What will happen to EU ?

[Marcin]

I would like to hear your opinions.

[debs3759]

I selected "other", as I think a lot depends on whether or not France and Germany can come to an agreement about how to deal with the current problemsin the Eurozone.

With Sarkozy (French President) and Merkel (German Chancellor) meeting on Monday, I would like to see what they each have to say this time. France is one of the countries heading toward recession, and my feeling is that all those with financial difficulties, many of which are dragging the whole Eurozone down, need to accept a greater amount of governance from the central European Government (sorry if that offends anyone, it's just how I see things as a non-Eurozone member of the EU).

There needs to be a lot less xenophobia among EU members. Member states need to be more willing to give and accept help when it is needed, and less bickering about where any help will come from. After all, national boundaries are man made. Why should we stop with national pride, when we are supposed to be a "Union"? Man united with Man for the betterment of all.

[cedrik]

As long as few states in the EU support all others will be hard to survive... And as long as we dont think as a one european nation but as "some nations put togheter" we have no chance...

And there arent true leaders in Eu ..... Berslusconi was a bad joke for italiens.. Sarkozi kinda same thing for french people... Germany works and produces for all others... UK is not very involved in this EU thing ... Nordic states the same... Eastern Europe still need 50 mo' years to understand something from this democracy and capitalism...

My personal guess is that we are too different to think the same way... and the latin blood and germanic blood wont flow the same never

We are like a big big puzzle with no clues and no full photo of it

[D.8080]

Germans!
Invade Italy but this time stay.

Thanks.

[Neon_WA]

[The CPU Hunter]

I choose Other.

People in Europe don't trust banks and money anymore. They change to gold. Price of gold went op 250 times. Price of cpu containing gold went op 250 times, so we can get all rich .

I vote for this option .

[hawelsh]

This is a perfect opportunity for the Europeans to become ONE solid Union. It's probably time for you to follow a system like we have in the US. A strong central federal system, with individuals states that run their own day to day stuff. All foreign policy and banking and such is directed by the central govt. You can still be Germans, Italians, French, Romanians, whatever - it'll be like here in the US - New Yorkers, Floridians, Texans, Californians - all different but the same - each country will become it's own state with allegiance to a central power...it's seems like the only way to survive. We went thru this period before our constitution was adopted - it took over TEN years after the revolution for us to find a system that worked, and it has worked for over 200 years. While our system is not perfect, it DOES work, and maybe you can learn from our many mistakes that we made along the way.

[cedrik]

[debs3759]

[hawelsh]

Cedrik - I agree entirely with everything you said. But - maybe it's time to wipe the slate of history clean and start new. I have relatives in Ireland and Germany - I'm Native American (Choctaw Indian), Irish, German & English. My relatives are scattered all over the world, but from what i hear this economic crisis is going to be the ruin of many a family thru-out Europe, and i'd hate to see that (for personal reasons obviously). Straightening out this problem will not happen over night - but you have an opportunity to create something that'll stand the test of time. As an aside - if you've ever traveled thru-out the US like i have - we have as many different ways of speaking the same languange, it can sometimes seem like you're in a foreigh land - so i know what you mean. There are still divisions in this country between North & South, East Coast or West Coast, Black & White, and when you get into the middle parts it can be like going to Shangri-La (Magical & Mystical & sometimes whimsical). That still doesn't mean we can't live with each other and learn to get along - and trust me - we still have our problems, but we adapted and pushed ahead. Old thinking in a modern world will not solve the problems, it will only increase them.

[debs3759]

[cedrik]

[hawelsh]

Cedrik & Debs - I've obviously hit a nerve here. For that I apologize.

Now let's get some things straight - I live just north of NYC. In the NYC metro area there are over 40 MILLION people. There are over 150 different languages spoken in NYC alone. There are people from literally EVERY COUNTRY in the world. We get NEW people every day, from everywhere. While people tend to congregate with their fellow countrymen, they still intermix with one another and for the most part we ALL learn to live together. If you bump into someone you say "excuse me" (or Scuzați-mă! in Romanian) and go about your business. With so many different people here there are NO EXCUSES for rude or obnoxious behaviour.

Now that being said - we still have problems with racism (see KKK, neo-Nazi's, others) and that is the exception - not the rule.

We have neighborhoods where white/black/christian/muslim/jew/ you name it are all living in the same 3/4/5 block area and nobody minds, except for the extreme wackos who cause problems. But the problem people are for the most part ignored, even ridiculed by the rest of us.

I am Native American (Indian). I don't hate what the Europeans did to my people - who were here for 10,000 years before they got here. I am also other nationalities mixed in (see above). I will tell you that I am a descendant of John Adams, one of the Founding Fathers and Second President of the USA. I am sure, after reading & learning all about him that he would be proud to know that my country has continually evolved into what it is today.

I still believe that YOU can build a better Europe for yourselves and your children and that you can do it fairly quickly - if you have the inner strength to do it. It will only turn out for the best for you and the rest of Europe.

[cedrik]

i'm sure in 50-100 years will be one nation.. but are a lot of things to forget till then ... 2 years ago i went in Hungary with my car.. they saw romanian number and hit my car and bended the table .. my luck was that someone saw what happened and told to police... another time , someone spit on my car for the same reason ... with all this, the person i love most is hungarian nationality ...

i am not a nationalist... nor a racist... only together we can be strong .. but is hard as hell.....

[hawelsh]

Cedrik - troubling times, especially financial troubles, tend to bring out the worst in people. But good, decent, honest people like you are the ones that push on, and come out the better for it.

I did not mean to imply that being nationalistic is a bad thing, even here in the US we still have our divides over where you came from. Nationalism and Racism are two completely different things in my book.

And YES, it will be hard - The best things are never easy. Where-as we started with nothing - you at least have something in place to work with. Also, once the financial troubles pass, being from here or there will hopefully not matter as much. ( Noroc! )