Quote:
Originally Posted by Damien
I think Germany are very influential in part because of their size and in part because they're willing to get get involved, a lot of EU nations have full dedicated departments relating to Europe, but I don't see them as 'calling virtually all the shots'. As I said it's easier to member states to stop things than enforce things. Germany, France and the UK are (or in our case can be) the biggest influences on the process and I think it's always been a mistake for us not to be more aggressive in using that influence.
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I'm not arguing about the reasons why, merely the fact that Germany dominates the EU. Do you seriously think that any significant change in EU policy would get through without Germany's agreement? Look at how Merkel handled the Ukraine, Turkey etc. It was her effectively running EU policy and she'll have whatever bilateral (or other) talks/negotiations are required in order to get her way.
Thatcher was the last UK politician who took it to Europe and I'd agree that we ought to have done a lot more of that but we didn't and we can't now. The proof of the UK's 'influence' was Cameron's utter humiliation at the hands of Merkel prior to the referendum that's undeniable.