The UK in the EU

[flo]

I'm sick of all these comments of Cameron and other leading British politicians about the EU and the British membership. If you do not like the EU, then leave it. But you can't want to decide all the laws and pay less money. You can't just look on yourselves when you are a member of a solidary community. It's not possible to get the benefits only as a member state. Stay a member, stop moaning and make constructive proposals for a better EU in the future or leave it. Please. What do you Brits think about the EU membership?

 

[Deloodid]

If you dont like the EU then Gitttttt Ouuuutttt

[video=youtube_share;tykzAyISnNk]http://youtu.be/tykzAyISnNk[/video]

 

[Deloodid]

Its costing us billions, plus they wanna cut our rebate. i dont think anyone in the UK would like that. it would be nice to see the pro's and con's of leaving the EU.

 

[EFCNIK]

No free movement into the UK from the likes of Albania and Romania.

I'm sold.

Let's leave.

 

[Deloodid]

Pros:
- Free trade in between 27 powerful economies
- Free movement of citizens and goods between these countries
- Co-ordinated environmental legislation [important because precious habitats in Europe often cross borders]
- Provides a voice for usually-unelected parties like the Greens, UKIP, BNP, etc.
- Provides support for minority languages within Europe like Irish, Scots Gaelic, etc.
- Huge economic clout worldwide as a single bloc - when the EU is at the debating table in a unified form, we represent 400 million people with the largest combined economy in the world.

Cons:
- Until Lisbon is ratified, the unelected Commission holds too much power compared to the council of heads of state or the elected Parliament. This is slowly changing, but not fast enough. Lisbon removes a lot of power from the Commission, actually.
- There is a lot of bureaucracy within the EU - the European Civil Service is surprisingly large for a small organisation with limited policy-making power, even if it does extend over 27 states.
- The CAP is probably the most absurd policy I've ever studied. Why are we paying ****** French farmers not to grow things? On top of this, the blatant favouritism it shows to France above all other states is pretty annoying for the farmers of the other 26 nations. It's about time it was reformed/scrapped
- The EU's policy on fisheries leaves a lot to be desired. It's not ecologically sound, but at the same time it's killing the businesses of fishermen.
- There is undoubtedly a lot of corruption in the EU, but it lies in the civil service and commission, and not in the Parliament. Give the Parliament more powers, and it could fix this

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1024912

 

[the sniderman]

**swings in**
hey wiseguy are you lecturing europeans from a pedestal there?? youve always played your part in a strong europe man. like in 1939. you showed your solidarity then chum.

 

[steken1]

At the end of the day we've either ****ed most of Europe(twice) or pulled them out the ****, cos they're all busy pedalling round the meadows with garlic round thier gregorys, while thier lands got took. So I think we can do whatever we want, wherever we want, however we want and no one can stop us.

At some point Britain will assume control of Europe anyway, we may as well get the ball rolling now.

 

[Tubey]

I'm sick of all these comments of Cameron and other leading British politicians about the EU and the British membership. If you do not like the EU, then leave it. But you can't want to decide all the laws and pay less money. You can't just look on yourselves when you are a member of a solidary community. It's not possible to get the benefits only as a member state. Stay a member, stop moaning and make constructive proposals for a better EU in the future or leave it. Please. What do you Brits think about the EU membership?

The problem is that Europe wants a lot from Britain without giving anything back. It's not a balanced relationship.

We're the fourth largest contributor to the EU - Austria, on the other hand, are 11th. The top five countries pay half of the overall budget.

As an Austrian, I'm not surprised you view things the way you do, but you're biased - you're naturally going to support the EU and see the UK as villains because you're getting massive benefits for little input. It's the other way round for us.

It's not just the financial issue either - it's theoretical and political too. Your post pretty much sums up the view that British citizens generally have; the continent, by and large, hates us. So why should we bother helping you so much? We feel like the spare part that the EU likes to milk as much as possible, but heaven forbid if we ask for something.

We get benefits from the EU - migrant workers help our economy no end - but nowhere near the amount we should get.

If I had the choice, I'd vote the UK out of the EU immediately, just so we can trade on our own rules and not be dictated to by EU directives - such as the ridiculous "give prisoners the vote" pressure we're under.

 

[Deloodid]

The problem is that Europe wants a lot from Britain without giving anything back. It's not a balanced relationship.

We're the fourth largest contributor to the EU - Austria, on the other hand, are 11th. The top five countries pay half of the overall budget.

As an Austrian, I'm not surprised you view things the way you do, but you're biased - you're naturally going to support the EU and see the UK as villains because you're getting massive benefits for little input. It's the other way round for us.

It's not just the financial issue either - it's theoretical and political too. Your post pretty much sums up the view that British citizens generally have; the continent, by and large, hates us. So why should we bother helping you so much? We feel like the spare part that the EU likes to milk as much as possible, but heaven forbid if we ask for something.

We get benefits from the EU - migrant workers help our economy no end - but nowhere near the amount we should get.

If I had the choice, I'd vote the UK out of the EU immediately, just so we can trade on our own rules and not be dictated to by EU directives - such as the ridiculous "give prisoners the vote" pressure we're under.

The UK is fighting this?? David Cameron doesnt want this.

 

[carlos21]

The UK is fighting this?? David Cameron doesnt want this.

what a good post karl

 

[Tubey]

The UK is fighting this?? David Cameron doesnt want this.

We are, but I'm being a bit disingenuous as it's not really an EU matter; more a European matter from Strasbourg. So it's not really related but the only example of Europe being "top down" on us that I could think of at the time. There's loads of EU issues I could have used

 

[carlos21]

We are, but I'm being a bit disingenuous as it's not really an EU matter; more a European matter from Strasbourg. So it's not really related but the only example of Europe being "top down" on us that I could think of at the time. There's loads of EU issues I could have used

i agree tubey

 

[Tubey]

i agree tubey

Nice one

 

[roydo]

The problem with the EU is precisely that, the EU., It has morphed, driven in the main by ideological dogma from the original Common Market, (free trade basically), into a fully fledged political Union, BUT, without the accountancy that a domestic political party might have. They have a project, to have a political and economic union, with the real power residing with the European Parliament and European Court(s), which can, already, impose pretty much what they see fit on member states. (See prisoners votes for the latest lunacy).

I love being part of a free trade Europe, and I love having links into the continent, but it is going too far.

 

[flo]

I like Great Britain - and I'm sure most Europeans do. But I don't like the way your government (since Thatcher) is handling with the EU. Of course the EU isn't doing everything right and has of course negative aspects. Austria is also paying more money in the EU-budget than we get. But without these countries the commission has no money for the under-developed countries in Europe. I think it has come to a point where the UK should decide if it wants to be a part in the union or if they want to leave it and strengthen the connection with the USA.

By the way: What's the opinion of Labour and the LibDems in this case?