Hint: It’s structural. Trump has nothing to do with it. 
The Creeping Death of the Single Market
Eurointelligence discussed the EU’s Slide Towards Irrelevance
The EU has zero chance to emerge as a geopolitical power like the US or China. Strategic autonomy was only a slogan. It came with no strategy, and most importantly, with no financial commitments. The way EU countries are currently raising military spending, through debt mostly, and without common procurement, will reinforce their dependency on the US and US-dominated financial markets. At no point did the EU have an agreed end-game strategy for Ukraine – something that goes beyond wishful thinking.
But the EU has a few, sadly neglected, assets. It has a customs union, a single market and a single currency. They don’t win wars, but they matter. If the EU had not fallen behind the US in productivity growth, and if it had not given up on 21st technologies, the EU would be a formidable soft power. The threat of being banned from the world’s largest single market would have been a real choke-hold. The purpose of frugal fiscal policies is not to pay homage to a protestant work ethic, but to give financial headroom to act during emergencies.
If you accept, as everybody seems to do, that treaty change is impossible, an intelligent soft power strategy is the only thing that is left. But that would have meant a lowering of ambitions: no Green deal; no anti-tech legislation; the completion of the banking union with the goal to end the bank-sovereign nexus. In particular, it would have meant more integration.The balance between widening and deepening is way off.
For the talking heads that roam our airways and social media, it is cooler to talk about foreign policy. But for the EU it would be better if its leadership took an interest in the work of standard committees. They should not invite Zelensky to their European Council meetings, but the three economics Nobel Laureates, to give a presentation of the importance of technology to economic growth. The creeping death of the single market is the real existential crisis of the EU. It is not Trump.
If the EU wants to acquire hard power, that would have to be preceded by political reforms: treaty change to establish the EU as a federal union, with tax raising and debt issuing powers, money to fund an army, and a politically accountable military command structure. You don’t acquire hard power with people sitting around tables.
The EU’s tragedy is that it abandoned the necessary to seek the impossible.
Treaty Change Impossible
Yes, I do accept that a treaty change is impossible unless and until some currency crisis forces that outcome.
I have been writing about this for years.
The EU is governed by nannycrats with impossible goals and no way to act on them.
The Green Deal is now dead. Trump demand 5 percent military spending when budget constraints are such that 2 percent will be a struggle.
The US strives to innovate. The EU strives to regulate. It wants to regulate AI without knowing what AI is even about.
EC fines X €120 million under the Digital Services Act
Please note that on December 4, the EC fines X €120 million under the Digital Services Act
Deceptive design of X’s ‘blue checkmark’
X’s use of the ‘blue checkmark’ for ‘verified accounts’ deceives users. This violates the DSA obligation for online platforms to prohibit deceptive design practices on their services. On X, anyone can pay to obtain the ‘verified’ status without the company meaningfully verifying who is behind the account, making it difficult for users to judge the authenticity of accounts and content they engage with. This deception exposes users to scams, including impersonation frauds, as well as other forms of manipulation by malicious actors. While the DSA does not mandate user verification, it clearly prohibits online platforms from falsely claiming that users have been verified, when no such verification took place.
Lack of transparency of X’s ads repository
X’s advertisement repository fails to meet the transparency and accessibility requirements of the DSA. Accessible and searchable ad repositories are critical for researchers and civil society to detect scams, hybrid threat campaigns, coordinated information operations and fake advertisements.
X incorporates design features and access barriers, such as excessive delays in processing, which undermine the purpose of ad repositories. X’s ads repository also lacks critical information, such as the content and topic of the advertisement, as well as the legal entity paying for it. This hinders researchers and the public to independently scrutinise any potential risks in online advertising.
Nannycrat Nonsense
Seriously, doesn’t the EU have anything better to do than worry about blue checkmarks on X?
Unfortunately, this kind of nannycrat nonsense is all that the EU can do.
Q: Why?
A: Because, with few exceptions, it takes unanimous or nearly unanimous agreement to do anything.
So the EU launches commissions and studies again and again and again because commissions and studies are the only thing that can be approved.
