Originally posted by Viss1: FWIW the EU Constitution appears to have failed more because it became a referendum on each country's leader, not because people necessarily had a problem with the concept itself. If presented in a different way, perhaps having people vote on the general concept rather than including all the specific components, the referendum might have worked more as intended.
That is very wise of you to say that. I am taking a class right now called Unification and Disintegration of Europe. We are studying these two seemingly conflicting trends in the EU; that the EU seems to be simultaneously trying to unify and is also tearing it self apart. It seems that the vote on the constitution had nothing to do with the document itself. Also the EU will never be like the US, it will never be a federation, there is too much history for each to simply become a "state" in a federal system. The original idea for the EU was founded in a few treaties like the Coal and Steel Community which was not an economic Community at first but was there to keep the peace. If there was no arms race (coal and steel were the main resources for waging war) or competition with regards to these sorts of resources Europe would not be the battle ground or the cause for another world war. This evolved into an economic community and now in the last 20 years there has been a push for political integration. Frankly I think it is great that Europe has been able to do some much in such a short amount of time. I think they need to slow down before they digress any further.
