See here's the thing, I don't believe the EU does any of these things. I don't believe they pool resources to help those in need. I don't believe they work collaboratively, or seek to maximise returns to help ALL member states.I am comfortable with my position and it is completely independent of immigration, sovereignty, economic factors. Collaborating closely with others, sharing and pooling resources to help those who are most in need, and where investment will produce the biggest returns is simply the right thing to do.
Look at what's happened in Greece. Enforced austerity on a scale that makes Osborne's budget slashing look like mere tinkering. Riots in the street, mass unemployment, non-existent job prospects for the country's young people. There's also been a spike in suicide rates.
All this to help protect the Euro from plummeting. How is this "working collaboratively"? Where's the benefit to these people from the EU?
And it's not just Greece. The likes of Ireland, Cyprus, Spain and Italy have all applied for bailouts or at least some form of financial assistance from the EU, the IMF and the European Central Bank in the last decade.
And this is the thing that really concerns me about the EU project - that in order to have these loans or support, the unelected officials have imposed severe terms that the Governments of these supposedly sovereign countries MUST enforce, otherwise they don't get their economy-saving cash injections.
That blows any argument about sovereignty out of the water. How is it right that unelected bureaucrats (most of whom are on massive tax-payer-funded wages, complemented with hefty tax-payer-funded expense accounts) can dictate terms to elected Governments of sovereign nations?
To me, it is not. And it is certainly not working collaboratively to protect the most vulnerable.
There is a point to working collaboratively on issues which all member states have an interest in, for instance trade.
But there are some areas where it is impossible to have a federalist policy, such as economics. That's part of the reason why the euro is failing badly. You can't expect something to work in exactly the same way across 28 vastly different member states, with their own national laws and customs to abide by. The only way it could work is with political union, as well as economic union, which would never happen.
If the EU was loose collection of states working together on areas likes trade where we can all help each other, I wouldn't have an issue.
But it has gone beyond that and is now implementing policies which benefit some countries, at the detriment to others.
That's why I don't believe the EU does work collaboratively, or seeks the best for those involved. It suits its own political interests, regardless of those who fall by the wayside.