By treaty, France has veto power over anything agricultural (every nation actually, but France and Italy are at the forefront). Global trade summits fail every year because of single-nation veto power. It useless to even invite the EU because the outcome is known from the beginning.
Germany and other Northern European countries have veto power over budget rules. That won’t change until German banks blow sky high, if then.
In the rare case the EU ever does anything, it’s usually wrong. Green energy, carbon border taxes, and the ridiculous digital services act are good examples.
Spotlight AI
The competition on AI is massive. Globally it’s the US vs China. But within the US there are four key players.
- OpenAI: OpenAI developed ChatGPT and the GPT models. It is a leader in conversational AI and foundational models.
- Anthropic: Anthropic is an AI safety and research company. It develops the “Claude” family of large language models. It is known for its constitutional AI framework.
- xAI: xAI is Elon Musk’s AI venture. It developed the Grok chatbot, with integration with Tesla and robotics.
- Perplexity AI: Perplexity AI operates an AI-powered search engine. It uses large language models and real-time web search to provide cited answers.
AI Q&A
Q: Where is the EU?
A: The EU is not in the ballpark. It’s not even close to the ballpark.
Instead, EU nannycrats are in a sand playbox 2,000 miles away trying to regulate the damn thing.
France’s big concern is not AI but to protect the family farm.
Protecting Family Farms in France:
- Combating Unfair Competition: Farmers protest against free-trade deals (like Mercosur) that they argue flood the market with cheaper products, undermining French standards and viability.
- Rural Livelihoods: Supporting family farms is seen as vital for food security, rural jobs, and maintaining the French countryside’s character.
- Economic Support: France relies on EU subsidies, but farmers demand fairer distribution, with new rules pushing for eco-friendly practices while trying to prevent large farms from monopolizing funds.
- Legal Protections: Laws aim to shield farmers from “abusive” lawsuits by new residents over noise (like roosters) or smells, preserving traditional agricultural practices.
Mercosur Deal Update
Hooray! I am pleased to report that political agreement on Mercosur was reached in December 2024 after 25+ years of talks.
However, ratification hinges on member states.
Yet, on December 19, Politico reported EU delays Mercosur signing as 25-year curse drags on
An eleventh-hour turnaround from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni upended a self-imposed objective of signing the agreement with the Mercosur countries on Dec. 20 — pushing the decision to mid-January instead, POLITICO first reported.
The delay shows that after two decades of negotiations and countless turn-arounds, the EU-Mercosur pact, designed to create one of the world’s largest free-trade areas between the EU, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina, continues to be a political minefield in Europe.
“Mercosur plays a central role in our trade agreements,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on her way into the leaders summit on Thursday morning, adding it was “of enormous importance we get the green light.”
Yet Meloni derailed the carefully laid plan.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said the Italian leader promised him on a call Thursday that she would support the deal as soon as she secured the backing of Italy’s farmers. Despite heaping pressure on Europeans in recent days, Lula ended up accepting the delay, the diplomats said.
Meloni’s pushback meant there was not enough backing from EU countries for von der Leyen to fly to Brazil this weekend to sign the deal as planned — despite the huge political capital invested on each side in trying to finalize it by the end before Christmas.
Even if Rome and Paris come around, the agreement’s troubles are far from over: The deal must still pass through the European Parliament, where opposition is mounting across the political spectrum.
“It seems certain that it [the Mercosur deal] will be signed in mid-January,” a senior German official told reporters.
The mid-January date is important, the official stressed, to get the agreement ratified before the Parliament has a chance to vote on a resolution to send the deal to the Court of Justice of the EU — which would risk freezing its ratification for up to two years.
Dealing With the EU
Mercosur is the perfect example of what it’s like dealing with the EU. Any country can damn near block any deal for any reason, or no reason at all.
I repeat my congratulations to the UK for escaping this madness. Of course, the UK has not made the best of Brexit, but that is the fault of UK politicians, not the Brexit vote itself.
Regulation and roadblocks are all the EU knows how to do. That’s why Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Tesla, Nvdia, and all the key AI players outside of China are in the US. The EU would regulate them to death before they ever got going.
