this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2026
195 points (100.0% liked)

Europe

11712 readers
1182 users here now

News and information from Europe 🇪🇺

(Current banner: La Mancha, Spain. Feel free to post submissions for banner images.)

Rules (2024-08-30)

  1. This is an English-language community. Comments should be in English. Posts can link to non-English news sources when providing a full-text translation in the post description. Automated translations are fine, as long as they don't overly distort the content.
  2. No links to misinformation or commercial advertising. When you post outdated/historic articles, add the year of publication to the post title. Infographics must include a source and a year of creation; if possible, also provide a link to the source.
  3. Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. Don't post direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments. Don't troll nor incite hatred. Don't look for novel argumentation strategies at Wikipedia's List of fallacies.
  4. No bigotry, sexism, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, dehumanization of minorities, or glorification of National Socialism. We follow German law; don't question the statehood of Israel.
  5. Be the signal, not the noise: Strive to post insightful comments. Add "/s" when you're being sarcastic (and don't use it to break rule no. 3).
  6. If you link to paywalled information, please provide also a link to a freely available archived version. Alternatively, try to find a different source.
  7. Light-hearted content, memes, and posts about your European everyday belong in other communities.
  8. Don't evade bans. If we notice ban evasion, that will result in a permanent ban for all the accounts we can associate with you.
  9. No posts linking to speculative reporting about ongoing events with unclear backgrounds. Please wait at least 12 hours. (E.g., do not post breathless reporting on an ongoing terror attack.)
  10. Always provide context with posts: Don't post uncontextualized images or videos, and don't start discussions without giving some context first.

(This list may get expanded as necessary.)

Posts that link to the following sources will be removed

Unless they're the only sources, please also avoid The Sun, Daily Mail, any "thinktank" type organization, and non-Lemmy social media (incl. Substack). Don't link to Twitter directly, instead use xcancel.com. For Reddit, use old:reddit:com

(Lists may get expanded as necessary.)

Ban lengths, etc.

We will use some leeway to decide whether to remove a comment.

If need be, there are also bans: 3 days for lighter offenses, 7 or 14 days for bigger offenses, and permanent bans for people who don't show any willingness to participate productively. If we think the ban reason is obvious, we may not specifically write to you.

If you want to protest a removal or ban, feel free to write privately to the admin that applied the rule (check modlog first to find who was it.)

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] plyth@feddit.org 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

no decision could be made since nothing will be good for everyone.

In a good faith situation, people make compromises. The EU is first of all a trade union. If it is maliciously blocked, just wait it out.

To protect against bad faith actors, only the rule has to be changed that one other complice country can block a voting power reduction. That should be part of the discussion.

but they did not used the weight of EU, which is bigger than the sum of the single states.

If the US does control the EU, and China and Russia know whatever it is, then it is smaller.

EU started to move faster ... United States’ Trojan horse in the EU, the UK, was out of the decision process and cannot block things anymore.

Germany is also a Trojan horse, and I have read comments about other countries, too.

I don't know the inner workings, I can't even say anything about the speedup, but the UK preferred free markets whereas France prefers state companies. That must have been an endless source for conflicts. I wouldn't ascribe the entire slowdown to US influence.

I think the Hungary situation was milked to establish the need for a reform. As I wrote at the start, without veto powers, we get closer to the USE. For the USE, that means more power but for the citizens it means less power.

[–] gian@lemmy.grys.it 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I don’t know the inner workings, I can’t even say anything about the speedup, but the UK preferred free markets whereas France prefers state companies. That must have been an endless source for conflicts. I wouldn’t ascribe the entire slowdown to US influence.

The problem was that UK had a special status, it was a full member but they had a list of exceptions (like the currency, they still used the pound) and in the EU they always were considered the frontend for the USA. It was the UK that blocked some reforms that passed the moment the UK was out.

I think the Hungary situation was milked to establish the need for a reform. As I wrote at the start, without veto powers, we get closer to the USE. For the USE, that means more power but for the citizens it means less power.

Maybe, but unanimity was not manageable anymore, too many states with too many different interests. It is not realistic that a small state could hold back EU just because, the decision process became longer and longer and any decision is watered down.

And I'd like to see something like USE, in my opinion EU is still not integrated enough but I understand that a lot of people need to start to think in a very different way.

[–] plyth@feddit.org 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It was the UK that blocked some reforms that passed the moment the UK was out.

Do you know which reforms?

And I’d like to see something like USE, in my opinion EU is still not integrated enough

Why do you like it, apart from overcoming blocks?

[–] gian@lemmy.grys.it 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Do you know which reforms?

Every reform that increased the integration of EU made after Brexit, basically. Historically UK blocked a lot of reforms because the cannot profit from them. Remember that UK had a special status in the EU, from the beginning, so it was their interest to block reforms that would have forced them to give in some of their advantages. Think about a common European defense, UK always stopped it because they were told so by the US.

Why do you like it, apart from overcoming blocks?

First of all, because it is the only logical conclusion if we want to keep Europe somewhat relevant in the world.
After that, though I’m speaking as an Italian here, maybe politicians will be forced to do more than just try to act like they own their little backyard and probably we will gain something.

[–] plyth@feddit.org 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

keep Europe somewhat relevant i

Europe is still too relevant for a balanced world. If we are serious about decolonisation then it's a good thing if we become less relevant and our colonies don't need us for defence but can fight for the UN to maintain peace. It's just important to make sure that we cooperate with all the other irrelevant countries so that nobody can dominate us all.

Think about a common European defense, UK always stopped it

Bad for the USE, good for remaining just a free market.

will be forced to do more than just try to act like they own their little backyard

If we hope for it and don't have a plan then it won't happen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grand_Chessboard

The US are against a strong power in Asia. If Britain was opposing the EU and they allowed Britain to leave then they must feel safe about the future of the EU.