This video is 7 years old. Here's some clarifications/changes for new viewers: 1. The UK has officially left the EU 2. Iceland, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Kosovo are currently not official candidates to join the EU 3. Turkey is a candidate country on paper, but there is no way in hell that’s happening anytime soon 4. Latvia and Lithuania have entered the Eurozone 5. Montenegro and Kosovo have chosen to adopt the Euro unilaterally
For anyone wondering what he means at 5:22 by "That region in Greece where it's totally legal to ban women" He's referring to an area called "Mount Athos" it's a peninsula on the coast of Greece that is entirely enhabited by Christian Orthodox Monks who live in their monasteries. Since they are all men, they ask that women not visit the island as they say that they see it as a "distraction from their prayers." While technically part of Greece, Mount Athos maintains their autonomy by not voting in Greek elections, and not paying taxes to the Greek government. They also do not fly the flag of Greece, but instead, the flag of the Byzantine Empire, as that was the empire that they were living under when Mount Athos was formed. It's a long and complicated history spanning all the way back to when Jesus Christ was alive, but I just wanted to make it clear that it's a bit more than just "Totally legal to ban women."
@Sam Revlej see you even cal yourself "eu citizen". Eu is basically a decentralized country with states under it maintaining the ability to return to full fledged sovereignty as UK voted to do.
@w花b I would question why anybody would want to leave in the first place, but it is worth noting that Britain's difficulty in leaving the EU was almost entirely self-inflicted. Yes, it takes time to replace thousands of pieces of legislation and regulation that come with EU membership, but that could all have been sorted out quite quickly. What really held back Brexit was Britain's constant "have our cake and eat it" attitude, and making demands that were physically impossible.
I live in Spain and it’s totally normal to go to Portugal on a Saturday afternoon and come back at night. Sometimes you don’t even notice you’re in a totally different country until you sit down at a restaurant and the waiter speaks portugués
I live in by the Atlantic Ocean so i dont do that but when I got o Algarve (south) I already did that, it's really cool but o wich i went further deep.
After resistance Socialists across Europe to set up crosses on the flag, one man Paul Levi, a Jew who converted to Catholicism and became president of journalistic office in the Council of Europe (founded in 1949) visiting the old continent. He realizes that in every major city there is a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, over whose head is 12 stars. Among the several hundred proposals remained just this, which was adopted at the end.
Apathetic Apparition what? Yeah let’s double down on something that we’re not sure is going to benefit us and will only reap the rewards half a century later? No let’s work to better the EU from the inside
Apathetic Apparition absolutely. England is apart of the United Kingdom and as the UK is apart of the European Union, when we better the EU we would by extension be bettering England.
Ireland isn't in the Schengen area, not because they "believe Islands are different", but because the UK does, and so to prevent a border along Northern Ireland, we stuck with the UK. In the event of a united Ireland, I can see mass support for joining the Schengen area.
@explorernate I think you need a document. otherwise you couldn't prove to be a european citizen. borders still exist and you need a passport or identity card to cross them even if most of the time nobody checks if you do. I have been controlled by german police when I entered from switzerland.
@Mar Switzerland is not in the EU. That's why you were checked there. There are zero checks from Portugal to Poland, as long as you don't pass through Switzerland or the micro states between.
By the way, French Guiana at the northern coast of South America being "technically France" means that a flight from France to French Guiana is also "technically a domestic flight" and therefore very cheap, which is nice if you want to spend your winter holidays in Caribbean climate.
Sweden doesn't actually have a permanent opt-out of the eurozone like Denmark does. Instead, it deliberately doesn't meet the criteria for joining. Basically, for a country to join the eurozone, its parliament should pass kind of a "Yes, we do actually want to join the eurozone" bill. The Swedish parliament just hasn't got around to doing it as of 2020, and considering the fact that most of Sweden's population are against adopting the euro, is likely not going to anytime soon.
@Eric C it was given up to reunify East and west Germany which people were actually massively in favour of. Learn history and stop talking stupidity in comments sections.
@Eamon ReidyI was in Germany when the wall fell. It only fell because we had a strong nato. And the ussr was coming apart. I know my history... I was there
The Schengen agreement is the best. A friend of mine crossed the border by accident, while on Border Duty (looking for illegal migration) with the military (fully armed) and the local police there said "Dude, wrong side of the border, you should have turned left, not right." And laughing their asses off.
What's interesting: The USA was originally meant to be something like the EU: a confederacy of what was essentially self governing countries under a relatively weak central body. It too would have been terribly complex. Of course we all know that didn't end up happening, and "States," actually ended up being provinces within a strong armed central government.
the political diversity is the biggest glitch of the EU. EU is comparable with US in many ways, but we will never become a superpower of major relevance on the world map unless we get further federalized and get more centralized federal power. I am ok with our strongest armies having just a fraction of the U.S. military budget. We never set a goal of policing world, we also may not be the best guy to do it as some of our countries had colonies in the past. Our role is rather to mediate peace and diffuse conflicts by dimplomatic means. When that fails, it's good to know our stronger brother has our backs. And vice versa. We're happy to be your allies within NATO and co-operate when you guys need our help.
If anybody is wondering about the choice of music, this part of Beethovens Symphony No. 9 (Ode to joy) was proposed in 1955 as the ECouncil anthem and accepted as such in 1972 without Schiller's German text though, and finally In 1985 as the EG/EU anthem officially acclaimed. There are versions in Latin and Esperanto, but they aren't officially accepted as the anthem.
Minor detail: You don't lose your EU-citizenship if you live in the Faroe Islands (a tiny part of Denmark), because there is no "Faroese citizenship", only "Danish Citizenship". So while EU laws and regulations don't apply to the Faroe Islands, a Faroe Islander/Dane who lives there regains their EU citizenship when they leave the territory.
I assume that's why his careful word usage in that section was "upon which *while* citizens of Denmark live", the "while" implying that it persists only for the duration of residency.
3:02 Actually, Sweden doesn't have a permanent opt-out in our contract like Denmark and the UK. We just choose to fail one of the economic requirements on purpose every year so that we aren't allowed to (read: don't have to) use the Euro
I don't see the point why you desperately want to avoid joining the Euro. As with many other memberships in the EU, you basically are following common rules anyway, without having a say. The SEK EUR exchange rate is basically static, so the only change you would see, is a different colour in bank notes and another number on it. Your companies already are doing virtually everything in EUR anyway, or at least those who trade with businesses in other countries. With the transition to electronic money going on (I very rarely use cash anymore), there's even less reason to stick to your own paper notes. I can understand when you want to keep your own money so that you can have your own monetary policy, but as Swedish and Danish money is basically linked with the EUR anyway, what's the point? It's not because we have given up on Belgian franks, that we have lost our soul/identity/whatever. We are still Belgians. We just use some other paper to pay our groceries with. It's not a big deal. It feels like people in Sweden and Denmark feel insecure about themselves. Somehow you need your "own" money, just so that you can say "hey, I'm Swedish/Danish". Weird...
@Janick Pauwels no, they’re simply just keeping themselves safe from the error of other countries. That’s why the UK never joined; the £ was extremely safe and most importantly was the oldest currency in the world. 2008 completely shattered Swedens confidence of changing currency, hence why it’s still so skeptical. Basically, Scandinavia is wealthy enough to not feel pressured into change, so unless it can guarantee stability (which it can’t) they will not switch.
Azores and Madeira haven't been considered colonies since the XVI century. They were populated by continental portuguese (and some flemish in the azores) with the full rights of any portuguese subject, they were organised into Municipios, with the rights and freedoms these traditionally had, same laws, same everything as the mainland. Before they were autonomous regions they were generally called "the adjacent islands" and seen as part of metropolitan Portugal as opposed to ultramarine Portugal
Sweden does not have an opt-out from the euro. They are legally obliged to adopt it, but a referendum in 2003 voted 56% no so the government has intentionally avoided fulfilling the economic criterias ever since.