To repeat: The US strives to innovate. The EU strives to regulate. Deals take 25 years. Knowing that, one would have to be crazy to want back in.
The European Union has an unelected President and a Commission whose members are also chosen by the governments of EU member nations. Most of these Commission members and the current EU President are failed incompetent politicians booted upstairs by their governments and expected to act as puppets to pass policies (as EU regulations) their home governments dare not put to their own legislatures or their own publics to vote on through referendum.
One reason the British public voted for Brexit was that policies Westminster wanted to put into UK law that would not pass the House of Commons or referendums were instead passed to the EU. When that happens, the EU parliament usually rubber-stamps those policies and they have the force of law. British voters are not able to complain and have such laws nullified or abolished.
Unfortunately the EU now has a President who is not only a failed and corrupt politician in her own country (Germany) but a delusional idiot who treats the EU as her personal fiefdom. She has promoted as EU chief foreign diplomat a minor Baltic state politician whose political career in Estonia was under a cloud for corruption as well. This is the calibre of EU leadership that currently prevails in Brussels.
Mish you were the one who first explained to me why the EU is so broken. They have a currency union without a political union. These countries all have different cultures and it wasn’t a good idea to mash them together.
If the EU is such a failure, what’s the single worst law it passed that made Europeans worse off — name it.
You can point to low growth as a symptom but without the EU it would have been even worse.
Any number of micro-brained policies are to blame.
immigration, green tech, all out support for Ukraine, freedom of speech, intolerance
I don’t know about Laws but:-
1.It has an Unelected President.China repeatedly ignored her,treating her as a mere European Citizen and NOT EU President.
2.A successful Union will have its members “happy”But Hungary is unhappy.Bulgaria does not seem to want The Euro.Poland [Hungary too, ]does not want immigration forced on her. Poland and Germany have some problems with each other.Italy wants its Gold back from the ECB.
3.When weak economies are made members by offering subsidies, the Monetary Union fails
4.The weakness of .EU was exposed when it meekly accepted Trump’s Tariffs and demands for buying fuel from US and massive investments there ,though these await approval from the EU;s :”parliament”.
It seems EU was a mere “nation-grab” by offering subsidies, especially to many Eastern European Nations.
Most EU member nations have publics who didn’t want their countries to join the EU but who were subjected to repeated Yes /No referendums until they eventually got the message that they had to vote Yes. The bullying that voters in Denmark and Ireland were subjected to, to vote for EU membership back in the 1990s comes to mind.
Some Eastern European nations (esp the former Soviet Baltic republics) who joined the EU did so because their publics wanted the benefits of being in the Schengen visa-free zone, which would allow free travel among EU member nations and enable workers from the poorer Eastern European member nations to find work in the richer Western European member nations and send money home to their families.
The US is irrelevant because the EU and its globalist “leaders” are simply pure evil
Their treatment of Swiss Intel Colonel Jacques Baud ALONE is enough evidence to cut off all ties with Europe
Sanctioned for free speech, they have frozen all of his bank accounts and he can not travel anywhere. Cannot buy food. Cannot pay rent. Trying to end his life for his analysis of Russia Ukraine
Watch any of his videos with Nima at Dialogue Works or Daniel Davis or anyone else.
Real news. Not the Intel Blob controlled BS coming from fraudulent and evil Main Stream Media, which lies about everything they say and more importantly simply fail to cover anything important
That doesn’t sound good….any legitimate sources reporting on this?
Baud appears to be just another ex spy spouting conspiracy theories, such as the Brits could have staged summary executions of civilians in the Ukraine. Yawn
Nothing to see here, move along
If national culture is irrelevant to who you are, stay in the EU.
Had the EU been a free-trade zone, and nothing else, it would’ve had less impact on the different cultures. Instead, culture became a mish-mash, with massive foreign intrusions–hardly worth having except to those in control.
Have you ever been to Europe and travelled around. I don’t see culture being destroyed other than with US chains. Not sure I can say the same about cultural diversity in the US. I’ll give you that the Cheesecake Factory is good.
