. The Chancellor's popularity has taken quite a hit at home over her signature "Open Doors" policy, with many in her own ruling coalition suggesting it might be time to look for new leadership.

[DFW]

1. Only recognizing what is already the case.

Whereas Germany has been making an effort to play by the EU rules as set up, other countries have been ignoring them and passing their own laws, whether or not in direct contradiction to EU law, which theoretically is the superior "law of the continent." France is just as much guilty of this as Greece, so no finger-pointing at smaller countries is of any meaning.

Even Germany is guilty of double taxation (e.g. they levy VAT on both the price of gasoline AND the mineral oil tax that goes with it, and tax on a tax is not allowed) in some instances. Brussels loves to get heavy-handed with rules, giving ignorant bureaucrats the power to decide over issues of which they have no knowledge. Denmark almost left the EU right after joining it after Brussels declared that the Danes could not call their apples "apples" because they did not fit a size norm decided by some useless bureaucrat in Brussels (the EU "generously" relented, and Danish apples can now be called apples).

I have a Swiss friend who lives in Geneva, and he is SOOOO glad Switzerland keeps voting not to join the EU. It would help out about 15 large corporations in Switzerland that would benefit, but it would subject every Swiss citizen to cumbersome (all the way to idiotic) rules decided in Brussels, and the independent-minded Swiss want none of it. Same goes for Norway, which has also elected not to join.

[another_liberal]

2. "15 large corporations in Switzerland."

That does sound about right. For all practical purposes, Bankers and big Corporations run the E.U.

[DFW]

3. No, they just benefit from its inefficiency

The "open borders" policy of "free movement of people, goods and capital" translates into customs breaks for companies, big and small, cheap labor for the big ones (e.g. Poles and Romanians flooding western factories and pricing local workers out of the market), and countries harassing people and small businesses with incessant fines and confiscations because they can't get the big guys. Here in Germany, friends have been told by government auditors, "sorry, but we have to find SOMETHING we can fine you for, or else we get shit from above."

The bureaucrats are paid WAY beyond their worth. This may have been originally set up with good intentions to ward off corruption. In Germany, judges get a big "anti-corruption" bonus to try and make them immune to bribery. However, many of these bureaucrats and members of the European Parliament get huge tax-free pensions for life, and just don't give a shit about anything except preserving their own status. No attempt at improving things ever occurs on a practical level, and few laws are really thought out before being enacted.

Just pointing fingers at corporations doesn't get at the root of things. Corporations take advantage of situations presented to them. The Swiss have recognized that doing their pharmaceutical industry a favor does not outweigh the cost to the rest of the country. You can't blame their pharma industry for wanting a better deal, but you can't blame the people for saying no, either. In Switzerland, where everything like that is put up to a popular nation-wide referendum, Big Pharma doesn't have the votes to overrule the population. There is no Fox "News" there, so they are a well-informed nation.

[jwirr]

4. And the current situation is a people problem. We know

just how good bankers and big corporations are at helping people right into the dumpster.

[bemildred]

5. Who could have predicted that regime change in Syria would fracture the EU?

Now THAT is blowback.

[another_liberal]

6. Too true . . .

I never imagined the organization was nearly this fragile.

Poor old Europe. It seems they may be destined to forever repeat mistakes of the past.

[Jack Rabbit]

7. I thought European unity was questioned when Merkel fucked over the Greek people

Or is that different, somehow?

What is Frau Merkel's plan for Greek refugees when they flee their their homeland once it's broken by the austerity she and Herr Stäubel imposed?

[another_liberal]

8. The EU, and Merkel especially, are counting on those razor wire walls everyone is building . . .

After all, it's the biggest fad in Europe today!