Had France "fallen," EU would have been toast. Together with Germany they are the main pillars of EU.
As bad as EU is, eventually they will get along just fine...or a least just as United States of America do.
As bad as EU is, eventually they will get along just fine...or a least just as United States of America do.
The difference is that in USA they speak the same language and even this way they are not as homogenous as they seem from outside.
In Europe you have huge economical and cultural differences between certain states, bad blood for historical reasons between some nations and so on.
I bet that people in Switzerland have more in common (economically and culturally) than people from Bulgaria and France have for example.
Hopefully the new generations will care more about their iPhone 68 than ancient history.
Most people are concerned with keeping their jobs and making enough money to live from month to month. Also, when they lose their job the politicians will tell them that this is because of EU policies, Soros, big banks and similar ...
To come back to the example of Switzerland, the economically and culturally differences between a mountain farmer and a Banker in Geneva shouldn't be underrated also.
The following paragraph is an excerpt from the linked article.
Yet starting in the early 1980s, the long trend toward regional equality abruptly switched. ... In 1980, the per capita income of Washington, D.C., was 29 percent above the average for Americans as a whole; by 2013 it had risen to 68 percent above. In the San Francisco Bay area, the rise was from 50 percent above to 88 percent. Meanwhile, per capita income in New York City soared from 80 percent above the national average in 1980 to 172 percent above in 2013.
[0] http://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/novdec-2015/bloom-and-...
The bad blood I can understand...they did this to us in WWI WWII and as soon as they get the chance it will happen again. It's legitimate.
The language IMO is less of an issue as who travels or works outside their country manages just fine. The new generation is doing to show their English skills in FB and Instagram.
Economical and cultural differences do exist in USA, sometimes you think you are in a different country, and quite a bit of laws are local.
Plenty of educated people in Eastern Europe speak/read French and Russian. Until the '90s French was the main foreign language taught in countries like Romania, Bulgaria and most countries under Soviet influence. English was introduced later, usually after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Actually it wouldn't have been. What most people will discover (though I think most French nationals are well aware), is that the president has very little power in France unless he also controls the parliament. Which Le Pen was guaranteed not to achieve. And which will still be a long shot for Macron. Had Le Pen been elected, she would have been reduced pretty much to the role of a queen of England. With nuclear firepower but very little means to create trouble in the EU.