Did you visit Europe in 1970s-1980s? I’ve spent over a year and a half traveling throughout Europe/GB in total. I’ve seen the changes.
My brother was in Europe just last week (for 4-5 months) His comment. Never again. Eastern Europe maybe.
Just curious, did he elaborate on never again?
Yes, he did. Btw, this is the same person who, a year before 9/11, returned from spending several months in north Africa and Middle East and said,
“You won’t believe how much they (Muslims) hate the USA. They loathe you with a passion. It is just a matter of time until they attack the US.”
No they aren’t having a fun time. Diverted into politics rather than nation building. But also remember that the EU/EEC was also about stopping further intra-Euro wars. 80 years of no major war in (core) EUR is historically a long time.
Calling the EU “irrelevant” assumes NATO is permanent. It isn’t. If the US disengages, a Europe without the EU isn’t freer — it’s fragmented and weaker. Abolish the EU if you want, but name a replacement. Easy for people in the US to criticise but lame not to suggest a replacement.
Europe’s growth problem isn’t all about regulation — it’s broken capital markets and risk aversion. Deregulate without fixing finance and you just entrench incumbents while startups flee to the US.
Yes, the EU is routinely misused by national governments — France excels at laundering domestic policy through Brussels. That’s political cowardice, not proof the EU is pointless.
And no, outrage-optimising platforms aren’t “free speech”. Doing nothing is a choice — and a bad one. Letting Musk get away with steering X towards more right wing hate driven by anonymous (possibly state sponsored) users doesn’t seem like a good route for society.
So full heartedly agree with the sentiments of the piece but think is lame not to suggest workable alternatives.
– A Europe without the EU isn’t freer. > Sure it is, if for no other reason than they have Control over their Budget and Money Supply. That is a mark of Freedom. What they do with it is the issue, not having it. Look no further than the UK right now, for a perfect example of who shouldn’t have it. Their Leaders are killing their own Country from the Inside, much like the EU is doing it for ALL Countries within the EU, but without their consent, much like the UK. That’s called Much Weaker.
– Abolish the EU if you want, but name a replacement. > No replacement, as that was the problem. You need to break that up in its entirety and relieve others from a Central Power that is not capable of doing so. They are a mess, much like the EU, and trying to foist more on top of it now… Twisted Country at the moment. It was a very badly implemented setup, with Few In Control of Many. They lost their Own Countries Identities almost immediately. Being forced to pay for things they wouldn’t otherwise. Being forced to apply rules for Their Country by other countries with no intention to do so otherwise. Being dragged into skirmishes they would otherwise avoid Etc.
– Europe’s growth problem isn’t all about regulation. > It’s ALL about being in The EU!
Yes, the EU is routinely misused by national governments.That’s political cowardice, not proof the EU is pointless. > That IS The Point! That “Routinely” Misuse is destroying other Countries that don’t want what they are selling. They are stuck and drowning in Poor Leadership, and for Poorer Reasons…
– Letting Musk get away with… > Musk has nothing at all to do with the EU, except having to defend The U.S. and it’s intentions over and over again, to a deaf and dumb EU Non-Leadership.
– I’d like to see it but political union like the US is not going to happen. > The EU had its chance. Every Country “Truly” has A Vote, but without recourse. Without causing your Country Pain (Ex. Greece,Hungary, etc.). Why didn’t they set it up like The U.S. in terms of every Country has an individual say? Oh, my bad. Obviously “Power & Control” which the Non-Leadership has been flexing ever since. They could have had a Military based upon the NATO idea, but real and prosperous for all Countries. A % of each country’s GDP goes into the Military Coffers that “Protect & Serve” All of The EU.
It would appear to me, that the EU was an idea, not well thought out, before implementation. Without looking at the importance of Protection (Army). Without giving concern for “Energy” and Masters to other Countries and People that don’t represent there countries at all…
Sorry Stu, confused what you are saying.
Are you saying that the countries would be better off as individual states as per the 30s?
Also that X is not an influential platform in the EU?
