[Assam] European Union and South Asian Federation

[Ram Sarangapani]

I was actually waiting when this other shoe would drop? Didn't have to wait
too long :-)

India, Pak, etc have several such unions ... the SAARC, **SAFTA, South Asian
Economic Union and so forth.  In fact, there a some trade agreements between
Pakistan & India or B'Desh & India or Sri Lanka & India.

It's NOT as if South Asian nations don't know or understand the benefits of
such cooperation.


--Ram



On Thu, Jun 10, 2010 at 12:48 PM, Dilip and Dil Deka <dilipdeka at yahoo.com>wrote:

> I am sure most netters have read european history and know how viciously
> the european tribes (and subsequently nations) fought for centuries. World
> wars I and II were fought in Europe. If those people can form an economic
> and political union for the sake of survival, what is wrong in expecting
> India, Pakistan and Bangladesh (also Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan possibly)
> to form a federation?
> There are 27 members in the EU and it is growing.
> Dilip
> ===========================================================
>
> Member states
>
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> The continental territories of the member states of the European Union
> (European Communities pre-1993), animated in order of accession.
>
> Albania
>
> Austria
>
> Belarus
>
> Belgium
>
>
> Bos.
> & Herz.
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> Bulgaria
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> Croatia
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> Cyprus
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> Czech
> Rep.
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> Denmark
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> Estonia
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> Finland
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> France
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> Germany
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> Greece
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> Hungary
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> Iceland
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> Ireland
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> Italy
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> Latvia
>
> Lithuania
>
> Luxembourg
>
> Mac.
>
> Malta→
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> Moldova
>
> Mont.
>
> Netherlands
>
> Norway
>
> Poland
>
> Portugal
>
> Romania
>
> Russia
>
> Serbia
>
> Slovakia
>
> Slovenia
>
> Spain
>
> Sweden
>
>  Switz-
> erland
>
> Turkey
>
> Ukraine
>
>
> United
> Kingdom
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> European Union is composed of 27 sovereign Member States: Austria, Belgium,
> Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France,
> Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
> Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic,
> Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.[30]
> The Union's membership has grown from the original six founding
> states—Belgium, France, (then-West) Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the
> Netherlands—to the present day 27 by successive enlargements as countries
> acceded to the treaties and by doing so, pooled their sovereignty in
> exchange for representation in the institutions.[31]
> To join the EU a country must meet the Copenhagen criteria, defined at the
> 1993 Copenhagen European Council. These require a stable democracy that
> respects human rights and the rule of law; a functioning market economy
> capable of competition within the EU; and the acceptance of the obligations
> of membership, including EU law. Evaluation of a country's fulfilment of the
> criteria is the responsibility of the European Council.[32]
> No member state has ever left the Union, although Greenland (an autonomous
> province of Denmark) withdrew in 1985. The Lisbon Treaty now provides a
> clause dealing with how a member leaves the EU.
> There are three official candidate countries, Croatia, Macedonia and
> Turkey. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Iceland are
> officially recognised as potential candidates.[33] Kosovo is also listed as
> a potential candidate but the European Commission does not list it as an
> independent country because not all member states recognise it as an
> independent country separate from Serbia.[34]
> Four Western European countries that have chosen not to join the EU have
> partly committed to the EU's economy and regulations: Iceland, which has now
> applied for membership, Liechtenstein and Norway, which are a part of the
> single market through the European Economic Area, and Switzerland, which has
> similar ties through bilateral treaties.[35][36] The relationships of the
> European microstates, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican include
> the use of the euro and other areas of co-operation.[37]
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