I would argue that the EU is quite a successful organization given the task of setting up general market rules for 26 countries.
Obviously there is a lot to criticize about the EU and I can offer you a gigantic list there too. However, I do not see any clear failure of the EU’s approach as a single market so far. Additionally part of the philosophy was establishing peace in a region that was torn up by wars for a lot longer than Christianity exists. I would argue the EU was quite successful there too.
It's definitely successful, and I was probably too harsh there. But I genuinely think the barriers that are left are damn near insurmountable. An awful lot has to change before a Greek tech workers can move to Sweden as easily as a Virginian can move to California.
What would you change if you could? The EU already offers freedom of movement to EU citizens. Of course the US being a country instead of a connection of countries offers a more streamlined experience and surely the shared language plays a huge role too. But when I want to come up with examples such as a Greek person having completely different retirement, health care and legal schemes in Sweden compared to Greece, it seems the US is not so dissimilar there either given that states sometimes have very different approaches to health care, taxes, labor laws, etc.
Mostly stuff you can't really change. Like, the cultural difference between Sweden and Greece is _way_ bigger than between California and Virginia. You've got the language barrier too. This isn't gonna be fixed, maybe ever, but will continue to cause friction.
I just thought it was funny your example was my experience. But I also don't think it applies that much to tech workers, they dont need to learn swedish at all. Certainly not easy but not insurmountable as you say.
Obviously there is a lot to criticize about the EU and I can offer you a gigantic list there too. However, I do not see any clear failure of the EU’s approach as a single market so far. Additionally part of the philosophy was establishing peace in a region that was torn up by wars for a lot longer than Christianity exists. I would argue the EU was quite successful there too.