@Anonymous Montenegro just uses the euro without permission and nobody’s really done anything about it…Sweden NOT using it vs Montenegro just deciding to…
I have an EU law exam on Monday and this video was more useful (and entertaining) that the vast majority of my lectures - though being in a Scottish university it's depressing that the course may soon only be informative of what once was :(
I'm here since I watched a few reaction videos to it so felt I should watch the OG. I love watching non Europeans getting so confused by this video because I studied the EU for years at uni so I had every opportunity and plenty of time to absorb all the EU's weirdness. But it's still a little mindblowing seeing it all condensed down into a video!
I am a Greek in my early 20's. It's suddening how many people my age don't know about the lying part and many other facts. I dare to say that many people do stick to the glorious ancient past and don't really bother with anything else about history, especially modern (apart from WW2 of course). Not all of course. But a considerable amount, sadly. If only people knew a little bit more about the sources of many of today's problems and stopped just pointing fingers, that would be great. It really helps form a solid opinion for god's sake. The saddest thing of all is that school DOES include some of that stuff, but people don't fucking read it.
Το πιο χαρακτηριστικό ήταν στο δημοψήφισμα. Είδα φίλους να μαλώνουν μεταξύ τους για πράγματα που δεν ήξεραν.. Για να συνοψίσω τις γνώμες όσων μίλησα, το ΝΑΙ έλεγε "Η Ευρώπη είναι φίλοι μας" και το ΟΧΙ "Οι Γερμανοί είναι εχθροί μας". Πέρα από αυτό, καμία πλευρά δεν ήξερε τι σημαίνει καμία από τις δύο επιλογές στην πράξη, και μόνο έκαναν φαντασιώσεις για τη δραχμή, ο καθένας και με άλλη θεωρία! Λίγο research δεν βλάπτει ανεξάρτητα απο τι πιστεύει ο καθένας.. Δεν γίνεται να έρχεται ο άλλος να σου λέει "ρε, ψήφισε αυτό" και όταν τον ρωτάς γιατί, να σου λέει "επειδή είναι το σωστό" και να το αφήνει εκεί :P
He Soyam Το δημοψήφισμα ήταν επίτηδες στημένο έτσι. ο Τσίπρας δεν νομίζω να περίμενε ή να ήθελε (μάλλον το δευτερο) ένα τέτοιο οχι, λόγω του τι επακόλουθησε. Πάντως, επειδή ήταν ακατανόητο, νομίζω πως το Όχι γενικά ερμηνευόταν ως "Όχι άλλη λιτότητα, ότι και να γίνει, ακόμη και εκτός εε"... Αυτή είναι η πεποίθησή μουχ δεν ξέρω, βέβαια δεν μπορούσα και να ψηφίσω πέρυσι, οπότε...
In the modern day, I cannot thank you enough for being able to discuss things in a manner sufficiently civilised to pronounce the second 's' in "asterisk".
As long as they keep insisting that northern Cyprus is a thing Greece will keep vetoing everything with them. Also throwing refugees and migrants into the borders isn't nice.
@Vulpine Greece doesn't even need to veto them. Cyprus can itself lol. I don't think Greece even cares what happens in Cyprus anymore really. They're mostly done with the island since now most of the population doesnt want to be part of Greece. And Greece still has lots of issues with Turkey like Imia / Kardak and their border. Most likely France and other countries would also veto them too, since they're not too happy on the migrants thing.
VulpineKitsune Dude, Even if there was no issue called Cyprus, Turkey wouldn’t have been accepted. Because Turkey is not a European country, the population of which can change the power balance in EU. The another reason is the lack of interest by Turkish people towards EU. Turks have alienated themselves from Europe. Have a good day, from Turkey.
3:42 Correction: while the Reconquista, Castille and Portugal had conquered Açores, Maderia and Canary Islands before the discover of America, making it technically not part from the colonial empire. In this case you must talk about the french oversea departments and Holland's american islands, which are really taking during the colonial times and currently are colonies from France/Holland
For those of you who need it here's a list of all the countries he says: Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Poland, Romania, Kingdom of Netherlands, Greece, Belgium, Portugal, Czech Republic, Hungary, Sweden, Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Slovakia, Finland, Ireland, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia, Estonia, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta
@WeLey I mean in Europe we pretty much start from the beginning of mankind and progressively make our way to the 21st century: apparition of writing, ancient civilizations (mostly Greece and Rome), middle ages and renaissance (mostly in Europe) and from this point we include the rest of the world more and more. From what you're telling me you only study the last 3 centuries at most...
Dude we literally have a course in high school called AP European History for students to take..... I took it and idk if you'll believe me, but I learned a little about European history
A little problem for France overseas territories: you switched Saint Martin and Mayotte! These two are different, when Saint Martin is an oversea territory as for French Polynesia or Saint Pierre et Miquelon, Mayotte is a region of France as for Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, and la Réunion 😁, this region is just next to la reunion and Madagascar
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves! Britons never, never, never shall be slaves. I'm not European I am British this way we voted to leave the European Union 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
"and lying about money is certainly not something anyone would do..." *zooms in on Greece Greece: "uh why is the camera pointed at me" *laughs nervously*
Europe has a pretty well defined boundary. It goes on top of Ural mountains, then by Ural, river, Volga river, Caspian sea, top of Caucasus (easy way is Russia Border)
3:57 those regions don't want to leave France. Ironically, you forgot the only regions where an higher degree of autonomy is debated, the French Polynesia.
5:23 - I looked up that region. It was real easy, because I looked at a list of regions in Greece and I figured it was probably the one at the bottom of the list labelled "autonomous state" instead of "region". It's called Mount Athos, and lots of monks live there. "There is a prohibition on entry for women, called _avaton_ (Άβατον) in Greek, to make living in celibacy easier for men who have chosen to do so. Monks feel that the presence of women alters the social dynamics of the community and therefore slows their path towards spiritual enlightenment. … In the 14th century, Serbian Emperor Dušan the Mighty brought his wife, Helena of Bulgaria, to Mount Athos to protect her from the plague, but she did not touch the ground during her entire visit, as she was carried in a hand carriage all the time." There have also been a least a couple women who infiltrated and wrote about their experiences. But probably the weirdest thing about this ban: "Female animals, chickens, cows, ewes, nanny-goats, mares, and sows are also barred except for female cats, female insects and female songbirds."
Bulgaria does not use euro (yet), but it has fixed rate currency to euro equal to 1 EUR = 1.955 BGN, specifically close enough to 2, so people can multiply and divide by 2, but far enough for any intermediate sum of money to mismatch your expectation and require a calculator and currency conversion for what essentially have absolutely the same value.
I must be one of the only British people to have ever lived who frankly loves the EU and wants a political union... also, Germany's national anthem is the background theme to this video. Touché, CGP Grey.
Vidcom How about we put it to a referendum? Or wait, sorry. I forgot that the EU became allergic to those once it realised it would loose every single one. How about we regain our national sovereignty and destroy the malignant and undemocratic tumour that the EU is?
"Though lying about those goals is certainly not something anyone would do." *slow zoom to Greece* Before macroeconomics, I wouldn't have gotten that joke, but after writing a paper on the Greek financial crisis, I know significantly more about that. It's one of those jokes that you laugh at, then get sadder about the longer you think about it.
I would like to request a video explaining the history and purpose of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Great videos. Thank you for what you do.
The euro currency is interesting because countries like a Czech republic are required to accept euro,...sometime. So, UK has/had opt out, but other countries are required to accept it, but whenever they feel like.
I love your description about France : "The queen of not-letting-go" 😂😂😂 These asterisks almost never end, but this video must. You're funny and you made a good video. 👍👍👍👍👍👍
I know its 8 years old but, Swiss has another * to EEA. The EEA includes EU countries and also Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. It allows them to be part of the EU’s single market. Switzerland is not an EU or EEA member but is part of the single market. This means Swiss nationals have the same rights to live and work in the UK as other EEA nationals.
