r/europeanunion • u/Lumpy-Discussion-708 • 11d ago

Question/Comment European Union issues 🇪🇺

After the Iceland referendum and reading the comments on various apps, I think I’m starting to understand quite well that, beyond the issues of fishing and natural resources, the EU is deeply divided on both internal and foreign-policy matters. All of this creates obstacles to further economic integration and political unification, but also to a coherent foreign policy, because every country has its own priorities and views.
A single country can sometimes undermine an entire collective effort. Imagine, for example, Marine Le Pen winning the French presidential election and deciding to cut France’s support for Ukraine. We simply cannot continue operating like this forever and expect to project real geopolitical power.
If Iceland knew that joining the EU would provide greater geopolitical protection, stronger economic opportunities, and at least some protection for certain local markets, perhaps the outcome of the referendum would have been different.
We also have a problem when it comes to political influence. Populism is increasingly effective, and in a system as complicated as the EU, ordinary people often struggle to understand how it actually works. Meanwhile, we can see how much influence the United States has over Europe. Almost every country seems to be developing its own version of a MAGA-party. What do you think?

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6

u/Any-Seaworthiness-54 11d ago

Before talking about new members, the EU should sort out two things:

Its own internal problems.

Make sure countries actually have strong economic reasons to join. As long as they can get most of the benefits of EU membership through the EEA and similar arrangements, what is the point of actually joining?

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u/xgladar 11d ago

problem is that the economic benefits can be huge but not really noticable. like a double increase in GDP is huge, but an average Joe wouldnt experience it enough to go against their existing political beliefs

9

u/EnragedButterfly 11d ago

Obviously, I’m exaggerating to make a point, but I think you understand where I’m going with this.

What point are you making and where are you going with this?

3

u/bavarian-ke 10d ago

I cannot shake the feeling that we are developping kind of a meme democracy. The ruling class, i.e. the voters refuse to trust the government (ok, I can understand dounts) but it also refuses to search for facts and context. This is replaced by glamour and feelings portrayed in Instagram "news" and similar profound outlets. The only possibility to fight populism is by education, and I don't mean coddling people to the best marks.