France to push for Eurozone to integrate into a single great country! (Greek, Portuguese)

[easthome]

Originally Posted by botticelli

Germany is only economically superior. That's not all that counts. In terms of world influence, military power etc., France offers a lot more. It won't be a German state, but one lead by 3 or 4 big players.

Again, take Canada for instance, it is largely an Anglo country, but Quebec still speaks French and won't switch to English any time soon.

The Germans will want the language to be German, the French will want it to be French, Germany will dominate France, the French won't be happy, the politicians will fight and the Southern EU countries will continue to lag (sounds like nothing will change from the modern EU then).

[botticelli]

Originally Posted by easthome

The Germans will want the language to be German, the French will want it to be French, Germany will dominate France, the French won't be happy, the politicians will fight and the Southern EU countries will continue to lag (sounds like nothing will change from the modern EU then).

Let the Europeans sort of it out. In any organization there will always be powerful struggle.
London should wait for the next order from Washington (for example, whether to invade Iran under some vague pretext).

[F18]

Originally Posted by botticelli

Even today, China still has different regions with vastly different cultures and languages. In fact, there are probably as many languages in China as in West and central Europe. In terms of cultures, the similarities Europeans share is probably no less than that among different Chinese provinces. Of course thousands of years of being under the same government largely increased the similarities, but regional culture and traditions are still strong. There is no reason Europe can't be the same. People often use difference as a reason for EU not being able to fully integrate, really? Do we really think the culture and value of Shanghai is the same some rural county in Northwestern Shaangxi province with 1/5 of its GDP per capita, where most of people have never seen a non-Chinese person? They are probably as different as between Poland or Sweden.

The fact is EU HAS to move forward. It can't move back, nor can it stay as it is. As I said, it is the ridiculous, trivial and senseless "national pride" that gets in the way (ya, my village is the best!). Why can't one keep such pride and convert it into regional pride under a bigger federation just like they do in bigger nations? Europe as fragment as this won't be able to compete with the US or China, or even India in the future. It should have its own government, unified fiscal policy as well as a military (not NATO, which should be disbanded).

Maybe France, Germany and whoever interested should go ahead and do it. It will already be sizable with potentially more than 200 million people. If Slovakia or Croatia want to keep their pride of 4M people, then good luck in the future.

European countries themselves have huge internal differences between them, let alone in the whole EU. And China has only one offical (written) language and the vast majority of the population are from the same ethnic group, which have differences between provinces, but are largely united. That's not the case with the EU.

Imagine if China were to be under American or Japanese control and had to follow American and Japanese rules, culture, financial rules etc.? I imagine that the vast majority of Chinese wouldn't be happy (and rightly so.) It would be underming their national pride.

What's the big deal if small countries want to maintain their independence and autonomy? They know what's best for them and don't need suggestions from larger countries to telll them how to rule.

[philopower]

If they can adopt English as the official language then I can see it working. The majority of the educated population in Europe speaks English these days and making it mandatory will allow all the member states to be able to relate/communicate with each other. This will further connect the continent with the US which would be mutually beneficial. If not, this is a pipe dream. How can you be a country if the states don't even speak the same main language?

[xPlorer48]

Originally Posted by iron_stick

Why would they do such a thing to themselves as to adopt German language and follow German laws? What benefits would it bring them? Few students in Europe chose to learn German. The reality is that Spanish is much closer to become the US's lingua franca than German will ever be the EU's official language.

I sure hope not. The English language is a richer language than Spanish and is spoken world-wide in business and diplomatic matters.

[Bordeaux33]

There is no need to speak only English. It is enough for decision-makers, elites, to be multilingual, which is already the case and has always been in Europe for centuries.

And with the technical progress in AI, automatic translators will solve the problem in the coming years. Everyone will be happy

[ABQConvict]

Originally Posted by botticelli

London should wait for the next order from Washington (for example, whether to invade Iran under some vague pretext).

