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The OP listed "major issues facing Europe" are non issues at best. Issues facing Europe are:
1) Refugees and particularly the influx of Muslim immigrants who have no desire to fit in and want to change Europe into the hell holes they are running from.
2) Keeping on good terms with the world super powers...USA, Russia, & China and the potential threats they could present in a tense situation. 3) Maintaining good relations with Middle Eastern countries for oil and trade.
4) Maintaining and improving their competitiveness in the world markets.
5) Aging population that have promises of benefits that will fall on fewer and fewer workers to provide.
6) Keeping the EU together with competing national interests varying between Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, etc.
I would rather we don't keep positive relation with those countries, we should try to be closer to Iran (now that the sanctions have been lifted), Kazakhstan and Russia (the UK and Norway also have enough oil fields to keep Europe satisfied in the meanwhile) instead and try to focus more and more on alternative energies in the meanwhile.
As for immigrants, few of them are actually intentioned to turn our countries into the hellhole they come from but i would rather not turn this thread into yet another one about this issue
The last three issues i see as the fundamental ones
Unemployment and an aging population are the biggest challenges.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tall Traveler
5) Aging population that have promises of benefits that will fall on fewer and fewer workers to provide.
The flip side of that is lack of meaningful economic opportunities for young people, the two are intimately connected, and a main reason for these problems is willful policy failure.
Kind of a pointless question. I suggest you ask 'what are problems for you?', to posters of each of the EU member states and then collate the answers.
What instead, you will get is those that presume to speak on behalf of a complex and diverse continent in historical, political and cultural sense from a very narrow and limited worldview of their own.
As an example;
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tall Traveler
Refugees and particularly the influx of Muslim immigrants who have no desire to fit in and want to change Europe into the hell holes they are running from.
- is quite clearly nonsensical; one does not run from something they wish to recreate. This alone highlights why your question is limited in scope.
Islamaphobes cannot admit to being what they are and as such, the results of your poll and answers in the thread are almost useless since they come from self selected individuals with 'axes to grind' and blunt ones at that.
I feel weird classifying such issues as racism and homophobia according to some arbitrary order of importance.
They sure are issues that must be addressed but maybe not the most pressing ones. Our governments must still try to diminish both of these phenomenon and passing the civil union law here in Italy would be a further step ahead towards addressing the issue of homophobia as the law would finally recognize as being the same as any couple. That won't resolve the issue on a whole but it should help not make them feel discriminated against by the state at least.
As for racism, it's a phenomenon which can be diminished but which will never be eradicated, we must still try to fight it of course. I don't know if it's just wishful thinking but i think that future generations who will grow up with kids that are of different cultures, skin colours, ecc. as them won't have this problem to the same degree our generations have. They will be more accepting
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