National Interest

One of the things that led me to becoem an implacable foe of the EU was the realisation that even when they do something with the best of interests at heart, the results are usually completely unrelated to the aims. The reason for this is usually the competing national interests of the members. Take Climate Change

When European Union officials created a market for trading pollution credits, they boasted that it was a "cost-conscious way" to save the planet from global warming.

Whatever you think of Global Warming, theoretically they were right in making this statement. A pollution trading scheme, automatically cuts pollutions where the cost of doing so is least.

However, they managed to screw it up.

The mistake came when the European Commission allowed the EU's 25 governments to provide too many permits

Basically, if a national government provides too many permits, its local companies can make money by selling those to foreigner companies. So it becomes a way for governments to create exports with the flick of a pen.

The worst of this is that the incompetence that led to this situation, then allows extremist greens to attack the whole concept of emissions trading as somehow immoral.

So even when the EU chooses the best option available to it, they still make a mess of it.