Whatever the nominal point of the EU, the reality is that it massively benefits Germany, France and (formerly) the UK at the expense of the periphery - especially the southern periphery.
The Euro has been an absolute disaster for the PIGS - precisely because it has legitimised nationalist economic policies within a nominally (but disingenuously) open trade zone.
That's bad enough on its own, but the German and French right wing are immensely fond of couching this as a moral failure on the part of the feckless, lazy southerners who don't work hard enough to pay their bills.
That's criminally offensive to the economic reality, which is that the Euro has mostly become an excuse for loan sharking and economic exploitation.
Tax policy is a confused footnote. Juncker, who is so very very ashamed of Ireland, was in charge of putting in place very similar sweetheart deals in Luxembourg - a fact which he seems to be trying hard to deny.
The Euro has been an absolute disaster for the PIGS - precisely because it has legitimised nationalist economic policies within a nominally (but disingenuously) open trade zone.
That's bad enough on its own, but the German and French right wing are immensely fond of couching this as a moral failure on the part of the feckless, lazy southerners who don't work hard enough to pay their bills.
That's criminally offensive to the economic reality, which is that the Euro has mostly become an excuse for loan sharking and economic exploitation.
Tax policy is a confused footnote. Juncker, who is so very very ashamed of Ireland, was in charge of putting in place very similar sweetheart deals in Luxembourg - a fact which he seems to be trying hard to deny.