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Brexit: give me a positive effect... XV

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As do I.

What you seem unable to comprehend or acknowledge is the clear and ambiguously unambiguous direction of travel, unchanged if routinely obfuscated since the foundation of the Coal & Steel Union, and born of the philosophies of the neoliberal movement and Kalergi-Coudenhove pan-Europeanists of the 1920s and 30s, towards the objective of European integration, explicitly the creation of a Federal union, and ultimately a United States of Europe (Europa), with the power emanating from the Brussels-Strasbourg axis, and the former sovereign states divided into 'regions'. It's clearly written through the Treaties, as through the centre of a stick of Brighton rock, in the words 'Ever Closer Union'. It is achieved not by the traditional European convention of force of arms, but through the progressive creation of what is already a technocratic superstate, with ambition and indeed existing reach far beyond the boundaries of the EU itself. Its modus operandi is incomprehensible institutional complexity, the creation of an illusion of democracy which is in reality the antithesis of democracy, closely allied to the careful crafting of itself as an avatar for the virtues of peace, progressivism, tolerance and human rights, all of it enthusiastically swallowed whole by its accolytes, the whole caboosh interweaving sleight of hand, obfuscation, creative accountability (and accounting) and downright lies in order to push the agenda ever onward, and draw the strings of power ever closer to the centre.

So, yes, the project is indeed unfinished, and cannot yet be considered a 'federal state', though in technocratic and regulatory terms it has arguably already achieved the status of superstate, or at the very least of deep supranational identity. You could safely argue that its achievements in regard of supranationality have extended beyond the mere technocratic by reference to the Greek showdown, and the manner in which the EC/ECB/Merkel axis directly dictated terms to the governments of Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland in response to the Euro crisis, one self-inflicted entirely by the creation of the monetary union itself.

You stated in your last post on this subject that the EU cannot be considered a superstate, federation or empire (or even, as you elaborate again, a 4th Reich) because it doesn't have a President, an army, a foreign policy, central tax-raising powers or a transfer union. This is disingenuous. It (or at least its executive arm) does indeed have a President, and its manifold institutions have many more of them. In respect of the supremacy of EU law (for EU law is supreme) it might even be argued that the President of the Commission is already more powerful than the leaders of the individual states, though those same leaders are at least nominally (and severally, which is to say in ensemble rather than individually) her boss.

The Common Foreign & Security Policy (CFSP), currently chaired by the deeply inadequate but only accidentally corrupt Josep Borrell, is one of the three 'pillars' of the EU elaborated in the 1993 Maastricht Treaty, and within the CFSP's remit lies direction of the Common Security & Defence Policy (CSDP), which is referred to, tellingly, as the EU's 'course of action' in regard of a military. Within the CSDP's remit there exists the EU's usual tidal wave of abbreviated agencies and directorates - PESCO, EEAS, EMPU, EUMC, EDA, EEAS, MPCC, EUMS, CPCC, JSCC, and, most importantly of course (or not), an OHQ. The CSDP claims for itself a budget of €223bn, a personnel count of 1.4m active soldiers and 2.3m reservists, 513 commissioned ships, 35,000 armoured vehicles, 1677 fighter aircraft etc. These are, of course, the combined budgets and forces of the individual national entities, but the fact that they are considered to be even vaguely within the remit of the CSDP tells us of the reach of the EU's ambition. The current reality is a 1000 odd strong Franco-German 'Eurocorps', based in Strasbourg, with a headline target of a 60,000 strong rapid reaction force 'managed'(?) by the EU whilst simultaneously 'under the control' of the individual participating members.

However, talk of armies, however much it might excite the UK MSM, is mere deflection. As I said above, the EU approaches the objective of 'ever closer union' by technocracy and obfuscation, not guns.

The EU project remains incomplete not only because the CFSP remains subject to unanimity and/or QMV. More importantly, fiscal policy remains within the remits of the members, and there is no transfer union, both central tax-raising and spending powers and a transfer union being essential to the long-term stability of the Euro project, and their eventual annexation by (sorry, transfer to) Brussels is essential to the closure of the existing EU executive deficit. The fact that all of these rocks of EU integration have now finally hit against the hard places of the constitutions of some of the individual EU members, and a wider biteback against EU overreach, does not mean that the wish to overcome them doesn't remain a solid ambition of the EU institutions, as well as of the more integrationist of the national leaders, Macron currently the noisiest amongst them. Even now he is stoking talk of the EU army and closer integration, whilst in the background the pandemic has provided useful cover for the capstan to click up a few more notches in the continuum towards EU fiscal authority. The EU has never missed the agenda-centric opportunities presented by a good crisis.
HOUSE!
That's it for Bullshit Bingo, everyone. New cards all round.

No duplicates now. Nobody is having obfuscated, neoliberal or supranational this time. Try to have *some* imagination.
 
Lots of pages and still no positive effects
You have not been paying attention: for at least 1 poster leaving the tyranny of The Evil Empire was the only benefit that mattered.

Years of a parlous economic future is a price well worth paying.
 
As do I.

