Is the EU a dictatorship?

I didn't live through WWII, Fennel but I was born not so long after.

I welcomed joining the EEC as it helped to overcome lingering distaste for Germany (fed by films and popular culture of the 50s) and made me feel that we were part of Europe, not existing on the periphery of an alien culture..

Geddit. Not fed it

Because you were harping back to just after the war. Fed dit?

No. Of course you don't.

Let's say we know the same things, MOnica

We do interpret them differently from time to time...

Oh for God's sake! I wasn't referring to the Treaty of Rome.

It was a sarcastic piss take.

Maizie and M0nica- if only everyone knew about why the EU was created. .
I suppose it's only those of us who lived through WW2.

Gonegirl as the 'Roman times' in this context is 1957 and the OP was about the EEC in the 1950s, I am not sure of the relevance of your remarks. Can you explain?

MaizieD We often disagree, but, in actuality we are also often at one in our opinions.

The Common Market is still at the heart of the EU. Improved upon by the introduction of the Single Market, proposed and driven by the UK.

That standardisation of bananas trope is old and has been discredited.

But let us note that it was an invention of Liar Johnson...

The Common Market was at the heart of it.

Snap, MOnica!

The European Economic Community was a regional organisation that aimed to bring about economic integration among its member states. It was created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957. Upon the formation of the European Union in 1993, the EEC was incorporated and renamed the European Community. Wikipedia

I'm not actually going back to Roman times.

The EEC was never 'all about trade' though the initial focus was on trade.

This summarises the Treaty of Rome; the original EU treaty

The Treaty of Rome (1957)
The Treaty of Rome was the founding treaty of the European Economic Community, which later became the EU. The Treaty established four institutions: a Commission, a Council of Ministers, a European Parliament and a European Court of Justice,
The Treaty focused overwhelmingly on economic co-operation. It tried to create closer co-operation on a range of economic and trade issues from agriculture to overseas aid, commerce to taxation, but it also set out a wider political vision for ‘an ever closer union’ to eliminate the barriers which divide Europe.

www.civitas.org.uk/content/files/OS.7.Treaties.pdf

Gonegirl The EEC, as it was in the 1950s was absolutely not all about trade. The purpose of the EU was from the start, I quote my previous post, was based on a supranational foundation that would "make war unthinkable and materially impossible" and reinforce democracy amongst its members

The EEC nations started to build this co-operation through trade, the war was very recent and there was still an element of distrust between some members and trade was a good neutral ground to start with, but the political aims were always there and formed part of thir discussions and negotiations, but initially these ran quietly because of the reasons given above.

Yes Nonnie, but I do wonder how long it will last before economics take priority.

Yes petra just as the United States are commonly called a union.

Gonegirl Tue 29-Oct-19 16:25:58 I think the UK is going to subsidise farmers for doing things to preserve the countryside and environment but haven't checked .

Ilovecheese
No, the clue is in the word Union
As it is in 'The Soviet Union'

The EU isn’t a dictatorship every country has a veto that it can use if it feels anything is against its national interest, what it cannot do is choose the parts it likes and discard those it doesn’t, ultimately it is free to leave.
Doesn’t sound like a dictatorship

Leaving the EU is bound to set us somewhat apart from the rest of Europe. That is worrying.

The EEC of the fifties was all about trade. Isn't that what jeannie is referring to (no matter how "silly" one particular poster seems to think she is being )

I might be on the wrong thread. Never mind. Still worried.

I'm worried that our farmers will stop looking after the countryside as they do at the moment, once the subsidies stop.

jeanie the EU's origins were absolutely not as a trade organisation.

The purpose of the three pioneers of the EU: Robert Schumann (France), Kondad Adenauer (Germany) and the often forgotten one, Alcide Gaspari of Italy when they came together in the wake of 2 world wars in 20 years was to find a new way forward towards peace and harmony between European nations.

Apart from the ideas of federation, confederation, or customs union or what Winston Churchill's in 1946 calledr a "United States of Europe", the original development of the European Union was based on a supranational foundation that would "make war unthinkable and materially impossible" and reinforce democracy amongst its members[ as laid out by its leaders in the Schuman Declaration (1950) and the Europe Declaration (1951.

And the European has succeeded in meeting the objectives set out in those early years after WW2. Between 1870 and 1945, 75 years, there were three major European wars. Between 1945 and 2020 there have been none and none are in the offing.

Yes, there have been other wars on the periphery of Europe but none of the major European states have been at war with each other.

The EU is not a dictatorship because it has a freely elected Parliament and any member can walk out at any time (the No deal option). The one country to choose to do this(the UK) has chosen to ease itself out, choosing to enter negotiations in order to have its cake and eat it.

As a remainer I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that No deal is the best option and should have happened at the end of 2016

That standardisation of bananas trope is old and has been discredited. The EU does have standard measures for foodstuffs, and there are laws about food additives etc. It’s no more dictatorial than insisting that a mile is the same in Cornwall as it is in Scotland, or standardising egg sizes, which in the UK predates EU entry.