Comment by graemep

Comment by graemep a day ago

What do you mean by "Europe"? Yes, Lithuania has a problem, but the UK, France and Germany do not.

> What is your preferred model?

There are lots of alternatives to turning the EU unto a federal state with its own armies. Alliances for one. It has been NATO that filled this role for over 70 years, and successfully so against a far more powerful threat than Russia.

> All of us staying in little insignificant countries, kowtowing to larger powers?

Lots of "insignificant little countries" seem to do rather well. Switzerland, Singapore, Norway,.....

I can see the nationalist appeal of belonging to a big powerful country, but it does not really do the people of a country much good.

saubeidl 21 hours ago

The threat isn't just military and it's not just coming from Russia.

Think about economic extortion from the US and China, how would little Lithuania defend against that?

Two of those three little countries have to follow EU law without having any say in it - my point exactly!

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graemep 21 hours ago

> Two of those three little countries have to follow EU law without having any say in it - my point exactly!
The same is true for any treaty. The same is true for internal negotiations within the EU.
> Think about economic extortion from the US and China, how would little Lithuania defend against that?
Could the EU do much better than the larger countries can do by themselves? Especially in the long term its much lower growth rate means its going to be a relatively smaller and smaller economy compared to the US or China.
Despite all the expansion, the EU at the time the UK left was a much smaller proportion of the global economy than the EU at the time the UK joined.

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- saubeidl 21 hours ago
  
  The EU is both the world's largest importer as well as its largest exporter. Its economic leverage is unmatched.
  
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  graemep 21 hours ago
  
  Its economy is a lot smaller than that of the US, and smaller than China in PPP terms, and is growing much slower than either.
  Do you have import and export number that adjusts for transhipments? What is the economic impact of the trade?
  Even the UK which was an EU member until recently, has a free trade deal with the EU, and is right next to the EU geographically trades more with the rest of the world - and that is including a lot of transhipment trade (look up "Rotterdam Effect"). You can find the same for lots of EU countries.
  
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  mytailorisrich 21 hours ago
  
  The EU is actually 3rd for both imports and exports. Still massive but... 3rd. In 2024 (in trillion USD):
  Exports: China 3.8, US 3.2, EU 2.80
  Imports: US 4.0, China 3.2, EU 2.6
  You can't just add export/import number for each EU countries to find the EU number because EU countries trade a lot among themselves.
  
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