Will Straw on the relation of EU and Britain

[Thanas]

That seems like the very definition of single issue to me and suggests your problem is not with the EU or its structure/purpose but rather with the proposed new gun restrictions.

[His Divine Shadow]

It's my particular hot button issue because it's such a personal issue for me, it's not entirely rational I know but we all got issues like that. It and my other example illustrates what I am referring to however, the more the EU is trying to have a say in, the more people will be negatively affected because it centralizes issues that are better left regional and enforces solution not suitable everywhere else.

This is particularly keenly felt in the sparsely populated "frozen north" we live in, vs. the teeming urban cities of the continent, we don't want the same laws and values on everything. This is why I think the EU might actually break up eventually if there's gonna be too much of this going on. Or possibly it will be redefined when the pressure from different countries become too high, there's a wave of nationalism and populism being indirectly fueled by this and other factors that I guess we haven't seen the crest of.

[Thanas]

It's my particular hot button issue because it's such a personal issue for me, it's not entirely rational I know but we all got issues like that. It and my other example illustrates what I am referring to however, the more the EU is trying to have a say in, the more people will be negatively affected because it centralizes issues that are better left regional and enforces solution not suitable everywhere else.

And on the other hand a lot of people will be positively effected. Case in point, all the Eastern Europeans who found work in the west. Or even such a small thing as no border control. I regularly travel to the Netherlands for conferences and work and I don't have to have a passport ready, my money is easily accepted and I don't have to have my luggage searched. Those benefits are regularly taken advantage of by every European who travels or whose company does international business. Thus I think more and more people will continue to be positively affected.

Does the EU have silly regulations? Of course. But on the whole I don't think there is a majority in any country which holds the opinion the EU does more bad than good. Not even in Greece a majority for EU exit could be found and they had a lot more legitimate reasons to hate the EU than others.

This is particularly keenly felt in the sparsely populated "frozen north" we live in, vs. the teeming urban cities of the continent, we don't want the same laws and values on everything. This is why I think the EU might actually break up eventually if there's gonna be too much of this going on. Or possibly it will be redefined when the pressure from different countries become too high, there's a wave of nationalism and populism being indirectly fueled by this and other factors that I guess we haven't seen the crest of.

That is a legitimate but overly pessimistic view of it, IMO. We might just as well continue to see the number of people who benefit from it grow and grow until people decide to form a more closer union.

Another reason for why we need a closer union is currently well shown in the Ukraine crisis. I highly doubt Putin would act with such impunity if he would be facing such a unified Europe.