Coordinate foreign affairs? Nope
Able to police external borders? Nope
Credible military deterrence in its near abroad? Not even remotely
But banning IC engines, mandating dongle size, and giving the world cookie popups? You bet!
The EU's roots are as a common trading block - it is built around the foundation of a single market, removing barriers to trade across countries. A common defense policy isn't part of that, external borders are nominally a matter for those countries - it is internal borders that the EU is centrally concerned with.
Common connectors for phones, clearly falls within the ambit of a seamless internal market, internal combustion engines too - given that the countries have adopted similar positions on climate change and want the market to reflect that.
Cookie popups were a stupid industry innovation designed to try and circumvent EU data privacy rules.
Somewhat ironically, that's also the basic principle enshrining the primacy of the US federal government - rules for interstate commerce.
The main difference between the US system and EU system is that one was effectively built top-down, and the other bottom-up. At some point, they will likely reach a similar equilibrium, with US states becoming more and more independent and EU states less and less so.
I can only dream.
Really could be either way.
Unless your point is the legislation didn't go far enough? I didn't personally read it that way.
Now, I believe this and you’ll find this belief implicit in much of the criticism of the EU regulatory directives but a reasonable person might disagree.
When you're talking about 'policing external borders', you're both ignorant of the reality (EU power projection in the 'near abroad' has led to the non-EU states in the periphery stemming migrant flows), and you're again, arguing the EU is lacking something most of its citizens do not want. The vast majority of arrivals in the EU have legitimate claims to asylum, and human rights are a more important value than having proper paperwork.
The regulation stuff is what the EU is supposed to do. The whole elevator pitch of the EU is you get all the economic integration without the political integration. So banning IC engines, establishing standards, that kind of stuff, is part of the program. That's why a disparate set of nations that often hate eachother all want to be part of the same union.
Coordinate foreign affairs? => Yes (e. g. Russia sanctions)
Able to police external borders? => Yes, Frontex
Credible military deterrence in its near abroad? => When was the last time anyone attacked an EU country?
US led and coordinated
Able to police external borders? => Yes, Frontex
Famously ineffective in 2015.
Credible military deterrence in its near abroad? => When was the last time anyone attacked an EU country?
The near abroad of the EU is not the EU, they are its neighbouring states.
There was no common EU agreement to do that though. It was mostly Germany posturing for good PR and to try to save their ageing demographics and supplement their manufacturing sector which is dependent on imported cheap labor to stay competitive, as the cheap labor from the Eastern Block dried up.
Denmark and other EU members chose to opt out from the refugee sharing scheme back then, denying to take them in, and this was also one of the main factors that violently triggered Brexit as lots of brits feared the idea of having to be obliged to take in unwanted people just because that's what Germany was suggesting to other members.
All it did was create dissident among EU members and help break up the EU.
Also germany needs some cheap labor but manufacturing isn't the main part, manufacturing is actually quiet expensive due to strong unions in germany especially in car manufacturing etc.
and yes, brexit happened also because of these things, but as you can see now, letting foreigners in doesn't need to be bad, it's more the other way around, you can't find truck drivers, bus drivers etc. anymore in the UK.
Except that not all industries are unionized so workers' exploitation is rampant, especially in low margin, low wage industries like fruit and vegetable picking, meat, hospitality, etc. where most of the migrant workers end up. The exploitation of migrants during Covid was even documented on DW.
Through work, I once had to vist one of the biggest meat plants in Germany, and nearly half the workers were Polish, and the other half Romanian. I asked them if they're unionized, they said 'no'.
Q.E.D.
US led US sanctions, not all sanctions are US sanctions.
> The near abroad of the EU is not the EU, they are its neighbouring states.
They are indeed EU neighbour states, but they are not EU member states.
Let me clarify again - I mean states that border EU member states, but that are not themselves EU member states.
I'd say it's more down to NATO membership than anything from the EU
That hasn't really worked in practice though, as illegal migrants discovered that if you sail a boat towards EU borders and intentionally sink it when Frontex tries to intercept, then they're obliged to rescue and take you to Europe, instead of sending you back for trespassing without a visa, meaning anyone could exploit this loophole to enter Europe illegally.
That's hardly an effective border protection.
The problem is, the vast majority do, and since that right stems from fundamental human rights, you can't simply remove it. That, and the better angels of european conscience remember that it was our grandparents, and the governments they elected, who turned away the jewish refugees seeking asylum from the Nazis.
Sadly, since the apple never falls all that far from the tree, there is always a lot of support for making it practically impossible for refugees to claim the protections that are enshrined in the core principle of the EU. So, that's why people are attempting dangerous sea crossings.
Am I meant to think that: banning one of the biggest contributors to climate change, lessening walled gardens and e-waste, and giving us more control of our own data are bad things?
- They police their borders sadly quiet heavily, if you think about pushbacks in greece and the whole frontex operation.
- EU is not a military alliance and doesn't have an army, even though they thought about it. So most states rely on their own army and NATO.
- So why do they care about IC engines, dongle size and cookie? Because the EU is about trading policy, consumer rights, privacy, worker rights and much more.
Is it inside out for you because you misunderstood what's it's role is maybe?
> "Please don't pick the most provocative thing in an article or post to complain about in the thread. Find something interesting to respond to instead."
Cooperation on military and foreign affairs is developing though, so I think you are just misinformed on the EU and its purpose.
The cynic in me thinks it thrives because it's a bureaucrat and civil service wet dream. I feel like the hardcore pro-european people must feel this deep down and be deeply ashamed that - in 2022 - they are still completely reliant on the US security umbrella despite their increasing edge (on paper at least) over their neighbouring "rival".