Power worries? Overpopulation issues?

[Dodge]

What about this for an ambitious solution to europe's problems?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantropa

[Magno]

Interesting concept but I doubt it will ever come to be, especially in the modern environmental consciencous society.

[conon394]

What about this for an ambitious solution to europe's problems?

Last time I checked Europe was struggling to sustain replacement rate reproduction and not all that happy about the immigration option what with all the Africans and Muslims

[Aru]

Most certainly not, Croatia will lose most of its coast which is of more worth then any land we would gain instead!

Other then that it's just not worth it. Entire Mediterranean coast lives of tourism, and most bigger cities are important ports. They would end up kilometers from the sea, the economic loss for current coastal areas would be enormous. Whole new stretch of industrial and tourist infrastructure would have to be built anew.

The shipping routes would be completely disrupted with closed Gibraltar, there would then be two choke points for ships: Gibraltar and Suez, the shortest route between eastern Atlantic and Indian ocean would become quite more expensive.

And then also the ecological concerns.

And considering that Europe can still hold quite more population then it does with proper planning and that most dense population centers (the "banana" from north Italy to England) don't border Medietarranean except in North Italy, there is simply no need for such project in foreseeable future.

[Turtle Hammer]

That does seem like one of the more crackpot solutions for Europe to say the least, although I'm not sure this is in the right place. A better solution for Europe would be to crack down on immigration. Some people see it almost as their right to come here without bringing anything to the table without a thought for how burdonsome to the state, and thus, the people that they'll be. It needs to be strictly skills based, fill in the gaps we need, and those coming to eventually use loop holes to bring whole families over to milk benefits be turned away.

And while I'm pro EU, I think the ammount of people coming to the UK, earning money, then returning to poorer countries will damage the UK's economy since that money being earned here's not being put back in. I think the borders are too open for the sort of body the EU is, and would only really be appropriate in a Federalised Europe, which would most likely standardise everything and make this a moot issue.

Edit: I'm pretty sure this'll get moved by the way, which is why I got political. If not, forgive me.

[Aru]

gigantic engineering and colonization project devised by the German architect Herman Sörgel in the 1920s and promulgated by him until his death in 1952.

Put it in historical context. Back in 20's and 30's the vision of overpopulated Europe with massive energy problems was a serious possibility by the end of the century with growth and limited technologies of the start of the century. It's easy to be smart now when the growth, both in population and economy is slow or none, and technologies allow us to make more food on smaller area and house more people in dense, but quality housing. Add to that the current availability of nuclear and clean energy.

[Exarch]

quite simply
give young couples incentives to have kids and a family earlier in life

[Mangalore]

quite simply
give young couples incentives to have kids and a family earlier in life

Plus increase medical possibilities/likelihood for kids latter in life. As current education necessitates that people with academic degree join the worforce with 25-30 years it is a large conflict for women that they have to build their career in a timeframe (let's assume 5-10 years) where they would have several children a generation ago.

It leads to a major conflict of life interests right there which are only difficult (and if the financial or work situation does not play out well) often impossible to align. There is still alot to contemplate if you want to optimize our societies to accomodate family and job to a sufficient degree that you don't have to choose between the two.

[Stalins_Elite]

quite simply
give young couples incentives to have kids and a family earlier in life

We did exactly that here in Australia. Going on a purely statistical level, our national birth rate was lower then our national death rate, the only thing keeping our countries population on the increase was immigration. So the government came up with a scheme to tempt people to have more childeren in the form of a $5000 cash in hand bonus for every new born child. The theory behind it was good, but now we have a tonne of young mothers that have dropped out of school/university in order to raise they're new baby and are living primarily off the welfare system. So all in all, the concept is costing the tax payer a hell of alot more then $5k a pop, but on the bright side. The last I heard our population is on the increase. SE.

[removeduser_4536284751384]

And while I'm pro EU, I think the ammount of people coming to the UK, earning money, then returning to poorer countries will damage the UK's economy since that money being earned here's not being put back in. I think the borders are too open for the sort of body the EU is, and would only really be appropriate in a Federalised Europe, which would most likely standardise everything and make this a moot issue.me.

immigrants taking money from your country and moving it to theirs is good for your economy and bad for their own

[Nikos]

Moved to alternate history.

-Nikos

[Dodge]

Personally, I think it is a fantastic idea.

[Luger]

In the past, conflicts and disease solved overpopulation and power worries.

[♔Goodguy1066♔]

Who would build it, the Spaniards? Lol, they've been building a church for 130 years and they're barely halfway through!