UK's Great Escape - Facts4EU.Org looks at the EU’s inexorable takeover of a continent

The European Union: The World’s most expansionist empire, in maps and charts

Montage Facts4EU.Org 2021

Despite the loss of its 2nd-largest member country, the EU’s expansionist march seems relentless

A Brexit Facts4EU.Org Series

Part One – The EU’s acquisition of countries, land, and people (this report)
Part Two – The EU’s acquisition of political and other powers
Part Three – The EU’s empire compared to the last Western European empire: the Third Reich

In just 64 years, the EU has expanded beyond recognition. It started quietly as the European Economic Community (EEC) which was founded by six countries in 1957 with the Treaty of Rome.

Sixteen years passed before its first expansion in 1973 when it increased its number of countries by 50%. Since then its acquisitive nature has gathered pace and become more apparent.

Today Brexit Facts4EU.Org tells the story of the World’s most expansionist empire, in simple maps, charts, and facts and figures.

In this three-part series we ask: Is the EU now the most dangerous world threat to individual nationhood, cultural identity, personal freedoms, and the established global order?

Part one – countries, land, people

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

How much has the EEC/EU expanded so far?

Number of countries - Has increased by 4.5 times, from 6 to 27 (+350%)

Land mass - Has increased by 3.5 times, from 1,170,348 sq km to 4,125,107 sq km (+252%)

By any measure, and despite the EU’s loss of the United Kingdom, the EEC/EU’s expansion over the past 50 years has been continuous and significant.

Which new member countries does the EU have in its sights?

The EU has five candidate countries in process, and there are two potential candidate countries currently listed by the EU Commission. These are:-

Five official candidate countries in process:

Albania
Republic of North Macedonia
Montenegro
Serbia
Turkey

Two potential candidate countries on the list:

Bosnia and Herzegovina
Kosovo

If these seven countries all join, then our maps above would look like this

Observations

Isn't 'empire' a dirty word?

In this series of Facts4EU.Org reports we are looking at the EU as an empire. Given the increasing centralisation of power in Brussels and the large increase in areas of life controlled by the EU Commission, this seems perfectly appropriate.

In this, Part One, we have focused on the enormous increase in the EU's control in terms of countries, territory, and people. In less than 50 years since its first enlargement (when the EU was called the European Economic Community or EEC) the number of countries is 4.5 times greater, the amount of territory is 3.5 times greater, and the number of people living under the EU is now 2.85 times greater.

It is official EU policy to absorb the Balkans countries and Turkey, as the next phase of the EU's expansion. In our view it doesn't matter whether a country such as Turkey is likely to join in the next few years or not. The fact is that this is EU policy and Turkish government policy. In any case it seems highly likely that some of the Balkan countries will start joining around 2025.

In Part Two Facts4EU.Org will look at the EU’s acquisition of political and other powers over the citizens in its empire. We also intend to question the democratic legitimacy of this whole exercise in empire building.

Facts4EU.Org and you

Most of our readers are well-informed and appreciate our fact-based articles, presented in a way you won't see anywhere else. If you value reports like the one above - and the further two parts to come - please help our work with a donation. We have far more to do in researching, publishing, campaigning and lobbying Parliament than we have in terms of the financial resources to fulfil these tasks. We badly need funding to continue - we rely 100% on public donations from readers like you. We are a 'not for profit' team (we make a loss) and any donation goes towards the actual work, not plush London offices, lunch or taxi expenses, or other luxuries of some organisations. Nor do we ask you for further donations if you donate once - we just hope that you keep supporting us. Your donation stays anonymous unless you tell us otherwise.

If you believe in a fully-free, independent, and sovereign United Kingdom, please make a donation now. It’s quick, secure, and confidential, and you can use one of the links below or you can use our Donations page here. You will receive a personal, friendly ‘thank you’ from a member of our team within 24 hours. Thank you for reading this.

[ Sources: EU Commission | World Bank | OECD ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Thur 29 Jul 2021

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Reader Comments 11

11. EU must be joking , Wednesday, August 04, 2021, 13:56:

There is nothing wrong with a European Superstate in principle if this is what the majority of EU citizens want; but we have no way of knowing if this is what they want because they have never been given the opportunity of voting on the matter. The EU as its currently structured is fundamentally undemocratic because it was designed around the principle of enlightened despotism, with the sovereignty of member states being gradually subsumed by Brussels.
The creation of the Euro has thrown a spanner in the works with regard to this gradual process of assimilation. The Euro has been an economic disaster for the southern European members of the Eurozone; by effectively devaluing the German currency by 20% it has gifted Germany with the biggest trade surplas in the world, via the relative impoverishment of the poorer southern member states.
The only way the Euro can survive in the long term is for there to be fiscal union; fiscal union will mean fiscal policy of the Eurozone will be decided by a Eurozone Chancellor, who will be German or controlled by Germany. Citizens of the Eurozone will no longer be able to vote on tax and spending issues in their member state elections and will have no direct democratic control over their countries fiscal policy. The EU is already pushing for there to be an EU Foreign Minister; if citizens of Eurozone member states also face the prospect of losing the right to vote on tax and spending issues as well, what exactly will be the point of voting in member state elections?
Can you imagine the reaction of the citizens of the Eurozone member states when fiscal union becomes a reality, particularly among the younger voters in the southern member states who have had to put up with years of high levels of unemployment and are stuck in countries that cannot grow their economies because they have got a currency that only suits the richer northern states, principally Germany?
Adios European Superstate

11 comments, page 2 of 2

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