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Glad to hear your feeling better , surprized your going back to work so soon tho , Take Care .

Well, once again, your delusional claim is totally unsupported by any evidence whatsoever.

Because you'd LIKE to see this doesn't make it LIKELY to happen. In fact, the EU is doing well economically, the Euro is strong, and the 27 will soon become the 32 or 33 as a further clutch of nations join. It is growing and growing faster than us and the US in terms of its GDP. Unlike us, the threat of brexit appears to have been to their benefit, whilst we contemplate falling growth, growing inflation, a growing trade deficit, and the imminent departure of our banking industry along with a number of manufacturers.

To the disappointment of Farage and various other ranting troublemakers, the 'domino effect' of other countries deciding to leave has not happened. The EU remains as popular as ever with its members.

They are now trying to talk the Catalan thing up as if they want to leave the EU. They don't of course. Even the 'leavers' there want to stay in the EU. It is Spain they want to leave.

I think Madrid has handled this very badly. They would have been better advised to organise a proper referendum which as far as I can make out would have resulted in a defeat for those who want independence. The truth is that - according to numerous polls - the majority of Catalan residents do NOT wish to leave Spain, something that the fuss over this dodgy referendum has obscured.

Ex your trolling is becoming very boring ! Go find yourself a hobby.

I hope to see one day soon the EU implode on itself and shatter putting all those arrogant supercilious foreign morons out of their cushy jobs!!!! Just caught the end of a debate on one of the news channels and this little smug B... Calling Britain a useless country and to pay their bills etc. Wish I'd got his name French I think he was, damn cheek!!!

N.B. Ex, a polite request .Please refrain from further comments on any of my posts. I suggest you put me on ignore rather than being antagonistic

a polite request from Granny.

And that is its downfall, the stronger the Euro gets, the better for the stronger countries like Germany but in the meantime the weaker countries like Greece are hit even harder. Of course, this is what Germany wants, unless the EU becomes one state then the idea of having all their currencies tied together won't work. Its a stealth move to create the United States of Germany.

Nonsense. Spain is currently growing fast and will soon be booming again. I see no real movement to remove sovereignty (whatever that is) from it or any other EU country.

Why cannot you accept that the idea of turning Europe into a sort of USA is a straw man constructed by the likes of UKIP? The whole concept of the EU is that it is a union of Nations, not a new country, and this is evidently a stable development model that works.

It has the advantage that countries CAN do things their own way if they choose, yet still act together when this is to their mutual advantage.

I will point out - once again - that despite the crazed propaganda of the brexiteers, the EU has NO law-making powers in the UK or indeed any other nation. It is the member nations governments that pass these laws having agreed to do so within the EU because they have determined it is to their advantage to do so.

I am sorry, but if anyone insists on talking nonsense, I reserve the right to point it out. I, of course, extend this right to you too, should you feel I have talked nonsense.

I will undertake not to abuse anyone, and concentrate on their views rather than the person. Hopefully you will too.

YOU talk nonsense Ex, never!!! hUH!!!

I didn't mention Spain because they are in the middle and so not so much affected by the Euro but Italy, Portugal and Greece are at one end, they can't control their currency to balance out with their GDP.

Take the recent drop in the pound, as it became cheap abroad this increased foreign trade so the GDP wasn't affected as much as the drop in the pound, its sort of self-regulating and prevents a cliff edge drop happening.

Italy, Portugal, Belgium, Cyprus and Greece haven't got that luxury, their currency isn't matching their GDP because it is affected by other EU countries that are doing better than them.

I wouldn't say Spain is doing well, just because they have avoided a road of destruction doesn't mean they are on the road to recovery.

Tell me the difference between the future United States of Germany and the current United States of America. The only difference as I see it is that the USA hasn't got a dominant state.

Well, I would welcome your pointing out where I have talked nonsense, and expressing your opinion, hopefully, accompanied by some supporting evidence.

Unfortunately, a falling pound is NOT compensated for by lowered costs. This might be the case were products 100% sourced in the UK but few are. Most of the stuff we sell is assembled here but the basic manufacturing is done elsewhere which means it has to be bought in from overseas. There will be some cost reduction but not much. Tourism will do well, but that's not a huge part of the UK's foreign earnings.

Most of the countries that suffered during the Euro crisis are now well on the road to recovery, by the way. It's not just Spain, and unlike us are not looking at a further devaluation in their currency due to brexit.

There is one big difference between the United States of America and the 'United States of Germany', by the way, and that is that the former exists and the latter is entirely fictional and exists only in your imagination.

Getting back to the question of Catalan Independance, I think its a measure of the fact that the EU has no ambition to be a USE as it has clearly respected Spain's right to run it's own country. You may recall they took little interest in Scotland's independance bid either, for the same reason.

The EU is a Union of Sovereign states, that's all. I can see no evidence whatsoever for any ambition to change that, although harmonisation of standards and laws across all member states would probably be advantageous to all and in time will tend to happen.

It is a model that seems to work. Europe is now richer and bigger than the US, and the ethos of the EU is quite different from the American rejection of social responsibility and exaggerated respect for gun-totin' individualism. Who, within Europe, would want to emulate that? I suspect very few, thank god.

So you don't think Merkel/Germany has more clout in Europe than any other leader/country?

I didn't say that. I said that the EU is a union of nations, and not a nation itself. This seems to suit everyone, and there is no good reason to change it.

Of course, richer nations have more clout than poor ones, but even there Lithuania's votes count just as strongly as Germany's. The EU is designed not to allow any one nation to take it over completely.

I would remind you, too, of Objective One. Funding will be made available to bring the poorer parts of ANY nation up to an acceptable standard. This principle is fundamental to the EU, but would be anathema to any American. Nobody wants a United States of Europe. There is not even any real enthusiasm for a European Army.

I think you have managed to frighten yourself with a straw man constructed by yourseves.

The European army that's being built on the quite you mean? http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/22/germany-is-quietly-building-a-european-army-under-its-command/

A few more interesting stats ...

Within the EU the UK has the worst trade balance with other European countries.

Within the EU, the UK has the second worst trade balance with non-EU countries.

While the EU appears to be doing well, without Germanyit would have a negative trade balance.

Italy's trade balances (EU and non-EU) are both positive.

Spain's trade balances (EU and non-EU) are both negative.