The European Union should be abolished

Thanks to my opponent for instigating this debate. I wish them good luck.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A. PlagiarismShortly after I accepted this debate and typing out my entire response - *sigh* - I found that my opponent had plagiarized the entirety of her argument from this source:(http://gatesofvienna.net...)Whilst it is partially my fault for accepting the debate before verifying if she had plagiarized or not, this is still unfortunate.B. ClarificationMy opponent has made a variety of statements without offering any support for them, rendering her argument thus far as entirely inadequate. Still, I will address each point as if she had actually properly presented it.C. Rebuttals1. The EU does not promote crime by definition of the word.Definition of 'promote': promote|prəG2;m!3;t| verb [ with obj. ]1. purposefully further the progress of (something, esp. a cause, venture, or aim); support or actively encourage:some regulation is still required to promote competition.2. advance or raise (someone) to a higher position, office, or rank Contrarily to this given definition, the EU actually promotes a variety of anti-crime initiatives, forming their own anti-crime and crime prevention committees. [1]2. My opponent states that the "EU weakens Europe's cultural defenses". This statement is not only odd, but confusing. To even legitimize this point for consideration, you must ask:* What is the EU defending from?* Why does the EU weaken Europe's Cultural Defenses? The EU is simply a political and economic association of closely allied member states. What does this have to do with culture?* What is Europe's culture? To suggest that Europe's culture is being weakened, you must find that Europe as an entity has one distinct culture.3. "The EU promotes a bloated bureaucracy"My opponent may be having a fun time claiming this, but is unable to back up their claims with detail or any sort of evidence whatsoever. They hold the BoP in proving that the EU promotes this.4. "Excessive Regulation and Centralization is bad for Freedom and for Prosperity"* In what way does the EU excessively regulate or centralize? The vast majority of decisions are still made by the individual member states. The majority of EU law tends to avoid subjects that are knowingly controversial; rather, most of it relatrs to basic human rights standards, taxation, and etcetera. Additionally, all decisions made by the EU are made voluntarily by the respective elected governments of each member state, thus making the regulation far from excessive, if not entirely voluntary. [2]5. "Lack of separation of powers"I don't understand what my opponent - or rather, the person my opponent plagiarized - is getting at here. The European Union is exactly that, a union, which in this context is defined as:"1. A political unit consisting of a number of states or provinces with the same central government, in particular"Notice how I have bolded the word 'unit'. Acting as a unit defines acting unitedly, or as one. The entire purpose of the European Union in it's essence is to promote togetherness of Europe as allies, so saying that the EU should promote separation makes little sense. 6. "Transparency"Whilst it is true that a lack of transparency can lead to corruption, my opponent has given little explanation to how the EU is not transparent. The EU strives to be as transparent as possible, forming an entire organization dedicated to forcing EU transparency [4] and a transparent register, [5]. Other political unions, like that of the United States of America, is the opposite of this, and instead uses non-transparent agencies like the NSA. In this regard, the EU is transparent by comparison to other international bodies.7, 8, 9, 10 - Whilst all of my opponent's previous stances seemed to have at least some understandable merit, these are just ginormous blanket statements made with no explanation warranting them being true whatsoever. * No explanation provided as to how the EU leads to less freedom of speech* The EU holds mass citizenship consultations annually [6]* No explanation for point 9, or any explanation to how point 9 is relevant at all* Point 10 is just a hollow statement, void and null with no evidence to back it.D. Arguments as to why the EU should not be abolished1. EU citizens living in other member states725 million people live in the EU. As of 2011, 2.5% of those people lived in another member state under EU law, or nearly 20 million people [3]. If the EU was abolished, the homes and possessions of these 20 million people living in foreign member states would be rendered void, and they would have to return to their respective nation. The result would be disastrous for the economy.2. As other areas of the world form unions and join together, the EU as a whole would be weakened in comparisonIn recent years, other continents have followed the path of the European Union, forming alliances like the African Union and the Union of South American Nations. Both the reputation and world respect of Europe would shudder if it was to fragment itself as the rest of the world comes together3. The EU simply has a positive effect on the economy of countries who join it Above - (sorry if it isn't loading properly for whatever reason) - is an example of increasing GDP in member countries after joining the EU, compared with what they would have been had they not joined the EU. The EU allows for increases in trading, creating jobs in all countries involved. Trade within the EU has increased by 30% since it's formation. References1 - http://www.eucpn.org...;2 - http://europa.eu...3 - http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu...;4 - http://www.transparencyinternational.eu...;5 - http://ec.europa.eu...;6 - http://ec.europa.eu...