Switzerland is part of the European Free Trade Association, as are Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. By agreement, Swiss citizens are allowed to live in EU/EEA countries. Conversely, all EU/EEA citizens are allowed to live in Switzerland.
@Edi Pires you swiss are in denial, same as the Norwegian. Your countries cannot exist without accepting EU regulations, and your politics perfectly know that. In fact you have nothing to lose and everything to win by entering the EU (because then you would be able to actually vote on the laws, and no, you don't have to take the €.)
Me AndMeToo first the all, I’m not Swiss nor Norwegian, I’m an EU citizen and proud of it. 2nd Switzerland has a way of governance which is incompatible with the EU. The cantons have a great level of autonomy that would be lost if they ever join the EU. And they have referendums for everything, so one canton can singlehandly block an entire EU initiative (like Wallonia did when CETA was negociated). Lastly, I think you sir are in denial: Switzerland has lived 400 years with their own regulations, if they participate in some European projects (like the Schengen area) they have done of their own free will, no one has imposed them anything. Oh and joining the Euro is a requirement for entering the EU (when conditions apply of course)
Here's an interesting way to be an EU citizen despite NEVER having lived in ANY of the EU countries or overseas territories: 1) I'm Canadian, born and raised. 2) My mother is from Northern Ireland so I am automatically a UK citizen. 3) My maternal grandparents were also born in Northern Ireland (yeah, so?) 4) When my grandparents were born, Ulster was part of the Irish Free State. 5) Thus, I am also automatically a citizen of Eire (Ireland) 6) Thus, I am also automatically a citizen of the EU Having that many passports gets VERY expensive VERY quickly, but I'm thankful for them!
All northern Irish citizens may opt in for Irish passports regardless due to historical circumstances so you could regardless Actually with brexit a lot of us were considering applying for Irish pass well as british as an escape option
I remember walking over a bridge from Belgium to Germany in 2020, getting an email that said welcome to germany, please follow our quarantine rules, and going back, getting the same email.
3:32 * for Poland as well - Poland is kind of in Eurozone, but not really. Poland does still use Polish Zloty [PLN] as currency since polish people voted couple years ago about NOT switching to euro (as it could very much impact internal economy as it happened in Germany).
What do you mean by "Kind of" in the Eurozone?? Poland isn't part of the Eurozone. They use the Złoty and don't have any ambitions of switching any time soon...
The Dutch Caribbean are that way because they chose to have that kind of relationship. They had the option to leave and possibly make their own nation, but they chose to stay. 3 as part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and 3 as special municipalities within the Netherlands.
Hi, thanks so much for the video! Now to make it more up-to-date, could you please put a note on top of the video or in the description, that Latvia and Lithuania are also in the Eurozone now (for more than two years actually) And Brexit, but you acn save that for later. Edit: and Poland is still on złoty with no intention to change that any time soon.
I don't think Sweden has a "formal opt-out" on joining the Eurozone. Only Denmark has. Sweden like Czechia and others are theoridtcally obligated to adopt the Euro but there are some "technicalities" which they can use "time" it.
swiss here, I believe the main reason we haven't and will probably never join the union isn't primarily because of economy or neutrality but a question of self determination. If we joined the EU would have to ditch or circumscribe our direct democracy, which allows us to challenge and vote on every decision our government makes. Of course this has downsides, for example the proposal for 7 Billion Francs for new fighter jets, which nearly got rejected again.... But this is probably the reason the people voted against EU membership every time.
I understand the reasons, but it still breaks my heart a little whenever I am stopped and asked for my passport at the Austrian-Italian or Austrian-Slovenian border ... we used to be cool about these borders.
The best part about this whole video is that you chose the singer Yohanna (the girl who represented Iceland) who was actually born in Denmark proving your point about free movement by accident
as an italian we kind of did a similar thing, we did not lie but cheated drugging our data to be able to take the euro, meanwhile they just falsified it. Just feeling excluded for not being mentioned :(
Benjamin Wickers Elena No This is a phrase that I invite you to copy and paste everywhere! European union (regime) is based on 3 columns: 1) PUBLIC DEBT CREATED BY NOTHING TO TAKE UP DEMOCRACIES 2) ARTIFICIAL IMMIGRATION TO lower workers' salaries 3) HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT FOR THE STABILITY OF PRICES The ECB is PRIVATE the euro is PRIVATE ALL THE MONEY IN CIRCULATION = public debt THIS IS THE REAL REACTION OF THE MARKETS!
Madeira and The Açores were uninhabited when the Portuguese got there, and there were no permanent settlements before they set up shop. The "Natives" of these islands are Portuguese... When you say they "Still haven't parted with these islands from their colonial days" it sounds as if they colonized these lands that were already inhabited by a native population (like they did in Brazil). The Canary Islands on the other hand did have a native population before the Spaniards got there.
As a Greek, I feel inclined to inform you about that last section of the video about banning women in a part of Greece, cause to the outsider it sounds barbaric. The region is called mount Athos and the reason women are banned is because Athos is basically a huge monastery. Greece follows the Orthodox Christianity (aka the hardcore version of the catholic) and part of the "ruleset" of the church is that women are not allowed in the churches affairs (but not excluded for attending and worshiping like all else). So Athos being an ancient and old-fashioned monastery does not allow women to visit the area at all. Hope that clears any confusion!
2:12 When going to another country inside the Schengen Area, you're not required to have a passport, simply because your national ID is enough. You still have to carry some form of ID.
+Matt 18 Not sure about that, we essentially just gave our top job to Boris Johnson, even if we get more money from this, it wont be going to any of us.
Really Dr Matt and what made you such a great judge of exactly what sovereignty is (which is an impossible thing to answer), how much we have actually lost and how much value the UK actually gets from the EU (bearing in mind £120 billion was knocked of British companies today). You'd need a PhD on each of these to answer it properly. If you based your comment on anything in the papers you should be very angry as you have been lied to.
Im german and the only thing i knew about this is that i can travel all over the place without any struggle at all and im very thankful for that! But the rest of that is up to politicians and i know i should care but i really dont
I understand the feeling. The EU has made living in the EU a lot easier. If I want to go Berlin, Amsterdam or Barcelona, I can just drive there and buy things with the same money. I can even make phonecalls at the same price. The only thing that actually changes, is the language people around me speak. Otherwise, it really feels like one big country, and that is what matters to me. I really feel all of the EU countries are "part of the family".
Still love this video. Watching this again now after Brexit and even though I'm sad about it, I take comfort in at least being a child of the Internet. Will be interested in how we manage to untangle ourselves from the endless asterisks...
Am i the only person it finds it odd how Germany had taken on the world in Two World Wars, lost 1/3 of its land (which it had when it was united) yet has the largest population in the EU?
No you shouldn't. Japan was also one of the major losers in WW2, but still managed to grow up to be one of the largest economies in the world. Germany and Japan were highly industrialised and populated countries before the wars and those resources did not go anywhere.
Countries that had or have high mortality rates usually also have high birth rates. Living in a country that has been stricken with a high death rate gives incentive to have more children so you will always have many to replace the ones you lost.
Wars actually do not kill all that many people and while it did kill a fair amount in this case you also need to remember that populations are self regulating. If 2-3 million die for whatever reason the rest just shags more and in a few generations we are back to normal. Its also one of the reason for the recent declining birth rates. The population reaches a comfortable number for the available resources and technology (comfort) and less people feel the need to have kids.
Germans in eastern Europe were forced by Joseph Stalin to leave so almost 100% of German speakers in former German and Austrian lands had to relocate to their main countries. Not so with Germans in Denmark, Belgium, and France although some of them moved as well.
