• brucethemoose@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    Why, out of curiosity?

    Honestly, from the outside, most every European problem I read about seems to be rooted in a lack of coordination with neighboring countries.

    And for all the tire fire that America is, the federal system saves a whole lot of cross-state bickering and trouble.

    • mang0@lemmy.zip
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      3 hours ago

      It’s about democracy and sovereignty. Let’s say a EU member internationally votes 51% in favor of implementing socialism. Because of the EU membership, it would not be possible to implement due to regulations outside of a single country’s control, and EU is famously very capitalistic in general.

      One non-extreme example in my country Sweden is that EU is threatening to make snus (i.e. oral tobacco product which zyn is based on) illegal, despite it being widely used and arguably a way more healthy nicotine product than cigarettes. Currently, Sweden has an exemption from the snus ban, but that exemption is not guaranteed for the future.

      Also, if extreme right-wing forces grow stronger (which they currently are doing), it could result in EU policy regarding limiting lgbt rights or other horrible right-wing policies, despite a given country’s elected politicians not being of a right-wing majority.

      • brucethemoose@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        With all due respect, this sounds like a bunch of the US confederacy bickering I was just seeing in the Ken Burns Revolutionary War documentary.

        Of course no country wants to be forced to conform to stuff, but honestly… deal with it. Being able to act as a single body without constant vetoing and infighting and reinventing the wheel is worth it for having to follow a few laws you don’t like.

        And if set up well, right wingers shouldn’t be able to deprive your country of rights, as is largely the case in the US. Most violations here are with the state’s consent, with a few exceptions where we leaned waaay too far into federal control. Unfortunately (and ironically), the extremists of both parties want less state sovereignty when they’re in power, but I don’t think that applies to EU politics.