Europeans in the audience - Do you feel united?

[Wildtree]

The EU is aspiring to be as unified as the USA, regardless of geography. That's not happening because the people themselves don't feel united nor even sharing the same goals.

That is factually false.
The EU does not have the intend to simulate the USA, not even remotely.
There's absolutely no motivation to turn Europe, to turn the EU (which is only one of many constructs in Europe) into a new country.
With that said, the comparison EU vs US is false from the get go.

[Rebslack]

I don't think I'd ever even class myself as European. I don't feel any sort of connection to anyone in Europe, United Kingdom or England to be fair.

[FuxieDK]

The European Union does have a president, currently it's Donald Tusk. But I'm not surprised you don't know that, few people do.

It's NOT a president, if I don't get to vote for him... The corrent term is either Despot or Dictator..

[Airlick]

Live in Amsterdam myself but can't wait to get out of NL and the EU in general. Norway's my destination somewhere in the future.

So you're planning to move to Norway to leave the EU? That's nice, considering that Norway pretty much is a part of the EU, it's reaping the benefits without contributing anything. Could as well formally join already.

On topic, no, I have no feeling of unity with other EU countries, aside perhaps of the few Slavic countries and Hungary.

[Forgon]

This is an utterly silly question....
Do you feel united with Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Dominican Republic etc?

The difference is, USA is a nation. EU is not.

Imagine if every single state had been a unique country. Would you feel the same way about them? Even if you had a trade agreement?

Ok, is the EU really just a trade agreement? I thought the EU had a court, and Google had to abide by some rules that essentially had nothing to do with trade (the right to be forgotten). I guess I'm further confused because that to me felt more judicial than something like NAFTA, which doesn't have courts that rules in decision like that.

[Deleted]

That is factually false.
The EU does not have the intend to simulate the USA, not even remotely.
There's absolutely no motivation to turn Europe, to turn the EU (which is only one of many constructs in Europe) into a new country.
With that said, the comparison EU vs US is false from the get go.

There's plenty of people who want to make EU into a new country on its own.

Ok, is the EU really just a trade agreement? I thought the EU had a court, and Google had to abide by some rules that essentially had nothing to do with trade (the right to be forgotten). I guess I'm further confused because that to me felt more judicial than something like NAFTA, which doesn't have courts that rules in decision like that.

No, it's more than that. EU can fuck off for all I care, they shouldn't be able to decide what people do in their own countries.

[Attackrabbit]

I don't even really feel united with the rest of the United Kingdom let alone the rest of Europe

[Wildtree]

There's plenty of people who want to make EU into a new country on its own.

Far from a majority..
There are plenty of people that want to make Cuba a US state....
Far from the majority though...
There are plenty of people that want to make Puerto Rico the next US state, and yet it isn't.

Fact remains fact.. And I believe people in here are arrogant pricks when they define the US as North America.
There's a shitload of other countries on that continent. They just happen to be overshadowed by the huge beast that is the US.
I, as a European that happens to have a life experience on both continents, within EU and USA, I see it as what it is.
A false comparison from start to finish.
Compare countries with countries, and compare continents with continents.
It's valid to compare the US with Germany for that matter, or Spain, or France.
They have state regions, much like the US, and are within the same construct. France and Germany are republics too.
They have similar political and supervision handling as the US.
But if you start comparing the US with the EU, you've got to bring in the other nations in NA as well.
In an economic sense, the equivalent to the EU would be the NAFTA...
And from there... The answer to the OP is a sounding YES.
Europe is a lot closer together in partnerships than North America is.

[Deleted]

Far from a majority..

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-official.html
http://www.euractiv.com/sections/eu-...sidency-302048

[Wildtree]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-official.html
http://www.euractiv.com/sections/eu-...sidency-302048

I do not consider the mouth pieces of politicians, no matter their profile as representative for the people.
There's no indication that a European Nation is the will of the people, just because a bunch of second or third row officials blabbering about it.

[Azgraal]

Not the slightest. European spirit is more an agenda being pushed than something we feel.

First and foremost I'm Portuguese, then arguably I'm Iberian and geographicaly speaking thirdly I'm European. But for me the EU goals have strayed too much from the quasi-utopian beginning it had for me to embrace it wholeheartedly. Too much Frank-Germanic government and too little country cooperation.