Intrigued what the benefit to the UK was in leaving. Can you name one practical thing other than broad “freedom” type messages.
The EU came into existence in 1993. I gave a lecture around that time–predicted a life of 40 years, if I remember correctly. LMAO.
Do you not understand the agenda of WEF and the EU?
Brexit was also about Currency.UK cannot give up the Pound for Euro,which would have to happen if it were in the Eurozone.
You suffer Russia-phobia like the entire US Department of State. It’s a hive-mind of Lindsey Grahams.
A free-trade association of nations would preserve culture, and improve living standards, WHY? Because it stimulates competition, self-responsibility, and self-determination. When someone decides for you, motivation plummets.
The EU decides, based on unelected administrators. You mention ‘broken capital markets’. WHy don’t you tell us why are they broken?
A fiscal union without a political union is not functional.
Agree – the EU has got itself in a real nowhere land of being neither one thing or the other. I’d like to see it but political union like the US is not going to happen.
So a better alternative to me would be for the EU to go back to being purely a trade block but also to have a separate defence union between a few of the members that focus on ensuring European defence and stopping the odd flare up that threatens the continent (Kosovo, Ukraine etc.).
Also good to see better mechanisms to allocate startup capital to companies and enable them to act cross border with lower regulation. For example, I’d like to see tax free saving mechanisms that can be directed at (non government) VC funds.
Says who? Any number of trading partners without a political union. BRICS is one, and rapidly growing.
All of their far lefist policies.
ChatGPT:
But most estimates and political maps indicate that left-wing governments are in the minority of EU member states, with centre-right and mixed/centrist coalitions being the plurality or majority.
Illegals and climate change are NOT in the minority in the EU.
What leftist governments, seriously
see above
Europe’s problems predate the EU. The EU just aggravated the structural malaise of Europe by lathering it with stifling regulations, one of the symptoms of that malaise.
Why Did the EU Slide Into Complete Irrelevance?
For exactly the same reason for which the US too is a declining superpower: its ruling elites are dystopyan, satanic globalists who are both unwilling and unable to pursue the interests of the people they rule over.
Globohomoschlomo
Gross exaggeration: ‘dystopyan, satanic globalists.’
The WEF and EU-leaders pursue goals they think are best (for them). They don’t give damn about the rest.
Example of E.U. insanity.
Due to pressure by the European vehicle manufacturers, E.U. emission targets have been setback and compulsory EV only mandate target dates have been delayed.
As punishment to the Euro manufacturers to enable them to continue I.C.E. powered vehicles the E.U. has compelled those Euro manufacturers to buy carbon credits from pure E.V. manufacturers such as Tesla. So Euro’s are paying their competitor Tesla so they can stay in business. Economic Madness. I wonder how much of Tesla’s profit is actually these Carbon Credit payments.
Personally I’d like a government run by consensus, instead of run by an insane dementia patient with a taste for underaged girls.
Biden’s gone. New dementia president in effect.
Not there yet, but would be with another term. Age Limits? It’s been discussed a few times, but I think the age of the Senate and Congress are mostly approaching that age or surpassed it already. They would be voting themselves out of office. The Voting Public must do this job. Our youth, who are being indoctrinated at the moment and for the last decade, are not helping. They were force fed the crap, and got paid well to buy it, so not much help there at the moment…
Sounds like a lot of American arrogance. Basically most of what America has achieved is from the blood and sweat of European immigrants. Now America is complaining that they don’t like the calibre of the current immigrant pool. When things get worse in Europe, people may consider immigration, but with the current state of affairs, America is no longer a preferred choice. You reap what you sow.
With regards to silly rules, it’s almost as if Europe is autistic.
Not sure who you are trying to insult but think you managed it.
– Autism is characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication.
> That’s Most Politicians, No? They get all twisted up, trying to please everyone, and nobody at the same time and with the same rules, but marked up with exceptions.
– It can also include a need or strong preference for predictability and routine.
> They predictably screw “Joe Public” and routinely do so with every New Group”
>> Solved! Our Politicians seem to be “Largely Autistic” in nature, and intelligence!! TG we figured that out. Now it CAN be explained…
Why did the EU slide into irrelevance?
