You are reading a single comment by @Brommers and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
-
the EU is a PR disaster, it does many good things but in peoples minds well they cant even name one and if they do it obviously is not important.
Ever wondered if possibly, just possibly, that might be in some way related to the fact that 90% of the newspapers read by the easily-led population of this country are owned by people who are vehemently opposed to the EU, because it's something outside their control? The main problem is that the majority of the population absorb their opinions and views directly from the popular press, which is owned by people with no respect for the truth, no idea what fair and reasonable comment amounts to, and a fervent interest in self-promotion.
Brommers
If the EU continues in the same direction france will pull out and so might italy.
the EU is a PR disaster, it does many good things but in peoples minds well they cant even name one and if they do it obviously is not important. so changes are not always practical they are political i.e image. It is the image of the EU that has to change more so than its substance. Hence I pick on free movement as one of the 4 pillars the commision and some EU states hold so dear. If they want the project to hold together they have show change is possible and not just in the direction of ever closer intergration. The change does not have to be big but it has to be in peoples mind meaningful. so yes while freedom of movement may mean different things in different countries but the law is the same. Remember when cameron cam back from his negociations he did not spell out that EU citizens can be sent home if they lack the resources or do not have social security provision. Yes that is our governments fault and we still have some of the same people at the top. I dont see that changing do you. However France, Italy, the Netherlands also have issue with free movement of people as it also allows the free movement of illegal migrants and the right across europe is playing on that alot.
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/atyourservice/en/displayFtu.html?ftuId=FTU_2.1.3.html
sometimes to take a step forward you have to take a step back.
Yes the EU is in a bind. It has lost a sense of direction except that vauge notion of ever closer union and because of that people and nations start pulling in different directions. A bit like the U.K really. Scotland pulls one way england another because at the top the country is a bit aimless apart from brexit means brexit.
whether a leader can emerge that can provide a vision that a majority can believe in is another matter but the nation state is important still and I think people in Britain, france, Italy want to feel proud of the country and what it can do but feel that the country can no longer do things for them. That is probably more image than reality but in britains it is reality too. We cant even build enough houses or get trains in the south to run on time or run at all. When the state steps back and outsources it functions (like in many EU countries as it EU policy) you get voters who end up feeling they want there country back. that is how I see it.
Saying I dont see what the problem is stonehenge (I agree with you actually on free movement) is actually the problem. Other do see a problem (on a variety of issue not just immigration and that is where tory polticians are wrong in saying they know the message from the referendum) and they felt ignored and that there country no longer listened. The message was our system of government no longer listens and delivers on the needs of its population. Fix that or else. It is not indivual polticicans that are the problem (well some of them are) but the undue influence that some have and system they work in. However the problem has never been expressed that way.
It is not just the EU that is in a bind.