Yes, yes I know I know. It is for, as in pro, ever greater union. But what is it actually 'for'? That is does anything it does have any any unique usefulness and purpose that could not be achieved without it? I really cannot think of anything that it does that could not be better and more cheaply achieved on a government to government basis or internally on a state by state basis.
The things it has 'achieved' - the Euro for example - have not been what you might call successful. Have they? Or common standards? Why? Better to have competing standards from which we can continually test which works best.
Or 'security'. We already have NATO. And police forces have long had informal and formal cross border co-operation, even prior to the EU.
The 'single market'? Well strictly speaking it isn't a single market. It's a customs union, at best, or at worst and probably more accurately a giant single regulation area presided over by the biggest quango on the planet. Traders across borders have for centuries dealt with varying regulations, Yes it makes things easier, but again it reduces competition between regulations from which we can chose the best, and which are constantly evolving.
I just cannot for the life of me think of anything that makes the EU uniquely useful.
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