Re: It wasn't Spain and Greece that were the founders of the EU, it was the nordic powerhouses like Brit and Germany with the Latin country of France thrown in as the token.
Actually the embryo that ultimately became the present 25-member EU was the Europe of Six made up of France, Germany, Italy and benelux countries... So, considering that, at the time, it was the Federal Republic of Germany, the incipient EEC was overwhelmingly a "Latin/Catholic project" with French, Italians and French-speaking Belgians far outweighing their Germanic/Nordic fellows.... For that matter, the founding treaty of the EU is the 1957 Treaty of Rome --not Copenhagen or Helsinki or Bonn:
I wasn't talking about appearances that were created for the benefit of the world and the participant countries; I am talking about the reality. The Germans and the Brits are the two powers that rule the EU and drove its development.........with the Brits periodically acting reticent and retiring when they remember to play their assumed role as middleman between the US and the Continent. The French are included as part of a kind of triumvirate because no one wants to hear the French complain ad nauseum and have them start to pout......after all, that's what almost drove the Nazis crazy. Besides they provide Europe its food.......and at the end of the day, even German and British men or women must eat.
Even today, Northern Europe is still a marginal EU member: although Denmark is part of the EU, it's not part of the eurozone --there are no Danish euros. And Norway is not even part of the political Union...
Sorry, I was stretching the term Nordic a bit in referencing Germany and the UK when in truth the term mostly pertains to the Scandinavian countries. However, there is no doubt that a good portion of Germany's development and some of the UK's was strongly influenced by Nordic tribesmen.
Bottomline: the reality is that mostly northern Europe rules the EU. |
