[Olog-hai]

Aside from that, every European country needs to be independent of the EU, because all it has done is hurt for the sake of accruing power and territory.

The EU is a social market economy. That started in Germany and spread by treaty to the rest of the member states.

[Myrddin]

I thought the EU was a mistake from the beginning. As a business traveler in Europe, I despised the inconvenience of having to deal with currency exchanges as I moved to different countries. I was still dealing in German marks on my last trip to Frankfurt in 1999. Since then, I've made only one trip in March 2005 to present a paper in Rome at the 10th International CAN Conference. It was the first time I had Euros in hand. No trips across a border, so no advantage or disadvantage at the time.

I found my trips to Wales in the 90's a bit enlightening. The exchange rate was $1.63 (USD) per UK pound. Merchandise in stores was priced about the same in pounds as I paid in USD at home. Essentially, everything cost 63% more for the same goods. I limited my purchases to a subset of items unobtainable in the US e.g. Welsh language music and books.

The impediment to trade across borders is annoying, but hardly justification for ceding sovreignty to the EU.