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Country means “sovereign state” - no-one’s suggesting EU member states aren’t sovereign nations in the sense US states aren’t.

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U.S. states are sovereign states, just like EU states are. They United States government itself is also sovereign, in a sense that the EU government itself may or may not be. (Most) Americans live under two sovereigns: their state and the U.S.

Maybe so, but then we need to come up with more words. As the UK proved, a nation in the EU is free to leave the EU, but a state in the US is not. (Without consent of the US, of course.)

> As the UK proved, a nation in the EU is free to leave the EU, but a state in the US is not. (Without consent of the US, of course.)

Which article or amendment of the U.S. Constitution forbids a state to leave without permission of the U.S.?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secession_in_the_United_Stat...

There is of course no clause of the constitution that forbids secession but SCOTUS currently interprets the constitution as creating an "indestructible union" if I recall the language correctly.

And good luck finding a good vehicle to overturn that precedent.

The TEU at least provides an explicit process for leaving

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