The EU

For an American, the European Union (EU)....is a difficult thing to grasp and understand.

The concept....long ago....was that you'd enact a parliament of sorts....with representatives from various European countries....have a united currency....open up borders....and do things in a certain way (form).  It meant reaching a simplified way of doing business.

The deal was simple in the beginning.  You had a vote, and voted onto accepting some general rules to be in the EU.  Well...some legislatures discovered that their populations weren't so friendly toward this....so they didn't have the guts to vote....moving this to a national agenda that was voted by the public.  Some European countries accepted certain things in the deal....some didn't.

The British like being a distant part of the EU.....but won't give up the Pound.  Norway has little to no interest in any part of the EU....except for easy border access and trade relations.

Currently, there are eight countries on the road to some membership: Iceland (the economic downfall tossed their membership application to suspended for the present), Turkey (who is often identified as the 'bastard-child' of Europe), Albania (the poorest of the poor countries), Bosnia (continually talked about but rarely moves on their status), Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, and Montenegro (who no one can readily ID on a map).

Last week, chats came up about another new group of potential EU players.  Ukraine was mentioned around, with the expectations of this taking at least twenty years to clean up it's act.  Moldova?  Economically, it's doubtful that they can ever provide a clean book, or show no corruption within the government.  Georgia?  It's a thousand miles from Europe and it begs lots of questions about just how European it really is.

For an American, the EU is like the efforts of the US federal government in 1776.  It made economic sense to pull the thirteen states into some combined effort.  The idea that it'd one day be fifty states?  I would imagine that Thomas Jefferson, if told of this achievement....would be mostly shocked that one central government could stand over fifty states.

By 2050, there's likely to be forty states within the EU.  Some island states....like Cape Verde....will not be very easy to explain.  Some distant states....like Georgia....just won't make sense.  Yeah, Norway will stay be mostly a non-member.....just watching the events from the sidelines.  And yes, the British Pound will continue to exist.  

From an economic prospective, it's attractive.  Open borders....one currency....a banking sector that is simplified.....and people with some joint behaviors on culture and law.  Maybe it makes sense to accept this path.