Why the European project is effectively a waste of time and money

Heavily recycling here, an old comment on an old friend's blog. Well, there we are: these views aren't time sensitive.

The failure of the European project is surely that Europe has invested far too much time, money and effort in, essentially, broadening the scope of its remit (and its boundaries) and not enough time, money and effort (to which I should add, most importantly "will") on what business people call "core activity". If the EU (indeed, the UK Government likewise) focused on making things easier and less expensive for people, it would be much more popular and successful. At a trans- or inter-state level, this is going to be about facilitating trade (taxes, standards, tariffs, subsidy and competition management), travel and the fight against organised crime.

This is all best illustrated by the failings of the Euro, which would be a fantastic idea if, as everybody has pointed out, it was actually backed with proper fiscal and monetary mechanisms to ensure it actually works (which, sorry to say, does mean the surrender of more powers - the right ones for once - to the "European centre"). Instead, it'a grand scheme which, intentionally or otherwise, has ended up as a Franco-German tool of domination. What we get, as Dan Hannan usually points out, is a lot of posturing and money grabbing and a general lack of focus on the people of Europe.