There was forced relocations from neighbouring countries, especially Poland, where Germans were the majority in some areas. It is comparable to the forced relocations of the Greeks and Turks.
this is a pretty good educational video tbh,I would give tell my teacher if we can play it in geography class,as it has greek subtitles,but I dont because of taking jabs both our The church and the goverment of the country,something no teacher will let play.
the part of "living and retire on any of the countries" is my case and an exceptional advantage in any desire to live (or leave the country youre into) in other places
I wonder if CGP Grey intends to do a video on Brexit. I'd like to hear the thoughts of someone who lives in the UK and has a habit of breaking down complex issues into comprehensible 5-10 minute summaries.
I for one welcome our new hexagon overlord! This video made me wonder if the Borg would have been even more terrifying if their craft was made in the shape of a hexagon instead of a cube.
+bernardobiritiki In Greece the situation is complicated. I want to explain but is too complicated xD Yes im Greek... Btw there is no country in the world without a debt. The problem in Greece is that the debt is huge and it's hard to take more loans, so no loans = risk for bankruptcy = The plp who gave loans will lose their money. So why cant Greece live without loans? Because the politicians cant handle money even though they teach to famous univericities ^^
They are in power less than a year so is too early to judge. But my personal opinion is no, simple because their rivals agree with their dicision so something is wrong here ^^ just kidding. They did too many mistakes for example the hired again 400+ cleaners for the Ministry of Finance (btw the previous goverment fired them) and the parlament is the most expencive building (i talking about the staff who is working in there) in Greece (if not in Europe) but their paychecks is steady. If you count the politician wages (3500-5000 euros) is about 1.200.000 euros per month, and the guys who filing up water on the stand earn 1500 euro (when there is families who "living" with 600 euros) but of course the politicans reject these number and claim they are hungry too... Even their lies is bad! The parlament is working like for decades so that isnt syriza's fault but they can fix that if they wanted... And about that Grey said "that we lied about our economy to join the euro" isnt wrong, our pressident "cooked" our numbers but he never faced any charges ^^ Cool eh?
I still dunno why people think Turkey has any chance of joining. It has been trying to for 50 years and has failed completely because of their human rights offences, their shitty democracy and their denial of the Armenian genocide.
@DaDARKPass Well they may have had a chance before 2020 but this year has been a bit messy for them in political terms. However, the EU would never have let Turkey in before they clean their political system to replace it by a free democracy.
Just to be clear, those islands were inhabited until we found them and sent people there to colonize them. So what should we do with those other than "keeping" them? Ditch them along with the people we sent there?? We gave back all the habited territories that we'd occupied by force, but keeping the islands counts as imperialism as much as keeping any part of the territory of the country.
Pretty good video this time :D Some information on Greenland has a part of the Kingdom of denmark. Greenland left the EU in the 90s, before then it was a member of the EU. [well EEC, but EEC was the old version of EU]
In Britain we left, and as I am in school, I have lost count as to how many times I've heard the question " so, what continent are we in now since we left Europe "
This video is 7 years old. Here's some clarifications/changes for new viewers:
1. The UK has officially left the EU
2. Iceland, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Kosovo are currently not official candidates to join the EU
3. Turkey is a candidate country on paper, but there is no way in hell that’s happening anytime soon
4. Latvia and Lithuania have entered the Eurozone
5. Montenegro and Kosovo have chosen to adopt the Euro unilaterally
yeah and even this is changed
And soon Macedonia may lose its candidacy status too due to Bulgaria's ridiculous demands
Croatia is adopting Euro next year
6. Ukraine and Moldova has EU candidate status now
Turkey is under "eagerly awaiting Edrogan to croak" status.
For anyone wondering what he means at 5:22 by "That region in Greece where it's totally legal to ban women" He's referring to an area called "Mount Athos" it's a peninsula on the coast of Greece that is entirely enhabited by Christian Orthodox Monks who live in their monasteries. Since they are all men, they ask that women not visit the island as they say that they see it as a "distraction from their prayers." While technically part of Greece, Mount Athos maintains their autonomy by not voting in Greek elections, and not paying taxes to the Greek government. They also do not fly the flag of Greece, but instead, the flag of the Byzantine Empire, as that was the empire that they were living under when Mount Athos was formed. It's a long and complicated history spanning all the way back to when Jesus Christ was alive, but I just wanted to make it clear that it's a bit more than just "Totally legal to ban women."
Thanks for that info!
CVT OST glad you appreciate it!
That’s very helpful to know with more context
You say that as if Jesus Christ was ever alive.
you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave - loved that reference.
Okay...?
Was macht-
Ach, egal.
"The Europe Union is like a big Family. You talk about everything and in the end you do what mother wants".
@Sam Revlej Angela Merkel of course.
@Sam Revlej the eu commissions. Eu is basically a country, voluntarily upheld by them member states.
@Sam Revlej see you even cal yourself "eu citizen". Eu is basically a decentralized country with states under it maintaining the ability to return to full fledged sovereignty as UK voted to do.
@w花b I would question why anybody would want to leave in the first place, but it is worth noting that Britain's difficulty in leaving the EU was almost entirely self-inflicted. Yes, it takes time to replace thousands of pieces of legislation and regulation that come with EU membership, but that could all have been sorted out quite quickly. What really held back Brexit was Britain's constant "have our cake and eat it" attitude, and making demands that were physically impossible.
@user 101 europe really isnt a country
I live in Spain and it’s totally normal to go to Portugal on a Saturday afternoon and come back at night. Sometimes you don’t even notice you’re in a totally different country until you sit down at a restaurant and the waiter speaks portugués
@Dee Dubya There are many borders that do matter.
@Feanor1169lmao, you must be an USian
I live in by the Atlantic Ocean so i dont do that but when I got o Algarve (south) I already did that, it's really cool but o wich i went further deep.
"Lying about your financial situation is something no country would EVER do..." *Heavily glances at Greece*
*France, Spain, Italy and pretty much most if not all eurozone countries have entered the chat*
Yes, I too, watched the video
After resistance Socialists across Europe to set up crosses on the flag, one man Paul Levi, a Jew who converted to Catholicism and became president of journalistic office in the Council of Europe (founded in 1949) visiting the old continent. He realizes that in every major city there is a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, over whose head is 12 stars. Among the several hundred proposals remained just this, which was adopted at the end.
@MARIO STANIC Thanks for sharing
We're sorry? 😅
“The borders of the EU will probably continue to expand”
UK: I’m gonna pretend I didn’t see that
Once the UK leaves and is doing better more countries will leave the EU.
SupermanKelly™ but it won’t do better even people like ReesMogg said we’re not going to feel the benefits for atleast 50 years
@SupermanKelly™ English are not cretins, they will never leave United States of Europe.
Apathetic Apparition what? Yeah let’s double down on something that we’re not sure is going to benefit us and will only reap the rewards half a century later? No let’s work to better the EU from the inside
Apathetic Apparition absolutely. England is apart of the United Kingdom and as the UK is apart of the European Union, when we better the EU we would by extension be bettering England.
Ireland isn't in the Schengen area, not because they "believe Islands are different", but because the UK does, and so to prevent a border along Northern Ireland, we stuck with the UK. In the event of a united Ireland, I can see mass support for joining the Schengen area.
Honestly being able to just take your pastport and go anywhere with in the Schengen is awsome
Viktor Joelsson the point of schengen is that you don’t even need a passport. You just travel document free.
Disolve the UK
@explorernate I think you need a document. otherwise you couldn't prove to be a european citizen. borders still exist and you need a passport or identity card to cross them even if most of the time nobody checks if you do. I have been controlled by german police when I entered from switzerland.
@Mar Switzerland is not in the EU. That's why you were checked there. There are zero checks from Portugal to Poland, as long as you don't pass through Switzerland or the micro states between.
Anything political that's too complex to explain: **Exists**
CGP: *_I T ' S A S T O R Y F O R A N O T H E R T I M E._*
Almost every popular comment already has multiple troll answers about politics. Imagine if this vid _was_ about politics! Dear lord...