That’s easy. Once liberal fantasies dominated commonsense, they created a magic kingdom.
I see three for the magic kingdom. I expected far more. Brainwashing is powerful stuff, like Brawndo. Liberals crave it.
For entertainment, check out Asian Guy on the YTube.
Remember where you are posting Flingel, a lot of virtue signalling liberals here.
There, that will get all the downvotes away from you, to me.
The truth doesn’t give a fudge about virtue-signaling liberals.
Europe is the enemy of mankind and of the US so good riddance
Not a single major country has free speech, they are all full on state censorship
There is no such thing as free and fair elections anywhere in Europe any longer
We must pull out of NATO immediately and frankly pushing 1000% sanctions on the big Euro countries and the UK would also be smart until and unless they remove their “leaders” all having mid teens approval ratings
But that will not happen soon as they will simply cancel the elections if it looks like anti-globalists are going to win as they did in Romania, or interfere as they did in Moldova, or use the Trump lawfare tactics to remove the leading candidate as they did in France
I can give you over a thousand links to the censorship taking place, though few are from Italy
Censorship is the death of Democracy
And in my book using state power to censor is a Capital Crime
Yeah downvote. Because you hate liberty and you love censorship. What kind of mindless f4scists comment here
Here learn something clueless ones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO6q7JdJAXU
The EU’s Attack on America Has Begun
The downvotes are because of your non sensical diatribe. Your homeland is no better than mine, at least our low ranking moron in chief has NOT gone after his enemies by misusing the legal system. Fortunately when visiting the US I have met only a few retards spouting your crap.
Assume this is from the land in which the exec branch is putting fear into journalists; creating spurious legal cases against people who don’t worship HIM; demanding access to social media accounts etc.
I suggest putting your post into ChatGPT and ask it whether it is rationale.
Buddha once said, “Whatever is created will pass away.”
Nothing is permanent.
US unipolar world is going to die.
EU was created in 1993.
EU was rich and getting poorer and irrelevant over time.
Every countries want to join while rich but opposite when getting poorer.
It is very difficult to unite the unequal and different 27 partners.
Fighting each other in EU and in their nations itself will be louder
especially after Ukraine war.
EU disintegration will be the end result.
The condemnation is too broad. A number of EU nations embrace tech, but EU does impose limits on some things. It’s a trade union and there are rules. It does hurt the economy of a lot of countries. It’s not a unified nation like China or America. But to say they don’t embrace any innovation is just plane overkill. They have medical technology, weapons technology, and some computer technology. There’s plenty of regulation in America.
the eu is the most corrupt undemocratic institution in the world bar none
thats form an irish person. i say f67k the eu and good riddance to it
what a f67king loss it would be, pardon me french as they say
Don’t totally disagree but think that is a bit ungrateful coming from Ireland – the country which has probably worked the system better than any other.
Hold on by Irish – do you mean 5th generation Bostonian?
The curious thing here is there is constant complaining about federal/national centralized power so you would think giving member states opt-outs would be praised but instead it’s ridiculed. So what’s the alternative? Do you want the EU to have central authority over all other member states? If the EU mandates something then all states must follow or else? Or should each individual state have more autonomy?
Before the EU existed, all those nations had 100% autonomy, was that better for everyone then or are things better for everyone now? I’m sure some will say better others will say worse but if things were really bad and everyone hated it, more nations would be following Brexit.
Ironically, Trump is pushing America onto an authoritative economic system copying China’s model. Trump is telling firms who to hire, where to build, when to build, who gets tariffed and who doesn’t. Is this the model we all want? Something tells me its very anti-free market and not what we want but that’s me.
I don’t have any answers, just asking questions, it’s clear to me that Europe is in trouble now but I haven’t lived long enough to know if that is better than the endless wars Europe was embroiled in for centuries before the EU. Then again, the U.S. is in serious trouble as well despite the innovation engine behind it and it too is embroiled in endless wars.
Maybe it’s time to runaway from the circus and run to a new home.
