Hurts my contrarian (and Nordic) soul to see these schmucks of countries moving closer to the disaster that is the EU. I'd much rather they stick to their uniqueness, separate themselves away and go their own, decentralized-ish way.
Europe thrived not when it united and played geopolitics games but when it was extremely decentralized city-states and rivaling fiefdoms competing for talent and freedoms. (Johan Norberg outlined this history extremely well in Open: The Story of Human Progress, #607347).
The Economist, captured by sycophantic megalomaniac woke establishment types (PLS, bitcoin and SN moon, so Undisc has enough dough to take it over and right the ship!), obviously go the other route: gief more EU #1020250.
The polls have increasingly gone the other way...though thankfully, the referendum on the agenda this year isn't on membership (or binding) but merely whether negotiations should continue:
Europe’s northern periphery has a complicated relationship with the European Union. Britain and Greenland are among the few places that have left it. Iceland and Norway never joined. But that could change. On August 29th Iceland’s government plans to hold a referendum on restarting accession talks. Norway’s opposition wants a vote on whether to join.
The strongest argument is probably the euro -- a shitty enough centralizing money, but it's in many ways preferable to an even shittier, high-inflation regime króna:
In Iceland, old arguments for joining have been reheated. It would let Icelanders join the euro and ditch the small, volatile krona.
We're in for a ridic political process this year, I suspect:
Unlike Norwegians, who voted narrowly against joining the bloc in 1994, Icelanders have never been asked about the EU in a referendum. That made it possible for a right-wing government to end the talks in 2013. Pro-EU Icelanders hope the vote will send MPs a message. If they succeed, Norwegians will watch closely to see what deal Iceland gets. “Power to the people,” says Thorgerdur. “Let the people decide.”
Oof. As proponent of freedom, I personally would find "getting the Euro" the weakest argument.
There's way too much momentum in the EU to push through their CBDC, including controls as outlined by the BIS no less.
Add to that the push for digital IDs, plus recently passed/activated laws around more extensive mandated bank reporting on financial transactions and assets, and it's not a terribly far stretch to see this going towards rigid capital controls and centrally controlled, nudge-theory inspired efforts to steer consumer spending and saving.
God knows I see those troubles, too. What were getting with an independent currency is that aaand a structurally higher inflation rate. I'd rather the seðlabanki peeps hands were tied!
is the króna really that volatile and are people that worried? doesnt it just mean they feel super rich when travelling and converting to euro etc ?
EU would love to have Norway as a member, king of the socialists. Just think of all the milking opportunities to help the beleaguered German teets keep all the other members afloat.
How many of you think that the EU and its predecessor is the reason the wars on the continent significantly decreased in the second half of 20th century?
A few actually. Not as many as they like to claim, but def directionally right
How did Greenland manage to leave the EU if its part of an EU country?
The EU wasn't formed until 1993 so they never left it as such.
While Denmark joined what was then the EEC in the early 1970s, Greenland obtained home rule in the early 1980s and voted to leave what was then the EEC around that time.
How does that work?
I imagine they have free trade and travel with Denmark, but do they not have the same access with the rest of the EU?
Explained in more detail at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_and_the_European_Union
Essentially it was an argument about fish.
I'm not surprised about that last part
no clue... this was the first I heard about that. My understanding was that its foreign policy (trade agreements, military etc) was under Danish rule, in which case that statement makez zero zense.
Might be similar to how US territories are exempt from most federal regulations.
They tried imposing them on Puerto Rico at some point and just about killed the entire economy.