bofecus
My favourite opponent, let me tell you something. There is no such thing as the 'United States of Europe' and, in if you're thinking in the same sense as United States of America, there never will be.
There are huge cultural differences, different languages, different political systems and different social systems. We don't even have the same currency (Denmark, Sweden and the UK not being in the Euro) and not even the Schengen agreement reaches across all EU member states (The UK and Eire opting to stay out) whereas non-EU countries are Schengen members (Norway and Iceland).
What the EU is, is a common market that's slowly evolving into a more tightly knitted society. But there is not, and nor is there planned to be, a common 'federal' tax policy which, I trust you'll agree with, is a rather vital component of an integrated bundle of states a la the USA. VAT may be harmonized, but then again it may not. We will not abandon our individual parliaments, but some areas such as defence and foreign policy may be coordinated via the EU. The proposed EU constitution (which, incidentially, looks set to be voted down) mandates that countries may opt, on a case-by-case basis, to agree or not to EU foreign policy.
Denmark opted to stay out of the Defence, Social and Monetary agreements, as did the UK. The 'Grande Armee' plan is largely a French/German idea which has the backing of, among others, the Netherlands, Greece and Italy.
In short, we're 24 different countries and we'd like to keep it that way. Yes, there are many areas where further cooperation would be mutually beneficial, and there are others where it would not. The Scandinavian nations will not give up their welfare model in favour of lower taxes for some, just like the UK won't give up having the lowest tax rates in the EU in favour of adopting the Scandinavian welfare model.
As for the "kiddies" comment. Why, thank you mate! I'm well on my way to be pushing 40, and is slowly feeling the effects that has on my body. It's been ages since I've been called a kid. Thanks, you made my day there
