Why are people so against a united federal European Union that is a country of its own?
I mean, I stood and thought. Ever since WW2 nationalism has fallen in many countries, and while there are still people who see "their country above all", most people can understand by now that nationalism is nothing and they are not better than those other people from another country. So I don't really see how this would be the case.
Then we have the idea that the EU is not democratic. Yet, the members of the EU parliament are voted directly by the people of the EU. So... the people vote their representatives. Ok, maybe the Council of European Affairs then? Nope, here the ministers of each country meet, ministers who were put in function by the votes of the people. The European Council? It's the heads of state, voted by us, the people. You could argue that the European Comission is not really that democratic for every country sends a representative... yet that representative is chosen by your government, whom you voted for?
So, the EU is controlled by the votes of the people in the EU.
Ok... maybe people feel that they don't want their country to give control to Brussels? But then, we already discussed that your country has your representatives right there. And now I'm sure that some might argue that by giving control you're actually making things worse as ... Finland for example, can't understand the problems of... Portugal with producing... oranges. Stupid example, I know, but go with it. But then, most of you here are sitting in a comfy chair in a town/big city. Can you understand the problems of people working the farms in the country? No. Then how come your country still has those farmers if the city can't understand them well? Because they sent representatives and explained, this food produces your food, so we need subventions! And they were given them. So, at least in theory, a united EU would work the same.
Portugal's orange farmers would come and say "hey, we need a good irrigation system for our oranges!"
And Finland would say "why?"
And Portugal would reply "well, you see, if we don't get it, our trees will die for its a horrible drought and nobody would get oranges".
And after being shown how bad the drought is, Finland would probably agree to help fund the oranges of Portugal.
And this would happen with most of any subject. Are salaries in a part of the EU too low and the people there are exploited? The strong nations would help the area rise a bit. Why? Because they can't afford hundreads of thousands of immigrants, because otherwise they'd always need to pay for that nation or lower the prices of their products since the nations around would not afford to buy (thus earning less). And the big countries would profit because, as the weak countries rise, they can sell their products in said countries for more, they can get help on their own back when they need it etc.
One more reason I could thing of, people wouldn't want a united EU because they feel that their weak group is treated like shit by the strong groups or the strong group is invaded by the weak group. Ok, fair enough. I could understand that you want the people in the weaker nation to work for their own stuff. But what if they are? The most common response is "then they'd be rich like us". Oh, ok, so you're saying that London was built this generation? No? Maybe the German economy was brought back to life after WW2 from its own forces alone? No, the Marshall plan helped, otherwise they'd have still be quite bad. Maybe those highways were built by this generation? No? So... you're asking people in weaker countries to do stuff that was done in your country over generations, you're asking them do do it now? Hmmmm, that doesn't seem fair, now does it? My country didn't get money from the Marshall plan, it was actually built back from WW2 by romanians, using slave labour forced by the soviets too. It fell again with communism. We have few old big cities because major empires used do have their wars on romanian soil and all would pillage and burn everything.
On the other hand we have those that feel the strong nations control them. Well fair enough, and besides some certain weird stuff like "this traditional food contains too much sodium!" or stuff like that, does the EU (so the EU as the institutions of the EU, not some random jerk company in some country abusing your "people", that's not the EU and that's actually illegal according to EU laws) truly force stuff that wasn't agreed on by your government, bad horrible stuff on you? I haven't really seen that.
Plus, weak or strong, you need to understand that your nation can't sustain itself alone. Look at Norway, they're outside the EU, they're kind of a strong country, yet even they have to agree to certain EU regulations... which they can't even vote on! Because they're not in the EU! Alone your country would be picked on by stronger neighbours, and not have any say about it. Do you want Russia to start claiming parts of Poland and the Baltic states? I'm sure they would if those countries were not in the EU and NATO, you know how I know this? Because they did it before. You want the USA culture and control become full in the UK? It would, you're already invaded by their televisions and fast foods, but it would be worse if you weren't in the EU, just look at Central American countries and the history of the so called banana republics.
So then why are people against the EU? Is it a combination of all these? Are they simply not informed? Do they just fear change? Explain, because I simply can't understand and I believe a united federal EU would be beneficial and could help its citizens.
Oh, and if you're from the USA, Russia, China or some other strong country outside the EU and don't like the idea of a strong EU