[Ulundel]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/09/14/eu.estonia.reut/index.html

Hallelujah!

[Galemp]

Hooray for Estonia!

*tries to remember where Estonia is*

[Ulundel]

*points at western europe*

[Stunaep]

*decapitates GE for still not knowing*

[diamondgeezer]

So what cultural and political stuff are you planning on brining in to the EU melting pot?

[Flipside]

They have very high peer to peer programming skillz for a start

Flipside

[Bobboau]

this'll be a step in the right direction for the EU,
Estonia should defenatly go a long way depusify that that little group

[Ulundel]

Originally posted by Flipside
They have very high peer to peer programming skillz for a start

Flipside

Amen to that!

*loves Skype*

*loves Kazaa even more*

[kode]

sweden said "no" to EMU. at least for the time being. which I think is absolutely excellent.

*sings a swedish communistic march song*

[Ulundel]

Originally posted by kode
sweden said "no" to EMU. at least for the time being. which I think is absolutely excellent.

Lucky you

[Rictor]

The question is not how will Estonia treat/feels about the EU, but how they feel about/will treat you. I'm afradi that the smaller will get shafted in favour of the opinions and agendas of the larger countries. I hope not, since if the people of Europe whole-heartedly support the EU, it has some incredible potential. IMHO Europe has amazing culture and people, and the EU will go a long way towards forming a body that could possible oppose the US militarily and economically.

Oh and, DG, am I right in thinking that most Brits oppose further integration in the EU?  The general feel that I get (dont exactly know from where, just from talking to some people and articles etc) is that most Brits are agianst any alliance that might infringe upon they sovreignty, though I hardly think being a yes man to you-know-who is any better.

Serbia is facing pretty much the same situation as Estonia (the process isn't as far along), though I'm not exactly sure of my opinions on it. On one hand, membership in the EU can go a long way towards restoring Yugoslavia's economy etc, though on the other hand, most EU member countries supported the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, and kissing their ass seems kind of dis-honourable to me. We'll see how it turns out.

[Windrunner]

Originally posted by Ulundel


Lucky you

yeah lucky us.

i also voted no, most of us youngster voted no.

[diamondgeezer]

Well you won't find many people that are crazy about the EU over here, but the current Labour government is far more in favour of it than the Conservative opposition (though their main ***** seems to be about losing the British pound). Me personally, I think it's inevitable and I don't see any reason in trying to fight the future.

[Pera]

I think what happened in Sweden goes to show why things like this shouldn't be decided by the people. Too many people decide because of emotions and false or partial info.

I'm not blaming them though, you can't expect everyone to know everything about economy and such. But that's why there are experts who DO know all about economy  

[Nico]

being in the EU is cool: no need to pay customs anymore when ordering from a foreign, but in the EU, country

[kode]

Originally posted by Pera
I think what happened in Sweden goes to show why things like this shouldn't be decided by the people. Too many people decide because of emotions and false or partial info.

I'm not blaming them though, you can't expect everyone to know everything about economy and such. But that's why there are experts who DO know all about economy  

are you a fan of Plato or something?

big things like this should be decided by the people. If the people don't have their say, we might just as well change into a fascist country. besides, national economy is not much more than more or less qualified guesses anyway.

[diamondgeezer]

No no no, it's like this GM crop thingy - people are terrified of GM stuff without having the faintest idea why. Same with the EU - the man on the street over here will basically say that he doesn't want to join because he doesn't like the french, germans, italians and spanish cos they keep beating us at footie. There's no way the public will make a sensible decision. Remember the old saying: 'people are stupid'

[vyper]

I'm terrified of the Euro because (a) I know our economy would be adversely effected by trying to run a single currency across wildly varying industrial climates across Europe and the UK. (b) I know how corrupted and overly-lavish the majority of continental politicians are. They make Blair look like Pinocchio.

[Pera]

Kode:

In my opinion, no.

You see, I'm sure there are good arguments for and against EMU, and many people made educated decisions based on real info, but the majority still decide for the wrong reasons.

There are a lot of people who voted "NO" just because "We're not giving away our currency to those bloody snobs at brussels" or "What's with all this "euro" stuff, we've been doing just fine before" or "It's new = It's bad!!". At least in Finland most people seem to think like this about, well almost everything. And since you can't really start asking for ones arguments when voting, I don't think people should be allowed to directly decide about it.

[kode]

but with the campaigns that they ran, who can argue?

yes side - "vote yes, because if you don't, swedish economy will go down the toilet"
no side - "vote no, because if you don't, swedish economy will go down the toilet"
basically, both sides have said about the same thing, without giving any background arguments. most economists I've talked to has said what they think, without any arguments. same with the politicians. full of crap, they are.

plus, most swedes are really dissapointed about the EU in total. If the EU actually started doing things, instead of just talking about doing things, things might have been better.

interesting though that you're so interested in swedish politics, pera. I thought most finns were ignorant about their neighbour country.