[Graeham]

No. I barely feel connected to my own country - England - let alone Europe as a whole.

[Borrom]

Do I feel united in Europe? Overall No.

However on a "people" level I do believe we are all the same and want the same, from Ireland to Russia and from Sweden to Portugal, we want a peaceful society and good living conditions for each other and with each other. In that sense I do believe we are united, but this unity goes further than the borders of Europe I do believe that ultimately this goes for people worldwide.

On a "political" level not at all, creating a super government in Brussels is in my view the worst thing to happen to peaceful Europe in the last 40 years. We are being forced into not just unity, but also uniformity, while there is no real justification. This is causing more divide amongst people than it is doing good for us.

I am being called a "nationalist" by various "European leaders" if I do not want a United Europe (at least not in its current form), and prefer my country to be able to govern itself and with more (direct) democratic means. Yet those same European leaders are creating the "nation" Europe and want us to be passionate about Europe, with its European anthem, flag, emblem, currency, laws, police force, army and "foreign enemies" against which we have to protect ourselves.

The irony makes makes me sad.

[AeneasBK]

*shrug* We are all one consciousness connected through love. Geography has very little to do with it

[Shiny212]

no, do you feel united with NATO?

[Uriel]

Let's not forget that most europe countries have ancient history and culture with different development of those thing, while the US got mostly built up from scratch. Pioneers and seddlers had a similar goal and they worked together to make it happen.
Us Europeans on the other had are and always were their own culture with hardly any teamwork. Unity is a new concept for us. it may look good on paper yet we are far from being unified. Some countries have alliances like the scandinavian countries for example but that doesn't rech to the land next to your neighbors.

In addition, what did the EU did for us idividually? Banning some potatos or norminize the lenght of cucumber? I think the EU coucil is a bunch of frauds trying to act important but really aren't.
Also with Countries that act like they are part of the EU but really aren't like the UK for example, it gets hard to feel alike.

[zealo]

I do not feel united with the whole of Europe no, I identify first as a swede, after that as a Scandinavian/Nordic citizen and after that maybe as a european at a distant third.

[Deleted]

Ok, is the EU really just a trade agreement? I thought the EU had a court, and Google had to abide by some rules that essentially had nothing to do with trade (the right to be forgotten). I guess I'm further confused because that to me felt more judicial than something like NAFTA, which doesn't have courts that rules in decision like that.

It have evolved over time, so we do have a bit of rules that covers all countries. Abit hard to explain.

But look at it this way.
Each country have thier own elected president or prime minister. equal to USAs president.
Each country has it's own armed forces and EU got no say in what they participate in or not. (there are few rules, similar to other international rules and human rights)
Some countries have thier individual monarchies.
Each country have different political parties.
Each country have it's own unique constitution

Only the EU parliament is up for election. All "figureheads" are either chosen by the countries govements or the EU parliament, such as the "president"
EU is much more an organization than a goverment.

As a few people have mentioned, there are small groups of people that would like to see EU turn into a form of United States of Europe. But if that is ever going to happen, it will be decades, not years.
At this point in time, there are a huge increase in almost all countries, of people that don't want to be a part of EU anymore.

The lastest case of EU laws, is a restriction on how much cinnamon there is allowed to be in food, because someone found out that large amount of cinnamon can damage your liver. (I have never meet or heard about someone getting thier liver damage from eating regular food with cinnamon). Now all countires need to spend moeny on keeping an eye on all food manufactors that uses cinnamon, to make sure they don't use too much.

There are also rules about how much a cucumber is allowed to curve. And I recall a while ago that they made a rule, that apples under a certain size had to be destroyed (not even allowed to be used for animal food)

On top of that, you got countries like Denmark, Sweden and UK, that aren't fully part of some of the "agreements", Such as Police coopration, millitary coopration and common valuta. All 3 countires have thier own individual valuta.

Hopefully as you can see, each country got more in common with USA than EU does with USA.

[Mifuyne]

Hell no.
I feel too superior to feel the same such as "insert random EU country here".

[Kerath]

I'm English, so I suppose I feel vaguely apologetic.
Sorry?