@Epamaarainen Roina You're 101% correct. Religion, politics and your local sports championship are things you can't discuss openly.
CGP to himself :dont say that!
Just like the Sprookjesboom in the Efteling.. how I miss you...
And then he (almost) never explains it like a parent when they say “I’ll tell you when you’re older.”
By the way, French Guiana at the northern coast of South America being "technically France" means that a flight from France to French Guiana is also "technically a domestic flight" and therefore very cheap, which is nice if you want to spend your winter holidays in Caribbean climate.
Sweden doesn't actually have a permanent opt-out of the eurozone like Denmark does. Instead, it deliberately doesn't meet the criteria for joining.
Basically, for a country to join the eurozone, its parliament should pass kind of a "Yes, we do actually want to join the eurozone" bill. The Swedish parliament just hasn't got around to doing it as of 2020, and considering the fact that most of Sweden's population are against adopting the euro, is likely not going to anytime soon.
Denmarks voted down the Euro several times too, not enough bridges or royalty on the currency
The German people would have never given up the Deutschmark had they been asked.
@Eric C Hell I'm pretty sure most Europeans don't want a federation, as much as the elite try.
@Eric C it was given up to reunify East and west Germany which people were actually massively in favour of. Learn history and stop talking stupidity in comments sections.
@Eamon ReidyI was in Germany when the wall fell. It only fell because we had a strong nato. And the ussr was coming apart. I know my history... I was there
The Schengen agreement is the best. A friend of mine crossed the border by accident, while on Border Duty (looking for illegal migration) with the military (fully armed) and the local police there said "Dude, wrong side of the border, you should have turned left, not right." And laughing their asses off.
What's interesting:
The USA was originally meant to be something like the EU: a confederacy of what was essentially self governing countries under a relatively weak central body. It too would have been terribly complex.
Of course we all know that didn't end up happening, and "States," actually ended up being provinces within a strong armed central government.
Which side (state/provinces or the federal government) got the worse end of the deal is the question
stareyedwitch
It's all a matter of perspective.
stareyedwitch That'd be an interesting topic for another video!
the political diversity is the biggest glitch of the EU. EU is comparable with US in many ways, but we will never become a superpower of major relevance on the world map unless we get further federalized and get more centralized federal power. I am ok with our strongest armies having just a fraction of the U.S. military budget. We never set a goal of policing world, we also may not be the best guy to do it as some of our countries had colonies in the past. Our role is rather to mediate peace and diffuse conflicts by dimplomatic means. When that fails, it's good to know our stronger brother has our backs. And vice versa. We're happy to be your allies within NATO and co-operate when you guys need our help.
And that's the ultimate european project, but there is a language wall and a country identity too strong.
If anybody is wondering about the choice of music, this part of Beethovens Symphony No. 9 (Ode to joy) was proposed in 1955 as the ECouncil anthem and accepted as such in 1972 without Schiller's German text though, and finally In 1985 as the EG/EU anthem officially acclaimed. There are versions in Latin and Esperanto, but they aren't officially accepted as the anthem.
Thanks for googling that for me
Freude schöner Götterfunken♪
I knew I recognized it but I couldn’t figure out what it was!!!! Thank you :’)
poor Beethoven...he would cry today about it.
@Tysker Barn why do you think he would?
Minor detail: You don't lose your EU-citizenship if you live in the Faroe Islands (a tiny part of Denmark), because there is no "Faroese citizenship", only "Danish Citizenship". So while EU laws and regulations don't apply to the Faroe Islands, a Faroe Islander/Dane who lives there regains their EU citizenship when they leave the territory.
I assume that's why his careful word usage in that section was "upon which *while* citizens of Denmark live", the "while" implying that it persists only for the duration of residency.
3:02 Actually, Sweden doesn't have a permanent opt-out in our contract like Denmark and the UK. We just choose to fail one of the economic requirements on purpose every year so that we aren't allowed to (read: don't have to) use the Euro
I don't see the point why you desperately want to avoid joining the Euro. As with many other memberships in the EU, you basically are following common rules anyway, without having a say. The SEK EUR exchange rate is basically static, so the only change you would see, is a different colour in bank notes and another number on it. Your companies already are doing virtually everything in EUR anyway, or at least those who trade with businesses in other countries. With the transition to electronic money going on (I very rarely use cash anymore), there's even less reason to stick to your own paper notes. I can understand when you want to keep your own money so that you can have your own monetary policy, but as Swedish and Danish money is basically linked with the EUR anyway, what's the point? It's not because we have given up on Belgian franks, that we have lost our soul/identity/whatever. We are still Belgians. We just use some other paper to pay our groceries with. It's not a big deal. It feels like people in Sweden and Denmark feel insecure about themselves. Somehow you need your "own" money, just so that you can say "hey, I'm Swedish/Danish". Weird...
@Janick Pauwels no, they’re simply just keeping themselves safe from the error of other countries. That’s why the UK never joined; the £ was extremely safe and most importantly was the oldest currency in the world. 2008 completely shattered Swedens confidence of changing currency, hence why it’s still so skeptical.
Basically, Scandinavia is wealthy enough to not feel pressured into change, so unless it can guarantee stability (which it can’t) they will not switch.
Outstanding move
@XXXTENTAClON what do you mean 'was the oldest currency'
@JAMP0T1 the £ is the oldest currency that still exists
7 years and I'm still waiting for a CGP Grey video on how the EU works as promised 🤣
Azores and Madeira haven't been considered colonies since the XVI century. They were populated by continental portuguese (and some flemish in the azores) with the full rights of any portuguese subject, they were organised into Municipios, with the rights and freedoms these traditionally had, same laws, same everything as the mainland. Before they were autonomous regions they were generally called "the adjacent islands" and seen as part of metropolitan Portugal as opposed to ultramarine Portugal
Clip-Share: let’s recommend this the day after brexit
Hey me too .
Right?! Let them know they made the right choice.
@Cesilius i mean they now have to get visas and go through immigration and importing & exporting is now more expensive for them
I'm guessing a lot of people have been looking for information on how the EU actually works.
Wait UK brexit already??
Sweden does not have an opt-out from the euro. They are legally obliged to adopt it, but a referendum in 2003 voted 56% no so the government has intentionally avoided fulfilling the economic criterias ever since.
Damn Sweden is sneaky af 😂😂
"Hey Sweden, reached those economic goals yet?"
"Nope"
"Why not?"
"uhh"
"Well?"
"uuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhh"
Is that even legal?
@Anonymous Montenegro just uses the euro without permission and nobody’s really done anything about it…Sweden NOT using it vs Montenegro just deciding to…
Imagine if they accidentally succeed in meeting the criteria
I have an EU law exam on Monday and this video was more useful (and entertaining) that the vast majority of my lectures - though being in a Scottish university it's depressing that the course may soon only be informative of what once was :(
I'm here since I watched a few reaction videos to it so felt I should watch the OG. I love watching non Europeans getting so confused by this video because I studied the EU for years at uni so I had every opportunity and plenty of time to absorb all the EU's weirdness. But it's still a little mindblowing seeing it all condensed down into a video!
I am a Greek in my early 20's. It's suddening how many people my age don't know about the lying part and many other facts. I dare to say that many people do stick to the glorious ancient past and don't really bother with anything else about history, especially modern (apart from WW2 of course). Not all of course. But a considerable amount, sadly. If only people knew a little bit more about the sources of many of today's problems and stopped just pointing fingers, that would be great. It really helps form a solid opinion for god's sake. The saddest thing of all is that school DOES include some of that stuff, but people don't fucking read it.
He Soyam
Ωραίο σχόλιο :-)
Με αυτα που έχω ακούσει σε συζητήσεις.. Μου πέφτουν τα μαλλιά από τώρα!
