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Originally Posted by hagatha
Romania also benefits from being a part of a system of currency, the euro, used throughout Europe that has value, unlike the Soviet currency which had absolutely no value beyond its own borders.
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Simply being a member of the EU does not mean that your country uses the Euro as currency. Of the 27 EU states, only 13 actually use the Euro as currency. There are very strict economic criteria that must be met and sustained before a country can use the Euro. Poorer countries like Romania, Bulgaria, or Estonia do not benefit from the single currency system. And even Greece, one of the original 15 EU nations, only just barely met the criteria for the Euro, and Greece has also been accused by Germany and France of altering their figures to meet that criteria. Britain, Denmark and Sweden are eligible for the Euro, but refuse to adopt it and have instead remained with their own currencies.
The EU from it's very beginning as the EEC was never intended to stop at being just a free trade zone between European countries. To quote Churchill in a speech he gave in Zurich after WWII, "We must now build a kind of United States of Europe...the first step must be a partnersfip between France and Germany...France and Germany must take the lead together." (Source:
The European Union: A Very Short Introduction by John Pinder) From the very beginning the EU was intended to be a 'United States of Europe,' and for that to happen, the countries that join would be required to give up some of their sovereignty. This seems to be a major sticking point among the citizens of all countries in the EU, to the point that in France and the Netherlands, where the vote for the constitution went to the people, it failed. Interestingly the leaders of the EU nations seem to think differently than the people which is why the constitution vote passed in Germany where the people were not allowed to vote on it and it instead was voted on by the German houses of Congress (the Bundestag and the Bundesrat).
One thing I clearly agree with the OP is the mention of the European Commission. A 25 member commission, not elected and not held accountable by the citizens of the EU, which acts as the initiating body of new laws and as the watchdog and enforcer of the laws. A law initiated by the commission can only be changed if the European council unanimously agrees to make the change. And a member of the commission can only be removed if there is a collective agreement by the commission to remove that member. Who watches the watchmen? It seems only the watchmen can watch the watchmen. If I were a citizen of the EU that would scare me.