Europen Union will collapse in 10 years.

[B01AB20]

That's what said Barbara Kolm, president of the Austrian Economics Center in Vienna, Austria... in 2013!!

It seems that it will not happen anytime soon, and in 2013 they didn't know about Brexit and 2 years of global pandemic.

EU is overcoming crisis after crisis, it's surprising, VERY surprising. There must be something positive about it that keeps members together I guess.

[sean]

The EU will not collapse. There's so much to lose for certain countries, it's simply not worth to let it vanish. The idea and the reality of the EU will be enough for strong pushes to reinvigorate it if it falls behind, or recreate it if it disintegrates.

The EU benefits everyone who's still in. Eastern and Southern Europe gets money, France gets to maintain its somewhat delusional hopes of leading the continent, and Germany avoids encirclement by unfriendly states. The EU is broadly popular with European zoomers, businesses (they love their common market way to much), and the upper middle class, while its enemies come primarily from economically and politically marginalised groups.

Brexit was an illusory wound to the EU, because in truth Britain was never fully committed to the EU and had more opt outs than any other country. If even Greece did not leave the EU in 2011-13, after years of perceived and actual injustice, you get a good idea of just how much abuse the continental EU members are willing to put up with to avoid the doomsday scenario of the return of hard borders.

During the European debt crisis, several European countries required the EU and International Monetary Fund bailouts. China assisted Europe by buying billions of euros' worth of junk Eurozone bonds in particular from Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

However, EU might fall, but not for the reasons she mentioned. Their problem is lack of power balance and strategic unity.

She generalises about "bureaucracy being a bad thing", "big state corporations are also a bad thing", which in itself seems like a valid point, but what she really means is the abolition of all State institutions even including those regarding health and education by ways of privatisation.

Given the growing private debt in Europe (of banks and corporations) and the growing inequality between classes (as exemplified by the Gilets Jaunes movement in France), I'd say her 'privatise all the things' solution would be even worse than not privatising anything.

There's many reasonable voices out there talking about the issues the EU is facing. Stagnation, debt, the immigration crisis, corruption on a national scale, and being surrounded by adversaries. But the vast majority of people who think the EU is gonna collapse either doesn't understand how the EU works, is a far-right nationalist, or usually both.

Of course what Europe needs is compromise, but hopefully they won't fool around with the privatisation of essential things like health and education that should not be at the stake of corporate profits when corruption and lack of accountability is the worst problem Europe is facing and will face at the business level, the state level, but also at the 'Brussels level'.

Anyway, she's absolutely right about taxes in certain European countries being ridiculous.

[B01AB20]

That's what I call a grounded opinion about the issue.

In a psichological level I think most european people are afraid to be alone and to feel powerless in front the big powers of the world, economic, military or both.
And also Trump's America is not a reliable friend, maybe even an enemy. And the endless waves of illegal immgrants from Middle East and Africa, very aliens to Europe...

So many people with critical views about EU for different reason may think, 'It's no good to be inside, but it would be worst to be outside'.

[B01AB20]

repe

[KingOf]

I'll be fine with a collapse if the ultimate goal of EU is the United States of Europe
Any other way the benefits of a union in the continent are on the heavy side of the scale

[Finnish Swede]

EU is like weak fat lion (I use this term as I love tigers more . Just because EU has no power to protect its own best interests in global world. Then the big issues are talked and decided it is USA, Chine and Russia around the table. To find the solution. Not EU. Why? Because EU has not its own military, not to talking about nuclear weapons. It has no concrete power to use (or threat with that). We have seen that time after time.

[B01AB20]

EU is like weak fat lion (I use this term as I love tigers more . Just because EU has no power to protect its own best interests in global world. Then the big issues are talked and decided it is USA, Chine and Russia around the table. To find the solution. Not EU. Why? Because EU has not its own military, not to talking about nuclear weapons. It has no concrete power to use (or threat with that). We have seen that time after time.

Yeah, more like a weak fat turkey. External pressure can change that just like in animal evolution, you change and adapt to environment and predators or you die.

It's hard and against state nations nature to ronounce to parts of national sovereignty, but necessity prevails.

What is NATO if not?. A cession of the most important part of national sovereignty, the military defense, to the USA.