Spoiler
I sure hate using the same currency everywhere, being able to travel around freely, cheap flights, being able to expect the same laws and food standards anywhere in Europe. It really sucks.
I wish it would take me 4hours just to cross the Dutch border, like when I was young. Man, it was so much fun going to France, being checked at every border, taking hours just to spend a day at the sea in Holland, then having to convert my money with a crappy exchange rate, just to buy some icecream. SO MUCH FUN.
I also really hate going to countries like Malta and seeing all those EU projects popping up. All those restored Forts and Castles are just so ugly... It is also retarded that I can easily use my credit card anywhere in Europe. Or that I do not have to pay VAT when buying stuff from other European countries with my company account. It just sucks. Not being taxated twice also fucking sucks, like seriously. I would love to pay income tax twice and pay additional VAT on it. I hate doing buisness in other countries, it is just to easy.
Personally, I would be so much better off without the EU, I do not profit from the EU at all!
-Your convenience for using the same currency is paid for by economic misery in Southern Europe. Would you be willing to see your taxes go to Greek or Italian coffers via fiscal transfers in return for that convenience? I hope so.
-'the same laws and food standards anywhere in Europe'-Well, up to a point. Those standards have quite a lot to do with Codex Alimentarius and UNECE. A lot of EU food safety regulation is actually just implementing what has already been agreed at UN level.
-I travelled regularly between New York and Ontario when I was in Canada. Clearing border controls usually took 60 seconds or less. There are still internal checks on EU cross-border traffic by the way, French douane/Irish customs/etc still stop travellers they just do it away from the legal border.
-You can use your credit or debit cards just about anywhere in the Western world. Never had a problem in Canada.
-'I do not have to pay VAT when buying stuff from other European countries with my company account'-I'm not an accountant but I'm fairly sure you do need to pay VAT on that...
You have a fair point re: EU funding but it's hardly Marshall Aid. Even for the biggest recipient, Poland, EU spending only accounts for 2.6% of Gross National Income.
The problem with all those benefits you listed is that it's perfectly possible to have them without the need for a technocratic supranational union that wants its own army. Much of this is already happening as a result of globalisation (particularly flights, credit cards, telecommunications etc), and it's on an intergovernmental basis.
Of course the EU has gone furthest and fastest than anywhere else. The only other place that you can compare it to is New Zealand and Australia (which also have free movement, residency and employment rights; mutual recognition of regulation and standards for goods, services, professional qualifications etc; harmonisation of social policy regarding pensions, welfare payments; military and intelligence co-operation and integration; etc). You can do all this stuff without 28 unelected Commissioners led by a drunkard, a useless parliament, a silly flag and anthem, grandiose plans for an army, and so on.
The question you need to ask yourself is why EU citizens have so little democratic control over EU integration vs your average Australian/New Zealand citizen has over the trans-Tasman equivalent.
