There's a difference between separate states under a federal entity and separate COUNTRIES under a monetary entity. I don't know why you keep thinking states have 95% rights and the Fed calls 5% of the shots - you know better than that.
i960, can we for one moment stop in this thread to twist words each and every single time? Just once? Of course there is a difference, I NEVER claimed otherwise. I said there are comparables that make it worthwhile to investigate. If I understand you correctly you are suggesting in Europe 95% lies with national governments and 5% with the EU? I would strongly strongly strongly disagree. I will post part of the content of my previous posts where I outlined which policies now lie with EU jurisdiction, we can hardly speak of 5%, its more like 20-40% that lies with the centralized EU institutions: "For now Europe and the integration of many aspects of our lives has proven beneficial to most, most of which we have not even touched on: Freedom of travel, residence, work (Schengen Agreement), free movement of goods, larger consumer choices, cross-border services, free flow of capital, unified currency and payment systems, safety of goods regulations, food safety, harmonized legislation, social security standards, better and more powerful protection from outside threats, intra Europe fostering of fair competition (remember how old national telecom and utility monopolies dominated each national market? In Germany or France you can nowadays chose from dozens of internet, gas, electricity providers), protection of freedom." Most of the above are directly attributed to EU jurisdiction. Are you really believing this constitutes around 5%?
Greece didn't follow the rules to enter EU. But Germany and France went winky, winky welcome to the club.
Blackness has been known to exist on several different days of the week limited only by the availability of light absence. In the strangest twist, the leaders of the pack have found that chemical interruption of the phoned in box of disorder occasionally results in a non-chaotic state. This can be easily seen in the finished product that occurs when both sides meet and discuss reversion to the meanest area of finite equilibrium. The tendency of most players in the community atmosphere of spacial enterprise, is to find ham-boned and halfhearted evidentiary veracity the likes that cannot be disputed with any kind of desire to be ended. Thrust as you will, if this type of query and gamesmanship were allowed to continue as copacetic, the crawling itching feather of doom will befall the lower tier.
LOL. That is what they did to get in! And everybody was Ok with that until wait ... you mean we have to pay the money back. EU fools. Smart of the Brits to vote the mess down. It was said by many from day one can't have a monetary/fiscal union without political union as well. Scratch the ice, let the telephone ring Sense of time is a powerful thing And we love to laugh Love to cry, half alive We love to, go slow when we're dancing for rain Dry skin flakes where there's ice in the vein And we love to cry, half alive Is this the start of the breakdown (of the Euro) ?
Could you please remind everyone who exactly was ok the Greeks lied and cheated their way in? If memory serves me right the EU has rejected multiple applicant countries for years for lacking entry requirements and rejected Turkey entirely. You mean the EU wanted Greece so badly that they knew Greece does not meet the standards and still let them in? Your argument is not based on facts at all but purely conjecture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Financial_Audit,_2004 Here is our audit. Oh don't like that one. How about this one. No. Ok we will try again. And again. And again. Break, breakdown. Break, breakdown.
It says nowhere that anyone approved of "irregularities" or falsifications. To the contrary, I cite :" As a result of the financial audit, Greece fell in the list of the loan creditability and paid more interest on its loans compared with other EU countries. EU Commission warned Greece about future problems if Greece, now with the new data, does not comply with the Eurozone requirements." You are with your own support already proven incorrect. You said: "And everybody was Ok with that until wait ... you mean we have to pay the money back." Clearly it is stated that neither Eurostat nor the Eu Commission approved or were ok with Greeks troublesome finances. ----------------------------- Now let me give you an example, to make you also understand what was going on: A borrower with a low to medium credit rating gets approved for a loan but the bank warns the borrower to be careful and to work on improving his/her credit rating. Is that a permission or invitation to do the exact opposite and to cheat and lie? I am not sure which country you are from and this might be the going practice in Nigeria or Russia, but certainly not in the US or EU. P.S.: The UK should even be thankful that they are even member of the EU, they are the only country whose application and membership has been vetoed aside Morocco, lol. And the UK's interests were purely self-serving from the very beginning (Suez Crisis), something that cannot be said of most other major EU nations, especially not of the founding member countries.