There is an issue that the EU is more remote even than National governments. Like all big government it is prone to a single policy for all solution. We see this most catastrophically in the effect of the single currency on southern Europe which (I think) is the root cause of mass net migration to Northern Europe. There is some understanding of this and so the move to a Scottish assembly for instance (or hopefully a Peoples' Republic of East Oxford - hold onto that dream).
That's true in many cases of large Government (see USA), which has to be weighed against the advantages of large Government (concerted action on large issues, often better protection of local minorities). But the EU "government" has considerably less control than the UK Government over Scotland [citation needed]. The Eurozone is another matter, but of course that doesn't affect us directly (and really shouldn't be an issue for deciding on the UK's membership of a different organisation).
Trouble is that defending the EU as the least bad solution to supranational problems doesn't inspire. Europe has been trying this kind of thing from the Hanseatic League through to the League of Nations. I am sure we'll get there eventually.
I'm not saying the EU is the least bad solution. I'm actually rather idealistic about the EU.
Every type/level of government has advantages and disadvantages, so one weighs them up. What I said was that there are fewer disadvantages of the EU than many large nations, since it restricts itself more to areas where it is most useful. So the advantages predominate.
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Every type/level of government has advantages and disadvantages, so one weighs them up. What I said was that there are fewer disadvantages of the EU than many large nations, since it restricts itself more to areas where it is most useful. So the advantages predominate.
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