NATO: A contingent of around 150 advisers under the separate command NATO Training Mission – Iraq (withdrawn 12/11)
United States: 150,000 invasion 165,000 peak (withdrawn 12/11)
United Kingdom: 46,000 invasion (withdrawn 5/11)
Australia: 2,000 invasion (withdrawn 7/09)
Romania: 730 peak (deployed 7/03; withdrawn 7/09)
El Salvador: 380 peak (deployed 8/03; withdrawn 1/09)
Estonia: 40 troops (deployed 6/05; withdrawn 1/09)
Bulgaria: 485 peak (deployed 5/03; withdrawn 12/08)
Moldova: 24 peak (deployed 9/03; withdrawn 12/08)
Albania: 240 troops (deployed 4/03; withdrawn 12/08)
Ukraine: 1,650 peak (deployed 8/03; withdrawn 12/08)
Denmark: 545 peak (deployed 4/03; withdrawn 12/08)
Czech Republic: 300 peak (deployed 12/03; withdrawn 12/08)
South Korea: 3,600 peak (deployed 5/03; withdrawn 12/08)
Tonga: 55 troops (deployed 7/04; withdrawn 12/08)
Azerbaijan: 250 peak (deployed 8/03; withdrawn 12/08)
Singapore: 175 offshore (deployed 12/03; withdrawn 12/08)
Bosnia and Herzegovina: 85 peak (deployed 6/05; withdrawn 11/08)
Macedonia: 77 peak (deployed 7/03; withdrawn 11/08)
Latvia: 136 peak (deployed 5/03; withdrawn 11/08)
Poland: 200 invasion—2,500 peak (withdrawn 10/08)
Kazakhstan: 29 troops (deployed 9/03; withdrawn 10/08)
Armenia: 46 troops (deployed 1/05; withdrawn 10/08)
Mongolia: 180 peak (deployed 8/03; withdrawn 09/08)
Georgia: 2,000 peak (deployed 8/03; withdrawn 8/08)
Slovakia: 110 peak (deployed 8/03; withdrawn 12/07)
Lithuania: 120 peak (deployed 6/03; withdrawn 08/07)
Italy: 3,200 peak (deployed 7/03; withdrawn 11/06)
Norway: 150 troops (deployed 7/03; withdrawn 8/06)
Japan: 600 troops (deployed 1/04; withdrawn 7/06)
Hungary: 300 troops (deployed 8/03; withdrawn 3/05)
Netherlands: 1,345 troops (deployed 7/03; withdrawn 3/05)
Portugal: 128 troops (deployed 11/03; withdrawn 2/05)
New Zealand: 61 troops (deployed 9/03; withdrawn 9/04)
Thailand: 423 troops (deployed 8/03; withdrawn 8/04)
Philippines: 51 troops (deployed 7/03; withdrawn 7/04)
Honduras: 368 troops (deployed 8/03; withdrawn 5/04)
Dominican Republic: 302 troops (deployed 8/03; withdrawn 5/04)
Spain: 1,300 troops (deployed 4/03; withdrawn 4/04)
Nicaragua: 230 troops (deployed 9/03; withdrawn 2/04)
Iceland: 2 troops (deployed 5/03; withdrawal date unknown)

[pastramisandwich]

Originally Posted by botticelli

Germany is only economically superior. That's not all that counts. In terms of world influence, military power etc., France offers a lot more. It won't be a German state, but one lead by 3 or 4 big players.

Again, take Canada for instance, it is largely an Anglo country, but Quebec still speaks French and won't switch to English any time soon.

Nah, it's not just the economy, Germany is quite clearly politically and diplomatically more influential than France nowadays.

That being said, Germany is much more culturally passive than France and has never particularly promoted the German language within the EU (German is barely ahead of Italian by number of internal documents in many EU institutions, simply because most German bureaucrats and MEPs use English).

[easthome]

Originally Posted by botticelli

Let the Europeans sort of it out. In any organization there will always be powerful struggle.
London should wait for the next order from Washington (for example, whether to invade Iran under some vague pretext).

We will always help our American cousins but only if we feel its the right thing to do, they have had our back in the past and we should and will have theirs, the same goes for the other Anglo nations too. Despite our 'family' squabbles we owe the Aussies, Americans, New Zealanders (to name but a few) and we will assist if they ever need us to.

[botticelli]

Originally Posted by easthome

We will always help our American cousins but only if we feel its the right thing to do, they have had our back in the past and we should and will have theirs, the same goes for the other Anglo nations too. Despite our 'family' squabbles we owe the Aussies, Americans, New Zealanders (to name but a few) and we will assist if they ever need us to.

when you say cousin you mean daddy.