He Soyam
Τί εννοείς; Για πες κάτι συγκεκριμένο...
Το πιο χαρακτηριστικό ήταν στο δημοψήφισμα. Είδα φίλους να μαλώνουν μεταξύ τους για πράγματα που δεν ήξεραν.. Για να συνοψίσω τις γνώμες όσων μίλησα, το ΝΑΙ έλεγε "Η Ευρώπη είναι φίλοι μας" και το ΟΧΙ "Οι Γερμανοί είναι εχθροί μας". Πέρα από αυτό, καμία πλευρά δεν ήξερε τι σημαίνει καμία από τις δύο επιλογές στην πράξη, και μόνο έκαναν φαντασιώσεις για τη δραχμή, ο καθένας και με άλλη θεωρία! Λίγο research δεν βλάπτει ανεξάρτητα απο τι πιστεύει ο καθένας.. Δεν γίνεται να έρχεται ο άλλος να σου λέει "ρε, ψήφισε αυτό" και όταν τον ρωτάς γιατί, να σου λέει "επειδή είναι το σωστό" και να το αφήνει εκεί :P
He Soyam
Το δημοψήφισμα ήταν επίτηδες στημένο έτσι. ο Τσίπρας δεν νομίζω να περίμενε ή να ήθελε (μάλλον το δευτερο) ένα τέτοιο οχι, λόγω του τι επακόλουθησε.
Πάντως, επειδή ήταν ακατανόητο, νομίζω πως το Όχι γενικά ερμηνευόταν ως "Όχι άλλη λιτότητα, ότι και να γίνει, ακόμη και εκτός εε"... Αυτή είναι η πεποίθησή μουχ δεν ξέρω, βέβαια δεν μπορούσα και να ψηφίσω πέρυσι, οπότε...
In the modern day, I cannot thank you enough for being able to discuss things in a manner sufficiently civilised to
pronounce the second 's' in "asterisk".
“The borders of the EU will probably continue to expand”
Turkey lights up in green
That didn't age well...
As long as they keep insisting that northern Cyprus is a thing Greece will keep vetoing everything with them.
Also throwing refugees and migrants into the borders isn't nice.
@Vulpine Greece doesn't even need to veto them. Cyprus can itself lol.
I don't think Greece even cares what happens in Cyprus anymore really. They're mostly done with the island since now most of the population doesnt want to be part of Greece.
And Greece still has lots of issues with Turkey like Imia / Kardak and their border.
Most likely France and other countries would also veto them too, since they're not too happy on the migrants thing.
@YeoGP and that's a good thing, since they aren't a democracy anymore
VulpineKitsune Dude, Even if there was no issue called Cyprus, Turkey wouldn’t have been accepted. Because Turkey is not a European country, the population of which can change the power balance in EU. The another reason is the lack of interest by Turkish people towards EU. Turks have alienated themselves from Europe.
Have a good day, from Turkey.
@Maxim WannaBePro true.
Even if recently Hungary has stopped being a democracy more or less if I am not mistaken.
3:42 Correction: while the Reconquista, Castille and Portugal had conquered Açores, Maderia and Canary Islands before the discover of America, making it technically not part from the colonial empire. In this case you must talk about the french oversea departments and Holland's american islands, which are really taking during the colonial times and currently are colonies from France/Holland
It's the netherlands, not holland
@Cake is yummy yes
@Cake is yummy Holland it's better
For those of you who need it here's a list of all the countries he says: Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Poland, Romania, Kingdom of Netherlands, Greece, Belgium, Portugal, Czech Republic, Hungary, Sweden, Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Slovakia, Finland, Ireland, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia, Estonia, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta
print(noobcelot_comment - United Kingdom)
We learn almost nothing about the EU or European history in the US, so things like this are really useful
What history do you learn about then ? Because no offense but your history is a bit short ^^
@camille_9999 revolutionary war, civil war, both world wars, French Revolution, etc.
@WeLey I mean in Europe we pretty much start from the beginning of mankind and progressively make our way to the 21st century: apparition of writing, ancient civilizations (mostly Greece and Rome), middle ages and renaissance (mostly in Europe) and from this point we include the rest of the world more and more. From what you're telling me you only study the last 3 centuries at most...
Dude we literally have a course in high school called AP European History for students to take..... I took it and idk if you'll believe me, but I learned a little about European history
@Carson Chiem So history is optional in highschool in the US?
A little problem for France overseas territories: you switched Saint Martin and Mayotte! These two are different, when Saint Martin is an oversea territory as for French Polynesia or Saint Pierre et Miquelon, Mayotte is a region of France as for Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, and la Réunion 😁, this region is just next to la reunion and Madagascar
“France, the queen of not letting go”
Hmmm now where have I heard the reverse of that phrase before
Lol
I saw this comment right when i heard it
MAYBE
The members of the EU are:
Germany
France
United King-
UK: *I’m gonna stop you right there*
Soller the Vault-Tec Salesman
@James Finch ah, I see you are a man of culture
tpi eu.
Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.
I'm not European I am British
this way we voted to leave the European Union 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
rULE IN TOULOUSE PREFECTURE 3LORS DELIGOT23 GRAMATICALLY 3 PARA 6LEGAL 3
"and lying about money is certainly not something anyone would do..." *zooms in on Greece
Greece: "uh why is the camera pointed at me" *laughs nervously*
S Uhl o
that was epic
Master Godlike did u learn English in school?
Rupprecht Kurt Hasselbuttelmann-Fitzmeisterjaeger Rends l'argent*
Europe has a pretty well defined boundary. It goes on top of Ural mountains, then by Ural, river, Volga river, Caspian sea, top of Caucasus (easy way is Russia Border)
3:57 those regions don't want to leave France. Ironically, you forgot the only regions where an higher degree of autonomy is debated, the French Polynesia.
yeah they are like ticks
5:23 - I looked up that region. It was real easy, because I looked at a list of regions in Greece and I figured it was probably the one at the bottom of the list labelled "autonomous state" instead of "region". It's called Mount Athos, and lots of monks live there. "There is a prohibition on entry for women, called _avaton_ (Άβατον) in Greek, to make living in celibacy easier for men who have chosen to do so. Monks feel that the presence of women alters the social dynamics of the community and therefore slows their path towards spiritual enlightenment. … In the 14th century, Serbian Emperor Dušan the Mighty brought his wife, Helena of Bulgaria, to Mount Athos to protect her from the plague, but she did not touch the ground during her entire visit, as she was carried in a hand carriage all the time." There have also been a least a couple women who infiltrated and wrote about their experiences. But probably the weirdest thing about this ban: "Female animals, chickens, cows, ewes, nanny-goats, mares, and sows are also barred except for female cats, female insects and female songbirds."
Bulgaria does not use euro (yet), but it has fixed rate currency to euro equal to 1 EUR = 1.955 BGN, specifically close enough to 2, so people can multiply and divide by 2, but far enough for any intermediate sum of money to mismatch your expectation and require a calculator and currency conversion for what essentially have absolutely the same value.
I must be one of the only British people to have ever lived who frankly loves the EU and wants a political union... also, Germany's national anthem is the background theme to this video. Touché, CGP Grey.
Not quite sure where the part about Beethoven's citizenship came from at the end there, but thank you for that information.
Fair enough. Hopefully we'll be citizens of the USE or equivalent soon :)
That wasn't Germany's national anthem, that was "Ode an die Freude" which is the anthem of the EU.
Vidcom You're not the only one mate :)
Vidcom How about we put it to a referendum? Or wait, sorry. I forgot that the EU became allergic to those once it realised it would loose every single one.
How about we regain our national sovereignty and destroy the malignant and undemocratic tumour that the EU is?
"Though lying about those goals is certainly not something anyone would do." *slow zoom to Greece*
Before macroeconomics, I wouldn't have gotten that joke, but after writing a paper on the Greek financial crisis, I know significantly more about that. It's one of those jokes that you laugh at, then get sadder about the longer you think about it.
