Current Affairs EU In or Out

[Bruce Wayne]

UK would have to join the back of a queue behind Sweden, Finland, Ukraine and maybe even Turkey (who remain in NATO).

Fairly sure Sweden and Finland are in the EU already like

 

[Bluerover]

Fairly sure Sweden and Finland are in the EU already like

Oh Sorry - I was mixing up Nato with EU - a senior moment. Been a long day

OK but uK would still find animosity especially from France, Germany and Belgium. I can't see it happening in the medium to long future

SSN reporting Turkey very opposed to Finland and Sweden joining NATO. If they veto - and every member must agree to them joining, they can forget about getting into the EU

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Oh Sorry - I was mixing up Nato with EU - a senior moment. Been a long day

OK but uK would still find animosity especially from France, Germany and Belgium. I can't see it happening in the medium to long future

SSN reporting Turkey very opposed to Finland and Sweden joining NATO. If they veto - and every member must agree to them joining, they can forget about getting into the EU

I'm not sure there is any chance of Turkey joining the EU so long as Erdogan is in charge.

 

[peteblue]

And adopt the Euro most likely. Not a chance we go back if thats the case. "We" voted to leave, we have to live with whatever the eventual outcome.

Indeed. Stand on our own feet and get on with it……

 

[Jebus_lives]

Hard to know if this is unintentionally stupid or deliberately thick.

 

[Bluerover]

Hard to know if this is unintentionally stupid or deliberately thick.

Another privileged but very dim Tory politician. Labour not perfect either and we have a few, although rarely do they get into Government.

He clearly doesn't understand what the Customs Union means. Once on the island goods can go freely through the ROI to anywhere in the EU with no checks.

If the NI officials check and are satisfied that they meet EU standards they can stay in NI, and NI citizens should feel happy that the standards are being met, but is he saying that UK exporters do not use the port of Larne to bring HGVs full of food products through the ROI and then onto Cherbourg via Rosslare.

Cop on !!

 

[Armaghtoffee]

Boris’ Party using NI as a mud guard for his lies and ineptitude is appalling yet exactly what I expect.

The majority of our newly elected representatives support the Protocol but this ignored for political expediency in London.

That people may die as a result of his lies and tubthumping probably doesn’t lie that heavy on his mind.

 

[Bluerover]

Boris’ Party using NI as a mud guard for his lies and ineptitude is appalling yet exactly what I expect.

The majority of our newly elected representatives support the Protocol but this ignored for political expediency in London.

That people may die as a result of his lies and tubthumping probably doesn’t lie that heavy on his mind.

The danger of the handful of drug dealing extremists on both sides getting the violence going again is unthinkable.

Hopefully the PSNI have enough intel to nip such in the bud.

We have come so far it really sickens me to see that sanctimonious PITA Donaldson holding 78% of the NI electorate to ransom. As @Caolam
said, I presume the DUP will forfeit their MLA salaries until they actually go and do some work.

 

[tsubaki]

I'm not sure there is any chance of Turkey joining the EU so long as Erdogan is in charge.

A couple of years ago perhaps, but this crisis in Ukraine should really be the one that concentrates minds at the top of the EU. The EU needs to be able to collectively defend itself, and it needs energy independence (or at least diversity of energy supply). Turkey can help with both of those things, and they also offer other opportunities too - if they get in and its a success for all (and I think it would be, at least eventually) then there is a precedent for the other Muslim litoral states in the Mediterranean to see a pathway to joining as well.

When this crisis is over (and lets all pray that is soon and without more bloodshed) I wouldn't be that surprised if there is much more positive movement in terms of the Turkish application, especially if he has played a role in bringing that peace about.

 

[Bluerover]

I would like a different type of border poll of non-nationalist primary and secondary processors of agricultural goods, exporters of other goods from NI well as hauliers to see if they would prefer to be held up at the ROI border or continue to get their goods seamlessly to a potential market of 500 million tariff free.

In 2018 total exports from NI (not just food)

EU total (62.53%)
UK (34.68)
Ireland (16.82%)
United States (5.78%)
Canada (2.63%)
Germany (2.63%)
France (2.1%)

In 2019 exports from NI to EU was worth €6.9 BN. With the Protocol they can continue to avail of tariff free, customs free passage to ROI (NI's biggest single export market at €2.4Bn) and on to the mainland of the EU.

Can you imagine the impact on NI if the Protocol is scrapped. The system is already creaking according to NI TV programmes.

In 2021 UK exports to EU were down €200Bn - with clothing exports plunging 60%, vegetables down 40% and cars 25%.

Thousands are really hurting yet Boris thinks nothing to see here.

Exports to the rest of the world, which was supposed to step into the breach made by Brexit were down €10Bn

 

[Bruce Wayne]

A couple of years ago perhaps, but this crisis in Ukraine should really be the one that concentrates minds at the top of the EU. The EU needs to be able to collectively defend itself, and it needs energy independence (or at least diversity of energy supply). Turkey can help with both of those things, and they also offer other opportunities too - if they get in and its a success for all (and I think it would be, at least eventually) then there is a precedent for the other Muslim litoral states in the Mediterranean to see a pathway to joining as well.

