Heh, what I really l hope for in the long run is that us Europeans start talking about a sovereign European nation.
We should all keep our regional differences and be proud of them but start to feel like what we are, members of the great European nation.
Be proud of what we share, cherish what makes us unique.

I look across that ocean and like what I see.
At least, I hope we aren't going with brain dead American schemes like 'Companies are Persons' :).

With nations as with companies, larger scale is often synonymous with greater efficiency and thus savings.
Yes there are policies that are best tackled on a local or regional level but things like fiscal and safety legislation are together with defence best done on a EU-wide scale.

It's that old 'Level Playing Field' that will enable greater prosperity for all without hurting the few.

Personally I've always supported the idea of a 'Europe of Regions'.
Regions are typically based on simple common interests while nations share a more broader interests.
I am fully in favour of cooperation on a supra-national scale but also see that certain regions have more in common than the nations they belong to.
I don't think it takes much imagination to see Scottish culture has more in common with the Danes, Norwegians and some Dutch than with London and Southern England.
Such cooperation is easily achieved with open borders and similar administration and taxation. The present Tory government is against such, partially under the influence of UKIP.

Similar is happening in The Netherlands, because the press is largely lethargic on EU matters and like the infamous British tabloids more and more run on ridiculous headlines, we now have a significant anti-EU party that pulls on the non-left wing voters.
Cameron sees this and has announced to next week visit (among others) The Hague, no doubt in search of support of his efforts to dismantle social and consumer based EU legislation.

I think he'd better go to Hungary.

I think we agree.
There is good reason for a sovereign state to run it's own bank, not to farm it out to some commercial enterprise.
My original post was badly worded, I am against too much privatisation of essential services to the nation and population.

Exactly.
A Greece without Euro will have to pay for imports in Euro or Dollar and their exports need to be cheap enough to find a market.
Their internal market is not directly affected by the currency in place but as there will be less (foreign) currency all together wages need to drop significantly and yet imported goods need to be paid.
We all know who is willing to loan to bad debtors and how they do it, Greece will be at the mercy of loan sharks and extreme interest rates.

I feel really sorry for many Greek, the ones I don't feel sorry for have off-shored their money years ago.
But hey, the sun will still shine and my holidays there will be cheaper and Tsipouro/Tsikoudia a bargain...

Look here, every single Euro country has to play by the same rules, the Greek are no exception.
There is no excuse what so ever to claim the Greek are suffering this value on expensive exports more than they are benefiting from it through cheap imports, plus currency has no effect on the Greek internal market.
What Germany did different is after their exceptionally expensive reunification they kept their salaries low and thus made export competitive.
Get your income and spending aligned and you're good, it's got nothing to do with the currency.

Very well put.
A weak currency is only a temporary relief, not a solution.

Indeed, the Greeks should have made ends meet instead of continuing to increase the deficit.
Please realise they were paying a very low interest on this Euro depth, had it been in Drachmen it would have been much more expensive.
They took this low interest as an excuse to borrow more than their economy could support.
Devaluating a country out of depth is a trick Souther European countries used a lot but it never brought them the prosperity NW European countries gained by taking the pain of a depression and saving up for the future.
The renewed claim for German war reparations is stale, the Germans (and Americans for them) repaid long ago, the Greek economic woes are much more recent and to a good extend due to their own mismanagement.

Indeed TTIP is a horrible idea and on the EU side the UK is one significant force that tries to push it through.
Civil servants have no business in politics, that's the same for government ministers, the mandate of the voter is with their representatives in parliament and they control both the government and the civil servants they employ.
The fact the UK forms it's government from members of parliament is not the rule everywhere, typically the more suitable technocrats are found outside politics.

You are to an extend correct.
At the same time that bank is not involved in the daily business of our government, that's since a few years in the hands of RBS.

So what?
Any developed company or nation sets standards.
By the sound of it you had a hard time meeting a particular standard, that's most certainly not a reason to go without standards!

Clearly you are blinded by some hate and thus can't read.
Because I suggested the UK should first fix their national policies before blaming others.
I gave an example of those working in hotels and restaurants, similar will be true in other industries.
There is no EU mandated need to accept any and all that visit your country into the HSE cover, at least not they've worked for it.

Don't come with silly excuses like a fair minimum wage for your own people is a communist-like constraint onto employers.

I thought this discussion was about marriage, why do you bring up sexual relationships?

You just confirmed what I wrote, the problem is with lacking national legislation.
Would you have fair minimum wages, collective bargaining agreements etc. there would be no competition of the sort you complain about.
I am a frequent visitor to the UK and am always surprised there are hardly any Brits working in restaurants and hotels, are they too lazy?

Compare it on a per capita base and you'll understand.
As an example look at the percentage of children growing up in poverty.