Wojtek:
> But more seriously, I never understood the obstinacy of some segments of
> the Euro left toward the EU.
"Some segments" in the above quoted is hedging. It would be far more accurate to say that the left is critical of the EU/anti-EU.
The problem is with the elasticity of the term "left" as applied by U.S.-Americans frustrated by a two-party system. From that perspective, a political party like Bündnis 90/Die Grünen is a "left" party, or "die tageszeitung" is a "left" newspaper.
When in fact, that actual "left", both extra-parliamentary and party-oriented, would never do that. Bündnis 90/Die Grünen are a liberal party with a broad spectrum spanning from hardcore neo-liberal to token "leftists" like Christian Ströbele. The "taz" is a moderate liberal yuppie newspaper that occasionally opens up its pages to authors further left.
Wojtek is on record as basically being in favor of a sort of Fordist welfare state capitalism. Fine, but not "left" by any measure, at least not by the actual "Euro left" that he refers to in his post. Not even the "reformist" Euro left.
Also, Wojtek's post seriously underplays the fact that EU is essentially an institution for implementing neoliberalism, an insight that even Dennis Redmond has finally proven capable of recognizing. For people on the European periphery, in the so-called PIGS countries, it's also increasingly clear that Brussels is a synonym for "Berlin". After two failed world wars, German capital's drive to dominate the continent is finally having success.
I now expect the predictable torrent of abuse about how I don't realize how bad it is in the U.S., and the standard non sequiturs about how the U.S. has no public health insurance or free university system. Fire away...