When this crisis is over (and lets all pray that is soon and without more bloodshed) I wouldn't be that surprised if there is much more positive movement in terms of the Turkish application, especially if he has played a role in bringing that peace about.

The EU has had enough problems with Orban without allowing a much bigger version of him in.

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

Honestly, tinfoil hat going on here, part of me thinks all this debacle is deliberate. The politicians clearly looked shocked when the Brexit vote came in and I just don't believe that Boris or any of them really wanted to leave Europe.

It's almost as if they said "right, what we'll do is find the most awful ways to stuff the process up and we'll do just that". And so they did.

Let's face it, I think a lot of the working class voted Brexit because they thought it wold bring a stop, or at least a slow down to mass migration. That there'd be a bit of breathing space to get housing, schooling, hospitals sorted. I think a lot of the animosity towards the EU was with regards to Merkel's open door policy, whatever the actual facts of it are/were. This is just what a lot of people were motivated by.

I'm 100% certain that we will rejoin a European Union in some form within my lifetime, probably within the next decade and maybe even within the next election cycle. Whether that's us going back with tails between our legs or whether som reform occurs that entices us back remains to be seen. I don't think that will be good for democracy in this country though. It'll be great if you're a remainer but I think that a lot of Brexit voters would be turned off permanently from politics if that occurred.

The great revisionism is coming. Here is Boris not wanting to leave and under terrible duress of signing the agreement.

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

It’s an open border, it won’t just be neat it’ll be things like seeds and nuts that have high aflatoxin results. Illegal fruits and veg - it’s open season at the border.

We have had issues in the past, via the inadequaties at other European ports (mainly Hamburg) that allowed for a load of Smokey’s to be imported, along with other illegal meats such as bat meat.

There was so much money involved in it that a “hit” was put out on enforcement officer who was adamant to stop it - https://amp.theguardian.com/society/2005/may/08/crime.food

Stands to reason where one criminal is exploiting others will exploit their goods too and it's not beyond the modern criminal to diversify. However, sticking with food think it's only a matter of time before we have serious case of food poisoning or other illness which will be directly linked to imported food . Other countries do not always have the same high standards the UK has. Some pesticides that are banned in the UK are still used elsewhere. Food in some developing countries may be contaminated with lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic and a variety of chemicals. Who is actually monitoring this now?

I read some time ago that the EU sends those unelected teams out across the world to check the quality and safety of foods arriving for EU member states. Are we doing that now? Is unchecked food now arriving in the UK?

Arsenic contamination of Bangladeshi paddy field soils: implications for rice contribution to arsenic consumption - Nature

Food, as well as drinking water contaminated with poison

www.nature.com

 

[nsno-chris]

Stands to reason where one criminal is exploiting others will exploit their goods too and it's not beyond the modern criminal to diversify. However, sticking with food think it's only a matter of time before we have serious case of food poisoning or other illness which will be directly linked to imported food . Other countries do not always have the same high standards the UK has. Some pesticides that are banned in the UK are still used elsewhere. Food in some developing countries may be contaminated with lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic and a variety of chemicals. Who is actually monitoring this now?

I read some time ago that the EU sends those unelected teams out across the world to check the quality and safety of foods arriving for EU member states. Are we doing that now? Is unchecked food now arriving in the UK?

Arsenic contamination of Bangladeshi paddy field soils: implications for rice contribution to arsenic consumption - Nature

Food, as well as drinking water contaminated with poison

www.nature.com

So the way the EU system works is by auditing establishments (manufacturing sites basically) that import animal based products (meat, fish, gelatin etc) to the union. This is to ensure that those companies are abiding to the EU Food Regulations. Further checks are then done at ports of entry on the actual imports.

The other side of the regime is checks on products of non-animal origin (rice, candy, fruits etc). The EU auditors do not check any manufacturing sites for this and all issues are identified at the border. Some controlled products are subject to the submission of official documents, others aren’t. All products subject to controls are listed in legislation, and are subject to formal checks. There is also separate legislation covering the acceptable levels on pesticides, aflatoxins etc

Issues on products not in legislation are found by Port Health Authorities conducting “random sampling” based on intelligence.

We will still be conducting all these checks on good arriving from the Rest of the World. The biggest issue will be the potential dumping of contaminated products that are imported from the EU, or from a third country via the EU (whereby they have intentionally bypassed the EU because they know it would be rejected).

Random checks will need to be done on the EU imports, despite no legislation in place to support it. But there’s no staff to cover the amount of imports, especially at the Ports that only deal with EU crossings (there was never a need for them)

 

[Diogenes the Cynic]

I'd be saying to Turkey that unless you approve Finland and Sweden to NATO there'll be no approval to the EU for them.