ThatOneWriter fml
please i have zero prior knowledge about economics , but I want to start learning about it. Could you refer me to some beginner resources ?
The internet is the solution. Just search randomly, you're bound to find something!
I would like to request a video explaining the history and purpose of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Great videos. Thank you for what you do.
The euro currency is interesting because countries like a Czech republic are required to accept euro,...sometime. So, UK has/had opt out, but other countries are required to accept it, but whenever they feel like.
I love your description about France : "The queen of not-letting-go" 😂😂😂
These asterisks almost never end, but this video must.
You're funny and you made a good video. 👍👍👍👍👍👍
I know its 8 years old but, Swiss has another * to EEA.
The EEA includes EU countries and also Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. It allows them to be part of the EU’s single market.
Switzerland is not an EU or EEA member but is part of the single market. This means Swiss nationals have the same rights to live and work in the UK as other EEA nationals.
Switzerland has a _ton_ of *'s... but that must be about the biggest (other) one, yup.
Say about the EU whatever you want. But having Schengen here is one of the best things what happened to Europe in a long time!
Switzerland is part of the European Free Trade Association, as are Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. By agreement, Swiss citizens are allowed to live in EU/EEA countries. Conversely, all EU/EEA citizens are allowed to live in Switzerland.
Buhdahto so they are technically in the EU, accept they dont have to go through endless regulations...
@Hoa Nguyen and can't vote EU laws.
Hoa Nguyen no Switzerland isn’t in the EU period.
@Edi Pires you swiss are in denial, same as the Norwegian.
Your countries cannot exist without accepting EU regulations, and your politics perfectly know that.
In fact you have nothing to lose and everything to win by entering the EU (because then you would be able to actually vote on the laws, and no, you don't have to take the €.)
Me AndMeToo first the all, I’m not Swiss nor Norwegian, I’m an EU citizen and proud of it.
2nd Switzerland has a way of governance which is incompatible with the EU. The cantons have a great level of autonomy that would be lost if they ever join the EU. And they have referendums for everything, so one canton can singlehandly block an entire EU initiative (like Wallonia did when CETA was negociated).
Lastly, I think you sir are in denial: Switzerland has lived 400 years with their own regulations, if they participate in some European projects (like the Schengen area) they have done of their own free will, no one has imposed them anything.
Oh and joining the Euro is a requirement for entering the EU (when conditions apply of course)
Here's an interesting way to be an EU citizen despite NEVER having lived in ANY of the EU countries or overseas territories:
1) I'm Canadian, born and raised.
2) My mother is from Northern Ireland so I am automatically a UK citizen.
3) My maternal grandparents were also born in Northern Ireland (yeah, so?)
4) When my grandparents were born, Ulster was part of the Irish Free State.
5) Thus, I am also automatically a citizen of Eire (Ireland)
6) Thus, I am also automatically a citizen of the EU
Having that many passports gets VERY expensive VERY quickly, but I'm thankful for them!
All northern Irish citizens may opt in for Irish passports regardless due to historical circumstances so you could regardless
Actually with brexit a lot of us were considering applying for Irish pass well as british as an escape option
I remember walking over a bridge from Belgium to Germany in 2020, getting an email that said welcome to germany, please follow our quarantine rules, and going back, getting the same email.
3:32
* for Poland as well - Poland is kind of in Eurozone, but not really. Poland does still use Polish Zloty [PLN] as currency since polish people voted couple years ago about NOT switching to euro (as it could very much impact internal economy as it happened in Germany).
Italian economy has been badly damaged by euro
What do you mean by "Kind of" in the Eurozone?? Poland isn't part of the Eurozone. They use the Złoty and don't have any ambitions of switching any time soon...
The Dutch Caribbean are that way because they chose to have that kind of relationship. They had the option to leave and possibly make their own nation, but they chose to stay. 3 as part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and 3 as special municipalities within the Netherlands.
The EU flag with asterisks instead of stars should have been the thumbnail of the video.
Things CGP Gray loves
1. Saying that's another story for another time
2. History
3. ASTERISKS
Hi, thanks so much for the video!
Now to make it more up-to-date, could you please put a note on top of the video or in the description, that Latvia and Lithuania are also in the Eurozone now (for more than two years actually)
And Brexit, but you acn save that for later.
Edit: and Poland is still on złoty with no intention to change that any time soon.
I don't think Sweden has a "formal opt-out" on joining the Eurozone. Only Denmark has. Sweden like Czechia and others are theoridtcally obligated to adopt the Euro but there are some "technicalities" which they can use "time" it.
I couldn't stop laughing during the hole video, seriously, you explain it in a really funny way. I love your commentaries.
swiss here, I believe the main reason we haven't and will probably never join the union isn't primarily because of economy or neutrality but a question of self determination. If we joined the EU would have to ditch or circumscribe our direct democracy, which allows us to challenge and vote on every decision our government makes. Of course this has downsides, for example the proposal for 7 Billion Francs for new fighter jets, which nearly got rejected again.... But this is probably the reason the people voted against EU membership every time.
As a European I have to admit, I do love a good asterisk.
I understand the reasons, but it still breaks my heart a little whenever I am stopped and asked for my passport at the Austrian-Italian or Austrian-Slovenian border ... we used to be cool about these borders.
I want a detailed list of every asterisk in EU laws and what they represent.
Nevermind we only have so many trees.
The best part about this whole video is that you chose the singer Yohanna (the girl who represented Iceland) who was actually born in Denmark proving your point about free movement by accident
The zooming in on Greece was marvelous!
Farion Long I live in Greece... And I can't stop laughing and crying at the same time 😂🤣😭
as an italian we kind of did a similar thing, we did not lie but cheated drugging our data to be able to take the euro, meanwhile they just falsified it. Just feeling excluded for not being mentioned :(
I am Greek and I so much enjoyed the insinuation about Greece and the Euro!!!
Britain left the chat
Genius Goblin ignorance is bliss
Genius Goblin Time will tell, and let's see who's the surprised one :D
We'll see about that
Benjamin Wickers Elena No This is a phrase that I invite you to copy and paste everywhere!
European union (regime) is based on 3 columns:
1) PUBLIC DEBT CREATED BY NOTHING TO TAKE UP DEMOCRACIES
2) ARTIFICIAL IMMIGRATION TO lower workers' salaries
3) HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT FOR THE STABILITY OF PRICES
The ECB is PRIVATE the euro is PRIVATE
ALL THE MONEY IN CIRCULATION = public debt
THIS IS THE REAL REACTION OF THE MARKETS!
Help
It’s
Still
Not
Done
Yet
I'm from Switzerland and I've travelled to the UK several times without needing a passport and without being asked for a "good reason" to visit.
Madeira and The Açores were uninhabited when the Portuguese got there, and there were no permanent settlements before they set up shop. The "Natives" of these islands are Portuguese... When you say they "Still haven't parted with these islands from their colonial days" it sounds as if they colonized these lands that were already inhabited by a native population (like they did in Brazil). The Canary Islands on the other hand did have a native population before the Spaniards got there.
Even though this isn't how it works, I can't help but imagine someone writing these laws and going _"You want to do WHAT now??!"_
As a Greek, I feel inclined to inform you about that last section of the video about banning women in a part of Greece, cause to the outsider it sounds barbaric. The region is called mount Athos and the reason women are banned is because Athos is basically a huge monastery. Greece follows the Orthodox Christianity (aka the hardcore version of the catholic) and part of the "ruleset" of the church is that women are not allowed in the churches affairs (but not excluded for attending and worshiping like all else). So Athos being an ancient and old-fashioned monastery does not allow women to visit the area at all. Hope that clears any confusion!
So they are banned. He said it right.
2:12 When going to another country inside the Schengen Area, you're not required to have a passport, simply because your national ID is enough. You still have to carry some form of ID.
