Member Since: 2/15/2010
Posts: 872
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Russia is not really consider European. They actually disagree and antagonize Brussels on everything from Iran to Syria, to Ukraine, to NATO.
GERMANY is easily the strongest, most dynamic and most powerful country in europe.
They have the strongest economy and they are the one footing the bill to bail out Spain, Greece, Italy... While imposing austerity and reform to all those government.
FRANCE is #2. It's fiscal position is making them weaker but they are founders of the European Union and the euro. There location at the center of the euro zone also makes them indispensable. Finally they have the 2nd largest economy after Germany.
Also, they have the strongest army alongside the UK.
UK is #3 .
They could have been more important, but because they are not a part of the euro zone. They have less power to influence European policies.
They are often seen by other European powers as American spies to be honest.
But London is the financial center of Europe and the City arguably bigger than even wall street.
Also the UK has by far the larger cultural influence which is driven by the fact that they had the largest empire and they still have strong ties with former colonies.
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