Should the EU became 1 country (united state)?

I don't see why we all need to merge together to solidify our position on the world stage i mean despite only being the fraction of the size of china,america,brazil we punch well above our weight. Also by 2050 britain will be the largest economy in europe with Germany not too far behind us and france just a little further back infact Britain and Germany will still be in the top ten largest economies in the world 9th and 10th to be precise and some economists say that they could be even further up the economic ladder closer relationships are good but becoming one state just seems a bit silly economically we don't need to and we have Nato for everything military.

USA - Founded from a common history and with a common enemy (us!).

In Europe we've spent the last, well forever, fighting each other. I think it's a simple as that.

No. Terrible idea.

That's simply not true. Yes, the founding colonies were united against the Britain but that only constituted a small section of the country. There were several l wars and wars including the Spanish and the civil war the southern states and the rest. A large portion of it were French colonists that were purchased.

It's ridiculous to believe that it was a United States from it's founding country with a unified culture. There are huge variations throughout the states and these are largely down to them from different European cultures that have slowly evolved into their own.

the world is ruled by superstates. the USA, Russia, Brazil. all these countries are enormous, continent covering, powerful countries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)

The EU is technically the richest of these, with even more GDP than the US or China. However it isnt actually one united state, its a group of completely different and wholly independant states. It doesnt have a united military for example.

So in light of this, Should the EU be like other superstates and integrate to become one single country?

Im from the UK and a few days ago Brazil overtook the UK as the 6th largest economy, we are slowly falling down the ladder (permanently or not, i dont know- we could climb up when we return to growth, however unlikely). However if the Eu was one state it would be able to compete more with and likely outcompete other superstates.

Also the recent European financial crisis is calling for greater integration.

However European countries have a history of friction and many are proud and resisting integration. And who can blame those countries?, however small, they are still currently able to compete with the superstates, Britain, france and Germany for example are still amongst the top ten GDP countries.

thoughts? your opinion on the EU and its and its members positions on the world stage?

If Europe doesnt, will it become insignificant?

THIS IS NOT MY OPINON - Im just interested in what people think about this politcally
TYPO- poll should say 'Maybe'

As someone who has studied European languages for nearly 8 years (did German from years 9-13, and am doing French as part of a joint honours degree - started in year 7), it is something that I would like to see, however, it will not happen in my lifetime at least. Nice idea, but the reality isn't too optimistic. Asides, Switzerland has great relations with it's neighbours as a quadlingual country (German, French, Italian and Romansh) and has always done well financially, despite the fact that it is a non-EU European country (I think you still need a visa to go there!). I think that for the time that we are in, the system we have now is appropriate, but it may need to change in the future to remain appropriate.

Please justify your answer. Simply answering isnt enough.

One does not simply answer on TSR.

lol

In regards to the differing ideologies, federalization would largely nullify these. If Greece no longer controls its own budget for example then it cannot overspend.

Asides, Switzerland has great relations with it's neighbours as a quadlingual country (German, French, Italian and Romansh) and has always done well financially, despite the fact that it is a non-EU European country (I think you still need a visa to go there!). I think that for the time that we are in, the system we have now is appropriate, but it may need to change in the future to remain appropriate.

Believe me it's a lot safer keeping the answers short. You never know what pedant or "expert on American history" is lurking around the corner to strike your oversimplistic, "ridiculous" and misinformed ideas down with a witty quip or two

its the way the world is going. look at germany 150 years ago it was a collection of small kingdoms and now it is the richest country in europe. as we move forward the only way to survive seems to be to form larger and larger states.

Have you got a source for this information please? sounds interesting.

But why be 9th and 10th when you could be 1st?

The british economy will never go up. Our Government is too nice, Minimum wages are quite high compared to all of the other super nations. Thats why most businesses are moving abroad or doing there production abroad. Thats why the UK and U.S will keep going down and China is going up.

http://laomate.activeboard.com/t37036331/goldman-sachs-projection-of-the-20-largest-economies-in-2050/

I think you can also download the full report aswell from The Goldman Sachs website aswell also this is the HSBC report that puts germany and the uk a little higher up but it hasn't taken into account Brazil overtaking us:

http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/12/worlds-top-economies-in-2050-will-be/

I just don't see the need i mean we may be slightly less important on the world stage due to not being part of a unified europe but our interests would not be dilluted by other nations for example if we needed to defend one of our BOT i would prefer that we could take the action most suited to us than what Greece,Germany( insert other Eu state) want.