The EU has got some more space now... They now have 1'GB' free *sigh*
For the best. We have paid too much money in and lost too much sovereignty.
+Matt 18 Not sure about that, we essentially just gave our top job to Boris Johnson, even if we get more money from this, it wont be going to any of us.
Really Dr Matt and what made you such a great judge of exactly what sovereignty is (which is an impossible thing to answer), how much we have actually lost and how much value the UK actually gets from the EU (bearing in mind £120 billion was knocked of British companies today). You'd need a PhD on each of these to answer it properly. If you based your comment on anything in the papers you should be very angry as you have been lied to.
I see what you did there.
Nice comment XD
I think you could make a 24-hour clip playlist of all the stories that you have kept for another video!
Looking forward to the revised version of this. It would be super awesome if that happened really soon...
Im german and the only thing i knew about this is that i can travel all over the place without any struggle at all and im very thankful for that!
But the rest of that is up to politicians and i know i should care but i really dont
I understand the feeling. The EU has made living in the EU a lot easier. If I want to go Berlin, Amsterdam or Barcelona, I can just drive there and buy things with the same money. I can even make phonecalls at the same price. The only thing that actually changes, is the language people around me speak. Otherwise, it really feels like one big country, and that is what matters to me. I really feel all of the EU countries are "part of the family".
Still love this video. Watching this again now after Brexit and even though I'm sad about it, I take comfort in at least being a child of the Internet. Will be interested in how we manage to untangle ourselves from the endless asterisks...
And navigating the asterisks of that untangeling.
It's worth mentioning that Poland is (and was) outside of the eurozone in 3:25
Am i the only person it finds it odd how Germany had taken on the world in Two World Wars, lost 1/3 of its land (which it had when it was united) yet has the largest population in the EU?
No you shouldn't. Japan was also one of the major losers in WW2, but still managed to grow up to be one of the largest economies in the world. Germany and Japan were highly industrialised and populated countries before the wars and those resources did not go anywhere.
Countries that had or have high mortality rates usually also have high birth rates. Living in a country that has been stricken with a high death rate gives incentive to have more children so you will always have many to replace the ones you lost.
Wars actually do not kill all that many people and while it did kill a fair amount in this case you also need to remember that populations are self regulating. If 2-3 million die for whatever reason the rest just shags more and in a few generations we are back to normal.
Its also one of the reason for the recent declining birth rates. The population reaches a comfortable number for the available resources and technology (comfort) and less people feel the need to have kids.
Germans in eastern Europe were forced by Joseph Stalin to leave so almost 100% of German speakers in former German and Austrian lands had to relocate to their main countries. Not so with Germans in Denmark, Belgium, and France although some of them moved as well.
There was forced relocations from neighbouring countries, especially Poland, where Germans were the majority in some areas. It is comparable to the forced relocations of the Greeks and Turks.
I love your attention to detail at 0:41 where Britain pays in pounds and the rest pay in euros.
Lol!! Thanks to whoever produced this video . Told with such irreverent humour. Love it!!
I still enjoy watching CGP Grey videos 9 years later
this is a pretty good educational video tbh,I would give tell my teacher if we can play it in geography class,as it has greek subtitles,but I dont because of taking jabs both our The church and the goverment of the country,something no teacher will let play.
the part of "living and retire on any of the countries" is my case and an exceptional advantage in any desire to live (or leave the country youre into) in other places
yes. my desire to leave the UK has grown every day since the referendum. its cool though we will be back in the EU one day
on 03:25 there is a small problem. Poland listed as a part of the eurozone does not use euro currency. We have our own polish złoty.
I wonder if CGP Grey intends to do a video on Brexit. I'd like to hear the thoughts of someone who lives in the UK and has a habit of breaking down complex issues into comprehensible 5-10 minute summaries.
European continent has very clear boundaries indeed. They are not very well known, but they are clearly defined.
I for one welcome our new hexagon overlord!
This video made me wonder if the Borg would have been even more terrifying if their craft was made in the shape of a hexagon instead of a cube.
But are hexagonal also the bestagon in a 3d space?
2:50, Latvia & Lithuania have also adopted the EURO as of Jan.1.'14 & Jan.1.'15 respectively.
It's not that difficult when you already live in any of these countries and know what the membership entails for you as a citizen
That closeup of Greece at 2:53 killed me pmsl
Cheers mate
+Iron Giant lol, ikr XD
+bernardobiritiki In Greece the situation is complicated. I want to explain but is too complicated xD
Yes im Greek...
Btw there is no country in the world without a debt. The problem in Greece is that the debt is huge and it's hard to take more loans, so no loans = risk for bankruptcy = The plp who gave loans will lose their money. So why cant Greece live without loans? Because the politicians cant handle money even though they teach to famous univericities ^^
+T Panos so is syrisa working out or no? i really really really hope it is
They are in power less than a year so is too early to judge. But my personal opinion is no, simple because their rivals agree with their dicision so something is wrong here ^^ just kidding. They did too many mistakes for example the hired again 400+ cleaners for the Ministry of Finance (btw the previous goverment fired them) and the parlament is the most expencive building (i talking about the staff who is working in there) in Greece (if not in Europe) but their paychecks is steady. If you count the politician wages (3500-5000 euros) is about 1.200.000 euros per month, and the guys who filing up water on the stand earn 1500 euro (when there is families who "living" with 600 euros) but of course the politicans reject these number and claim they are hungry too... Even their lies is bad! The parlament is working like for decades so that isnt syriza's fault but they can fix that if they wanted...
And about that Grey said "that we lied about our economy to join the euro" isnt wrong, our pressident "cooked" our numbers but he never faced any charges ^^ Cool eh?
CGP: "The borders of the EU will probably continue to expand"
*Turkey lights up green*
The entire EU in 2020: *chuckles*
I still dunno why people think Turkey has any chance of joining. It has been trying to for 50 years and has failed completely because of their human rights offences, their shitty democracy and their denial of the Armenian genocide.
@DaDARKPass Well they may have had a chance before 2020 but this year has been a bit messy for them in political terms.
However, the EU would never have let Turkey in before they clean their political system to replace it by a free democracy.
@Bobing exactly.
@DaDARKPass It's basically a unicorn but both sides using it for political deals.
That's amazing. So many exceptions that there's no point to the rules.
All of the coins with sealife on them was an incredible explanation of your point.
Very very good,
Part two is heavily needed.
Correction! At 3:25 you put Poland as a part of the Eurozone. Poland uses the Złoty, not euro.
I started laughing when he started talking about financial goals while zooming in on Greece.
Just to be clear, those islands were inhabited until we found them and sent people there to colonize them. So what should we do with those other than "keeping" them? Ditch them along with the people we sent there?? We gave back all the habited territories that we'd occupied by force, but keeping the islands counts as imperialism as much as keeping any part of the territory of the country.
This video is amazing! It really helps and is fun to just watch.
We need an Update!
Also can you fill us in what the heck is happening with EU-UK relations?
Pretty good video this time :D
Some information on Greenland has a part of the Kingdom of denmark.
Greenland left the EU in the 90s, before then it was a member of the EU. [well EEC, but EEC was the old version of EU]
Thank you for calling Malta 'too small' only recongnision we get
“Check in any time they like but they can never stay”
So reverse Hotel California.
MANY A ROOM AT THE HOTEL SHENGEN AREA
Patrick Does Stuff oo
Yep, the Ainrofilac Letoh.
Spain "close one"
Also its not true. Swiss citizens can live and work freely in the EU
In Britain we left, and as I am in school, I have lost count as to how many times I've heard the question " so, what continent are we in now since we left Europe "
I love that you used a Bulgarian note in the video, that's awesome
You have more chances to join the eurozone than us 🇷🇴, dear neighbours 🤗
Also for anyone wondering, the Vatican can not join the EU because it is one of the few nations with an absolute monarchy