Comment by graemep

I think you are right about the aims but I do not think you can be a world power without being unified to the extent that would be a federation.

The EU is a large market but it is shrinking as a share of the global economy (despite expansion) so how long does that lower last.

On the other hand the big EU economies are big enough to make pulling out of them a significant loss.I do not think any global business would be happy to just give up doing business with Germany.