Part 1: The West's East / Chapter 1 – Brussels: the New Rome

For more information on the EU, please refer to the post on the EU, August 12.

This is the most interesting sentence I read in this chapter: “We purposely make the EU poorer each time we expand” (p.5). What a bizarre statement, to change something as to make it worse than before on purpose.

"I want in!"
Many countries want to be integrated into the European Union because of its great incentives. When accepted, a nation will get "subsidies from Brussels, unfettered mobility, and the adoption of the Euro currency" (p.6) However, getting in to the EU is not as easy as it sounds. Each country must not only “burnish their images,” but must also take active strides towards “internalizing EU laws and rules (p.6)” (the New Neighbourhood Strategy). <-- a good website to understand more about the New Neighbourhood Strategy is http://ec.europa.eu/world/enp/faq_en.htm

Damages

Ever since the Soviet Union’s collapse following the Cold War, one country per year on average, has been absorbed into the European Union. Most of these countries (within the Warsaw Pact) used to be a second world nation. With their absorption into the EU, these countries are now gaining first world status. Just because a nation is acquired by the EU does not mean that its internal issues are fixed. With $10 billion spent on the restoration of infrastructure every year and involvement in government scandals such as Poland and Hungary, its no wonder that the EU is becoming poorer.

Why expand the European Union then?
Every time the EU expands to a country, stability is also spread to that area. In addition, "EU expansion has also become a virtuous circle of tapping new markets to decrease reliance on exports to the United States - a crucial step in building an independent superpower." (p.6) Because of this, "The EU's common market is the largest in the world -and will stay that way no matter what America's economy does" (p.6). Not only do countries want to be integrated into the EU, the EU itself needs to expand. The labour pool in the existing nations in the EU is decreasing and by absorbing new countries into it, the labour pool is increased and the population can be stabilized.

The Transatlantic Divorce
When I think of an alliance, a strong American-EU alliance comes to mind. They’re banded by shared cultural backgrounds, past alliances, and the NATO alliance. However, America and Europe are two different empires and therefore, “competing to advance their geopolitical class (p.8). In fact, “many Europeans view America’s way of life as deeply corrupt (p.8) and the U.S. led war on Iraq confirmed to them that war is a policy, but failure. Far larger sums of money are used for humanitarian aid by the EU than the U.S. since many countries would rather be like the EU than Americanized. Sure, the U.S. and the EU may seem like the perfect alliance, but “the United States and the EU will continue to act as if they are divorced (p.8)”
It seems as though the point of view offered in this segment is quite in support of the EU. I decided to have a look at an alternative viewpoint. This is video is from Daniel John Hannan. He is a British politician and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) representing South East England for the Conservative Party.