The EU pulled several areas of Europe out of poverty & into the modern world: western Ireland, southern Italy, Franco’s Spain, Greece.
How did the EU pull southern Italy “out of poverty” while Italy is a NET CONTRIBUTOR to that dystopian, satanic, globalist project which thank God is finally going to crash and burn?
Yep. The future belongs to those who embrace technology and innovation.
China it is then.
Illegal immigration was and still is the Primary Culprit, but the problem is within EU Leadership without question!
The Camp of the Saints.
Interesting, and that comes from France. A little bit of foresight? I may have to seek that out… They wrote their own story, if they don’t wake up soon.
I hear and see one of the biggest and perhaps impossible things, is “Assimilation” and I must agree with that. Theft (appears easy enough) with Politicians and Friends and Family of such, in some instances, and they seem to be entrenched everywhere now…
Even before I finished the article, I am saying to myself…”maybe the UK made the right decision afterall to exit the EU.” What a conglomeration of regulations. I once read the EU’s agricultural regulation regarding apples. What a complete waste of paper.
I don’t know about that, but I am pretty sure you could not have written that comment in the UK, about the UK…
The people of the UK chose to leave the EU but the rulers of the UK are doing everything they can to negate that choice. It’s typical of Europeons. They prattle on about democracy while their courts overturn election results and ban candidates. Silly people like Rutte and Kalas talk tough about defeating Russia militarily when their countries have no military or industrial capacity to speak of. All they do is pretend. They have only a couple actual leaders – like Orban and Fico.
UK defeating Russia, is like Ukraine doing so, just not going to happen. The UK and EU Both rely on NATO / U.S. To come to their collective rescue when eventually required. It’s why I think Trump was/is pressuring trade (long) deals now, or they may be gone as an option.
Because I don’t think either can afford to risk that, they will do what’s necessary to avoid that, however they manage to do so. It’s getting rather interesting in the EU and Germany of late too…
We are here in the EU in Portugal and it is as if no one cares one bit about Ukraine, or Wars. NONE of friends are even talking about it. We know people from over ten EU countries and they are simply enjoying the sunshine here.
Sounds about right, as Portugal doesn’t have a massive immigration problem, and has already addressed the issue in 2025, and beyond.
Enjoy the Sunshine!!!
Portugal immigration rules are very strict. Almost like they are not in the EU lol.
They do not allow wandering migrants to demand asylum like the EU & the U.S.
Racist to dim wit leftists here.
No, just a proud culture that wants to preserve its beautiful heritage.
Surprised they are still there… but I would say the same about Hungary too, amongst others perhaps.
Absolutely. Maybe add Poland too.
I think its time we all do away with the Polish jokes because they have kept their country free of non assimilating migrants and know the history of islam unlike almost all of the so called leaders of EU countries
Now if only the rest of the EU would stop the Ukraine war mongering.
Although now that they have to actually pay for it, lets see if they continue on with all the tough talk
European countries have contributed a lot to Ukraine. And it’s helped. Ukraine is really suffering, but so is Russia. Putin looks like a fool. Drones are a serious part of the war; there’s plenty of technology in drones these days. No one in the EU really trusts Putin, and I expect Europeans to ramp up their help to Ukraine.
Four oblasts lost since 2022. Five more tee’d up to be next.
So about one per year. Only twenty more years and Russia will have the whole thing.
Poland better get a whole crop of newborns ready for the military draft of 2045.
“Vlad has no interest in becoming a slumlord.”
Tip of the hat to Avery2
Jeff please don’t tell me you think Putin will want to conquer Europe. Please I’m begging ya
The EU is run by a bureaucracy that creates excessive red tape. It employs over 100,000– Unelected Staff–in Belgium who then dictate rules to all it’s member nations . Seems the EU will gradually continue to crumble into oblivion.?
This has been in the works since July / August 1914 / Versailles. Let them go back to the Middle Ages and keep to themselves. Vlad has no interest in becoming a slumlord. Hopefully the Irish, Scottish and Eastern Europeans can take theirs back from the globalists.