Comments on Europe

[F2d5thCav]

Opening a thread to post various comments about the European scene -- social, political, military, economic, etc.

I will not mention UK in this thread as @"BIAD" already has a thread going for that.

So, for an opener, I will post this image that depicts the use of currencies in Europe.  Because the EU gets so much press, it is easy to fall into the habit of thinking of the EU as the whole of Europe, and the Euro as the only currency used in Europe.  This, however, is not the case at all: there are even several EU nations that have retained their national currencies.

This perception is not idle grumbling.  The notion of EU = Europe is used as a propaganda tool by supporters of the European Union to shut down populists in European countries, both EU and non-EU: "We want to be part of EUROPE, why don't you?!"

An absurd proposition, because, of course, ALL of those countries are ALREADY part of Europe, and have been since the idea of "Europe" was conceived.  Yet, the propaganda is effective, because too many swallow that notion without much thought, and rush to surrender hard-won sovereignty to a group of un-elected super-bureaucrats as well as a small clique of national leaders who give a strong appearance of being more equal than others.

Note 1: the image should show Switzerland in green, as it has not adopted the Euro as its national currency.
Note 2: the location given for Liechtenstein is not accurate; it is on the eastern side of Switzerland.


(Image: Daily Express)

Cheers