> It does not have a meaningful source of funds that is at the sole discretion of the EU parliament - imagine the US federal government with a budget that is decided by the 50 individual states.
We don't need to imagine that - it's exactly how the USA worked under the Articles of Confederation.
But the only solution to that involves significant transfer of sovereignty from member states to the federal structures. And it doesn't feel like most EU member states are willing to go there.
Yeah, look at the disaster that has happened in federal governance in the US. We used to have a government of enumerated powers, now there is very little that the government can't do.
The problem with a strong federal government is that you can't escape bad governance by moving to a neighboring state, you have to change countries. People are generally far happier with local governance than federal governance.
We don't need to imagine that - it's exactly how the USA worked under the Articles of Confederation.
But the only solution to that involves significant transfer of sovereignty from member states to the federal structures. And it doesn't feel like most EU member states are willing to go there.