The European Union has a problem

A ‘brain drain’ is not turning out at all well for governments, and people outside of the EU are largely unaware of what’s happening.<br><br>Germany has 1.5 million unfilled positions, France has 1.4 million, Italy has 1.2 million, and the UK has 1.5 million, in all 4.2 million unfilled positions in just those four countries. But it’s not just unfilled positions they have had a ‘brain drain’.<br><br>A ‘brain drain’ is when skilled individuals leave to other countries that offer better and ‘greener’ pastures. Hardly a good thing for your country. With ‘brain drain’ comes lower birth rates. But the EU at least is hardly alone in that respect.<br><br>There are 17 countries that have birth rates so low that the native population generally speaking would not replace itself without immigration. It doesn’t end there, in the UK for instance, they have 1.5 million unfilled positions, mostly in tech and engineering. This is also true for Germany and France. This is an incredibly worrying trend.<br><br>Why does this happen? In the EU, there are higher taxes, more regulations, and more bureaucracy. All of these factors including the lack of free speech and stifling of dissenting voices make the EU an unattractive place to live. It doesn’t end there though.<br><br>The EU have had a policy whereby they have pushed the elderly into work, which is a good idea, but it’s also good – and wise to attract younger people. The problem for the EU, is that some of its most skilled workers have left for other countries, that have generally speaking, lower taxes, and less bureaucracy. In fact most EU countries have lost a lot of their ‘best and brightest’. Hardly a good thing for the EU.<br><br>The EU has also seen ‘mass migration’ into their member states, in fact, it has been a part of EU policy for the past 10 years. But that ‘mass migration’ has also had a lot of ‘unskilled’ workers. In the UK alone there is an estimated 5 million migrants that have arrived this year alone. Hardly a good thing when you consider that the ‘native population’ are generally speaking, leaving in large numbers.<br><br>So what will happen next? It’s hardly good for the EU that the UK has jumped ship so to speak. Hardly a good thing when you consider that the UK was ‘avant garde’ when it comes to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). <br><br>The EU have a problem, they don’t want to admit it, but they do. They are struggling in all areas. They have lost a lot of their most skilled workers, and have lost sight of what the EU was originally created for.<br><br>They don’t want to admit it but ‘the brain drain’ is largely their fault. They have been intransigent when it comes to ‘listening’ to dissenting voices, not listened to the concerns of their population at large, and have been ‘tone deaf’ when it comes to their own citizens. They generally speaking have not listened. But that’s not the half of it.<br><br>The EU have invested a lot in their own citizens, they have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on education and training. But these citizens have left almost as soon as they have completed their education and training. So why did they do this? What drove them to leave?<br><br>All the ‘brain drain’ actually does, is to reinforce the idea that the EU is ‘no longer safe’. It tells us that the EU is unattractive, and it tells us that the EU is a place that ‘you can’t at least hardly be yourself’.<br><br>It’s a concerning trend, and it’s a trend that largely speaking has no signs of reversing. As this is an economic subreddit, we should be ‘avant garde’, we should be forward thinking, and not worry about the perceived ‘consequences’ of at least being honest. But I’m sure we will see largely speaking, people will be in ‘denial’. But that’s the ‘EU way’.