What you seem unable to comprehend or acknowledge is the clear and ambiguously unambiguous direction of travel, unchanged if routinely obfuscated since the foundation of the Coal & Steel Union, and born of the philosophies of the neoliberal movement and Kalergi-Coudenhove pan-Europeanists of the 1920s and 30s, towards the objective of European integration, explicitly the creation of a Federal union, and ultimately a United States of Europe (Europa), with the power emanating from the Brussels-Strasbourg axis, and the former sovereign states divided into 'regions'. It's clearly written through the Treaties, as through the centre of a stick of Brighton rock, in the words 'Ever Closer Union'. It is achieved not by the traditional European convention of force of arms, but through the progressive creation of what is already a technocratic superstate, with ambition and indeed existing reach far beyond the boundaries of the EU itself. Its modus operandi is incomprehensible institutional complexity, the creation of an illusion of democracy which is in reality the antithesis of democracy, closely allied to the careful crafting of itself as an avatar for the virtues of peace, progressivism, tolerance and human rights, all of it enthusiastically swallowed whole by its accolytes, the whole caboosh interweaving sleight of hand, obfuscation, creative accountability (and accounting) and downright lies in order to push the agenda ever onward, and draw the strings of power ever closer to the centre.

So, yes, the project is indeed unfinished, and cannot yet be considered a 'federal state', though in technocratic and regulatory terms it has arguably already achieved the status of superstate, or at the very least of deep supranational identity. You could safely argue that its achievements in regard of supranationality have extended beyond the mere technocratic by reference to the Greek showdown, and the manner in which the EC/ECB/Merkel axis directly dictated terms to the governments of Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland in response to the Euro crisis, one self-inflicted entirely by the creation of the monetary union itself.

You stated in your last post on this subject that the EU cannot be considered a superstate, federation or empire (or even, as you elaborate again, a 4th Reich) because it doesn't have a President, an army, a foreign policy, central tax-raising powers or a transfer union. This is disingenuous. It (or at least its executive arm) does indeed have a President, and its manifold institutions have many more of them. In respect of the supremacy of EU law (for EU law is supreme) it might even be argued that the President of the Commission is already more powerful than the leaders of the individual states, though those same leaders are at least nominally (and severally, which is to say in ensemble rather than individually) her boss.

The Common Foreign & Security Policy (CFSP), currently chaired by the deeply inadequate but only accidentally corrupt Josep Borrell, is one of the three 'pillars' of the EU elaborated in the 1993 Maastricht Treaty, and within the CFSP's remit lies direction of the Common Security & Defence Policy (CSDP), which is referred to, tellingly, as the EU's 'course of action' in regard of a military. Within the CSDP's remit there exists the EU's usual tidal wave of abbreviated agencies and directorates - PESCO, EEAS, EMPU, EUMC, EDA, EEAS, MPCC, EUMS, CPCC, JSCC, and, most importantly of course (or not), an OHQ. The CSDP claims for itself a budget of €223bn, a personnel count of 1.4m active soldiers and 2.3m reservists, 513 commissioned ships, 35,000 armoured vehicles, 1677 fighter aircraft etc. These are, of course, the combined budgets and forces of the individual national entities, but the fact that they are considered to be even vaguely within the remit of the CSDP tells us of the reach of the EU's ambition. The current reality is a 1000 odd strong Franco-German 'Eurocorps', based in Strasbourg, with a headline target of a 60,000 strong rapid reaction force 'managed'(?) by the EU whilst simultaneously 'under the control' of the individual participating members.

However, talk of armies, however much it might excite the UK MSM, is mere deflection. As I said above, the EU approaches the objective of 'ever closer union' by technocracy and obfuscation, not guns.

The EU project remains incomplete not only because the CFSP remains subject to unanimity and/or QMV. More importantly, fiscal policy remains within the remits of the members, and there is no transfer union, both central tax-raising and spending powers and a transfer union being essential to the long-term stability of the Euro project, and their eventual annexation by (sorry, transfer to) Brussels is essential to the closure of the existing EU executive deficit. The fact that all of these rocks of EU integration have now finally hit against the hard places of the constitutions of some of the individual EU members, and a wider biteback against EU overreach, does not mean that the wish to overcome them doesn't remain a solid ambition of the EU institutions, as well as of the more integrationist of the national leaders, Macron currently the noisiest amongst them. Even now he is stoking talk of the EU army and closer integration, whilst in the background the pandemic has provided useful cover for the capstan to click up a few more notches in the continuum towards EU fiscal authority. The EU has never missed the agenda-centric opportunities presented by a good crisis.

Q-Anon. Little England branch office.
 
If the EU is a project, I’d say that makes Brexit an experiment.

I2ZL8iC.jpg

and for some, as experiments go, a happy one.
 
I know what’ll cheer you up. There’ll also be discounted early bird OAP tickets available ( backed by government guarantee in case it goes tits up). Now that Nadine Dorries is Culture Minister, I think you’ll find there’s something for everyone and not just the metropolitan elite.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/en...xit-festival-2022_uk_6171356fe4b03072d6f2a6db

OPfCBPf.jpg

I’m booking for the decommissioned oil rig and the pop up forrest
Pop up oil rig and decommissioned forest might be closer to tory brexit reality?
 
I was slightly disturbed by a sidebar headline on that page:

'19 Joyful Moments From 2021 That Gave Us All The Feels'
 
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