Balkenende gives an agenda of and for the EU elite.

Although he acknowledges that there has been a shift in appreciation for the EU around 2000. He fails to see why. At that time the EU decided to become a Federation ( a bloc, an EUSSR) through various measures. Implementation of the Euro, a political Union, the EU Constitution. From that moment on the resistance against the EU began to mount.

Parralel to it several crises developed: Greek crises, Euro crises, Ukraine.

The EU took then a wrong direction, by integrating deeply 28 completely diverse member states. It did so while the EU did not have adequate, transparant and democratic, institutions. In the period 2009-2017 the US economy grew by 34 %, the EU economy declined by 2,4 %. While in France, but also in the Netherlands, life of the the citizen has not improved for over 10 years.



The EU is definitely not well placed to develop a bold and yet realistic vision, as Balkenende thinks.

Some solutions:

- the EU should become a Confederation ( like it was with the EEC, or like the NATO is to-day). Ties have to be loosened.

- the primairy focus should be on serving the EU citizen.

- with exploding populations around the EU borders, immigration has to be brought under effective control.

- transparancy and democracy has to be drastically improved in Brussels. No Franco-German mini Union. Less co-optation. ( The deep state of Europe, Basil Coronakis ).

- press freedom on EU matters should be encouraged.

- the Eurozone has to be stabilized, without making it a transfer Union.

- Cohesion in the EU should be achieved by enhancing cooperation, not by maintaining values. The EU is neither a country nor a Church.