Nothing is as it seems. When democratic governments are elected, do you ever wonder why they don't seem able to change very much? Whoever we vote for, vested interests seem to prevail.
Over time special interest groups, unfettered by legal norms or public opinion, have formed 'states within a state' ...
Is there any such thing as a European identity? Amidst all the kaleidoscopic variety what - if anything - do 28 members of the European Union have in common? If the EU is to succeed the big states of Europe must discover and define that common identity.