With his precious EU project in tatters, and unemployment rates in "old Europe" (i.e., Germany and France) at all-time highs, and students rioting because they won't be guaranteed employment for life, Jacques Chirac decided to walk out of an economic conference of the EU because one of the French industrialists had the temerity to speak in the "language of business." That is to say, English.

The members of the EU seem to be facing a lot of the same growing pains that the colonies faced when forming the United States. Fortunately for us, we started as colonies and states, and grew to form a large country; the EU is attempting to form one large country out of a number of smaller countries who have had centuries to create a national identity.

We had the US Civil War before we reconciled enough of our differences to grow as a country. Unfortunately, an EU Civil War would be a war between countries, and could be the source of WW-III if radical islam doesn't start WW-III first.

I don't pretend to have a solution for the EU, but I'd have to agree that protectionism and fervent nationalism are BAD ways to unite countries under a common governing body.

There's a quite easy solution for the EU -- disband it and replace it with the free-trade area it originally was sold as. Any of the actual joint programs of any use could then be restarted as stand-alone projects among those nations that actually wanted them and were willing to pay for them.

The American states shared a common language, a common legal system, and a recent common history of fighting a war together -- none of which is true of the EU states. Why should they try to form a federal state? It is no more logical than the US trying to form a federal state with the nations of Latin America.

I think it basically inconceivable that a civil war among the large countries of Western Europe would ever take place. The economies are so intertwined that it would be a suicide pact. Indeed, preventing this sort of tragedy was what led to the formation of the EEC, and eventually the EU, in the first place.

"it would be a suicide pact"

Isn't that what WWI was?

The militaries of europe are largely neutered by government social welfare obligations. Even if they felt belligerent, the conflict would probably just be a loud shouting match at the debate club on turtle bay.

Who knows, maybe the whole thing was staged too.

Who knows, maybe the whole thing was staged too.