1. It is a fact that nations that are economically interdependent are less likely to wage war against each other than those who have no such relations. Knowledge of neighbouring countries and their cultures is also an asset.

2. The more power the European Parliament has, the less power the parliaments of the EU countries have. If power increases somewhere, it decreases somewhere else. This may not bode well for the future of the EU. Should a conflict arise, there may be angry citizens in some countries clamoring for  the right to decide about something  -  a right they no longer possess.

Joining the EU has enabled some poor Gypsies from Romania and Hungary to travel to Finland and beg on the streets. I had never seen beggars until last summer in downtown Helsinki. The advice the authorities give is no one should give them any money. If we do, there'll be more of them in future. One wonders how they can afford to come here if they are so poor. The authorities are certain the beggars don't get to keep all the money people give them.

It was an unwise decision to admit countries that are more or less mediaeval into the EU anyway.

Cheers

CB 

Lawyee

“When talking about beggars, I see many of them in my country as well but I've never asked them which country are they from. Do you think that they won't come to Finland if they weren't European citizens? 

”

I have never asked them, either. The journalists did when the dark-haired beggars appeared on the streets. It was big news and mentioned in newswpapers and television. If Romania and Finland weren't EU countries, it would be possible for us to stop them at the border.

To my mind, these people should be helped in their own countries. To have them travel to far-away places where they put up illegal camps under bridges and try to survive subzero winter temperatures is not my idea of handling their problems satisfactorily. There are countless charitable organisations that attempt to attend to the kind of social injustice that is still rampant in the world. The EU wasn't set up to have development aid as its main concern. It was primarily created as a union of countries of reasonably similar economic and social backgrounds and a desire to facilitate international commerce and decrease bureaucracy. Commerce is indeed easier these days but bureaucracy is on the increase.

It is the megalomania of some countries with a colonial past and nostalgic daydreams of grandeur that has led to the present indomitable anxiousness to create a United States of Europe, which can only be attained by accepting into the union countries that fall short of the minimum entry requirements. When Finland joined the EU in 1995, there was a referendum in which 53% of the people were in favour of joining the union and 47% were against it. As former Socialist countries have joined the EU, the union's popularity has declined somewhat in Finland. Norway and Switzerland will never join the EU, and more and more Finns are beginning to think Finland should pull out as well.

Some Finns think many of the would-be members which don't share Western European values ought to form their own union instead of trying to force their way into the West. That might not be such a bad idea. Personally I see nothing desirable in big size. I have never envied a country or a union because of its dimensions and the influence it exerts. I may be a little cynical but it seems to me that in most cases these "great powers" have a criminal record rather than a history.

Cheers

CB 

But you can't force another state to leave the Union, so it cannot be expelled, if you meant that.