Asklemmy

Living in a country inside as a (white) individual is mostly beneficial as others mentioned already. One problem lies in the structural component: The EU is rooted in highly liberal (in the political sense) values regarding market and trade and NOT in the collective or common of the european people.

Enforcing the former leads to loads of economic problems, for example Germany being the major exporting country which contributes heavily to wage dumping. That export surplus prevents other states like Italy or Greece from regenerating their economy and keeps them low as their options of controlling imports (e. g. Through tariffs) are limited or not allowed, thus further cementing disparities between countries. Besides, there is a rising tide of far right movements in the EU happening which might be related to the economic instability and insecurity a heavy market liberalisation brings.

Overall I think it's a good idea. It does need much much work though but the general idea of a more united front. I don't like borders or the 'country' defenition.. Together we can accomplish much more I think!

I think the Euro currency is a good thing, as a kid I didn't get the 'Gulden' really it was not logical. This way it gets at least much easier when traveling just a few KM into another "country" aka a piece of land a little further away..

I think it has done some great things to protect peoples rights, health and safety..

I like a European union, but I don't like the European Union.

It helped my country a lot. EU pours a lot of money to poorer members. A lot of stuff is done with European money, like infrastructure, agriculture, culture and so on. Of course richer countries get benefits too. And that is great. The only thing EU lacks in military power IMO. We should be more independent from USA.

it's amazing for travel, no need to change phone number and no borders. it:s a shame UK left.

This is my first federated comment.

EU is annoying when they restrict what crops can you produce. I think it is bad for local food sovereignity not to be free to produce whatever.

The problem is complex, I'm not an expert. I just wanted to bring the agriculture aspect here.

Has done some good work like the GDPR and picking fights with tech corporations. On the other hand, it gives Europeans a massive sense of euro-supremacy. Just look at /r/Europe and its meme analog, /r/YUROP. Also gives Europe a united front to be imperialist.

I support some of the projects that the EU undertakes like the GDPR, but I certainly don't all of what they do or their general ideology (capitalism, Eurocentricism).

It's the best thing that has happened for the continent as a whole in a long time, and specifically so for some countries. There are issues with it, certainly, but what most people seem to forget is just what it is. The EU is the result of 60 years of treaties, organizations, reconciliations, negotiations, and of trying to bring together the national visions for such a union of over 20 states. It can't really be compared to anything else that has existed in the world until now. So from that perspective, the EU is quite an achievement.

Of course, here is hoping that the next 60 years will improve it even more and fix most of the issues that people have with it.

The EU is an imperialist project which exists mainly to benefit capitalists. This is easy to see when you look at its origins, which are the European Coal and Steel Community, European Economic Community and Euratom. All of those are related to large corporations, and energy policy.

Then there is the fact that the EU was strongly shaped by the United States, "liberating" its markets and privatising many state services, all to increase profits for companies. And of course the EU is very closely linked with NATO.

Today with the Euro its even worse, especially Germany benefits a lot because of its exports, while poorer countries are unable to devalue their currencies, which would allow them to overcome crisis. And you have wages lowered in richer countries by workers coming from Eastern Europe, who are working under miserable conditions.

I like the idea of European cooperation but I don't like the EU simply because it's undemocratic. Important decisions of the EU are taken by unelected institutions like the ECB, the European Council, the European Commission and the European Court of Justice. With the exception of the European Commission these unelected institutions can't be held accountable by elected bodies.

The EU is democratic but I feel like I have no idea what's going on compared to the democracy in my country.

For the national government I am able to vote for a party and follow all live debates on television and the internet. The (national) news usually reports on important decisions being made and important debates happening. They provide us with a summary on what happened and so on. How our democratic state exactly works is all taught on schools.

But for the European Union? I know I get to vote for a party once in a while, with almost all parties having a similar name and stances on subjects as the parties in the parliament. But what happens next is unclear to me. These national parties seem to join up with the national parties of other countries with similar views? I suppose they debate once in a while in Brussels? And there is this Ursula von Leyen who seems a very important person with the EU, but what here role is? No idea. All I know is that, once every while, the EU creates or updates one of its regulations. These then have to be implemented by each of the member states.

All which our school teaches is that there is an EU, it gives a short overview over its history and they tell us about their goals. But what happens between election and the creation of regulations? I have no idea.

Nevertheless, I usually agree with the decisions the EU makes and I'm in favour of the EU as a power house against the USA and China, for example. The euro, free trade and free travel are all things I take for granted, I could not imagine my life without them. In my opinion, they are worth the taxes and so on. I just whished that some countries, including my own, the Netherlands, could be more relaxed when it comes to having to pay money to poorer countries in the EU. And the EU should definitely be more strict against states that are de jure democracies, but are turning into de facto dictatorships.

Needs to be reinvented, regenerated for our generation, some doctrine and tabou need to be dropped and our generation has to reclaim the European idea and make it evolve, if we don't, we're back to mediocrity and nation states mediocracy.

Well it's European and it's a union, so...