I don't know if there is a historical connection but I do think the EU and Europe generally were much more ambitious prior to 1989 but also in the immediate aftermath too. Sometime after say 1995 or perhaps 2001(when the Euro was introduced) the EU got decidedly less ambitious. Prior to this point the European Space Agency actually had a pretty serious proposal for a manned space program using the never-built Hermes space plane on top of the Ariane V rocket for example. I do think the cancellation of the Hermes space plane was very much a consequence of the end of the Cold War.
The second point I will make is there has always been at least one former EU member state that had absolutely no ambitions for Europe to take a greater role in anything going back decades and that was the United Kingdom. Perhaps this is a larger topic for discussion but one has to wonder if looking back it was a mistake for the EU to have ever let the UK join in the first place. Again to previous point about 1989 prior to this point whatever her skepticism about European integration Margaret Thatcher knew at a geopolitical level the UK had to at least pay lip-service to a strong EU/EC because of the Cold War implications. After German Re-unification and the Maastricht Treaty ratification process in the UK the UK's view of Europe under PM's like Major and Blair I think because very UK domestic focused and very hostile towards any level of ambition on the part of Brussels.
**BTW I suspect Toomas Ilves would strongly disagree with this explanation of history. I think he would say the 2004 enlargement when Estonia among others joined the EU was a very very big deal and to be fair it was for Estonia.
“Why don’t Italy and Spain present their own vision of the EU’s future? Why don’t they blow out their deficits like the US does?” (Benjamin)
They don’t blow out their deficits because they don’t control the European Central Bank and thus they have little control over the Euro. Greece and Italy have both tried blowing out their deficits; Greece went bust and Italy almost did.
The United States can take on endless amounts of debt because it borrows in its own currency and it controls its money supply. The absolutely insatiable craving by the world for the U.S. dollar insures the stability of the currency regardless of how much debt the American Government incurs.
I don't know if there is a historical connection but I do think the EU and Europe generally were much more ambitious prior to 1989 but also in the immediate aftermath too. Sometime after say 1995 or perhaps 2001(when the Euro was introduced) the EU got decidedly less ambitious. Prior to this point the European Space Agency actually had a pretty serious proposal for a manned space program using the never-built Hermes space plane on top of the Ariane V rocket for example. I do think the cancellation of the Hermes space plane was very much a consequence of the end of the Cold War.
The second point I will make is there has always been at least one former EU member state that had absolutely no ambitions for Europe to take a greater role in anything going back decades and that was the United Kingdom. Perhaps this is a larger topic for discussion but one has to wonder if looking back it was a mistake for the EU to have ever let the UK join in the first place. Again to previous point about 1989 prior to this point whatever her skepticism about European integration Margaret Thatcher knew at a geopolitical level the UK had to at least pay lip-service to a strong EU/EC because of the Cold War implications. After German Re-unification and the Maastricht Treaty ratification process in the UK the UK's view of Europe under PM's like Major and Blair I think because very UK domestic focused and very hostile towards any level of ambition on the part of Brussels.
**BTW I suspect Toomas Ilves would strongly disagree with this explanation of history. I think he would say the 2004 enlargement when Estonia among others joined the EU was a very very big deal and to be fair it was for Estonia.
“Why don’t Italy and Spain present their own vision of the EU’s future? Why don’t they blow out their deficits like the US does?” (Benjamin)
They don’t blow out their deficits because they don’t control the European Central Bank and thus they have little control over the Euro. Greece and Italy have both tried blowing out their deficits; Greece went bust and Italy almost did.
The United States can take on endless amounts of debt because it borrows in its own currency and it controls its money supply. The absolutely insatiable craving by the world for the U.S. dollar insures the stability of the currency regardless of how much debt the American Government incurs.
Italy and Spain simply don’t have that luxury.