Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Just a bit of grandstanding to make the blues look Eurosceptic to the voters.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
still brow beating howard,.Cameron and co want a reformist to suit there thinking.cameron has been told to stick his head up his backside by merkel and co.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
I think Mrs Merkel laughs behind Dave's back Brian, she is far too astute to worry about what he thinks or says.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
probably got knife in hand behind back as well.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
But don't we all accept that changes are necessary for the EU ?
I certainly don't want to stay in the EU as it is, but may (just) be convinced if those changes are good enough.
Labour and Lib-Dems don't want a referendum, they're happy with the EU as it is; the Conservatives are not and UKIP want a straight out.
To have someone who absolutely won't listen to any kind of reform, will eventually lead to its break-up, so for the EU's survival, it needs a leader who will listen.
Roger
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,656
We fought two world wars so we could retain our independence and make our own laws only to have both virtually taken away from us via the back door by the EU.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Reform is not on the agenda, any changes have to be ratified by all member states which will never happen.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
But Howard, reform is the only item (for David Cameron and most Conservatives) on the agenda. I do agree however, that it is unlikely to come about, especially with the man from Luxembourg in charge.
Also don't forget that the EU will miss our £55 million every day contribution, when/if, we leave. There's a lot they could do with that and there's a lot we could do with it too.
Roger
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,656
I have just realised as a tax paying pensioner I am paying about 85p every single day or roughly £6 a week to the EU and as far as I can see I get nothing beneficial in return.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Pierre Morgune- Registered: 9 Mar 2014
- Posts: 100
Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 7,476
What's the EU ever done for us?
Not much, apart from: providing 57% of our trade; structural funding to areas hit by industrial decline; clean beaches and rivers; cleaner air; lead free petrol; restrictions on landfill dumping; a recycling culture; cheaper mobile charges; cheaper air travel; improved consumer protection and food labelling; a ban on growth hormones and other harmful food additives; better product safety; single market competition bringing quality improvements and better industrial performance; break up of monopolies; Europe-wide patent and copyright protection; no paperwork or customs for exports throughout the single market; price transparency and removal of commission on currency exchanges across the eurozone; freedom to travel, live and work across Europe; funded opportunities for young people to undertake study or work placements abroad; access to European health services; labour protection and enhanced social welfare; smoke-free workplaces; equal pay legislation; holiday entitlement; the right not to work more than a 48-hour week without overtime; strongest wildlife protection in the world; improved animal welfare in food production; EU-funded research and industrial collaboration; EU representation in international forums; bloc EEA negotiation at the WTO; EU diplomatic efforts to uphold the nuclear non-proliferation treaty; European arrest warrant; cross border policing to combat human trafficking, arms and drug smuggling; counter terrorism intelligence; European civil and military co-operation in post-conflict zones in Europe and Africa; support for democracy and human rights across Europe and beyond; investment across Europe contributing to better living standards and educational, social and cultural capital.
All of this is nothing compared with its greatest achievements: the EU has for 60 years been the foundation of peace between European neighbours after centuries of bloodshed. It furthermore assisted the extraordinary political, social and economic transformation of 13 former dictatorships, now EU members, since 1980. Now the union faces major challenges brought on by neoliberal economic globalisation, and worsened by its own systemic weaknesses. It is taking measures to overcome these. We in the UK should reflect on whether our net contribution of £7bn out of total government expenditure of £695bn is good value. We must play a full part in enabling the union to be a force for good in a multipolar global future.
Simon Sweeney
Lecturer in international political economy, University of York
'If no one went no faster than what I do there'd be a sight less trouble in this world'
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
all posatives then bob.
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
All we signed up for was the single market. Much of the rest would have happened anyway; single bloc representation on global panels just dilutes our influence. And the funding is just (some of) our own money back.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
you got what you voted for peter,either buck the trend or conform.
Guest 683- Registered: 11 Feb 2009
- Posts: 1,052
Cameron et al are, as Howard says, just posturing with both eyes fixed firmly on next year's election. The moment Cameron took the UK out of the European People's Party he surrendered any meaningful voice on the election of EU Commission President. He was warned that this move would marginalise the UK but in a bid to quell his party's disquiet over the EU and to assert his 'potency' he went ahead anyway. Cameron can bleat on all he likes now about fighting 'right up to the end' but he is unable to bring about any change and, to paraphrase the Polish Foreign Minister, he has made rather a mess of it all!
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Guest 745- Registered: 27 Mar 2012
- Posts: 3,370
If EU membership over the last 40 years ,has been so good ,then why is the
British working class so poor ?
Why are there working condition so bad?
Most working class workers victimized, by the massif rise in employment agencies taking a cut of there wages and forcing them to use payroll companies to get there wages processed ,so the boss doesn't have to pay NI contributions
The rivers are clean because British industry has been exported to china and cheaper EU members.
The uk is running a 50 billion trade deficit with the EU
The only people to benefit from EU employment law ,is public sector middle class
The private sector poor have been fed to the wolfs.
And there wages destroyed by free moment of cheap eu workers
Its good that British workers are supporting ukip ,and voting accordantly
If we are going to get f over we may as well be free
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
good evening kieth.i see you had your tweetabix this
morning.
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
Brian, what I voted for was a Common Market in goods and services and for the free movement of capital. Not to be part of a United States of Europe, which is the status we are heading inexorably towards. And as for the EU being responsible for 70 years of peace, that's the biggest load of horsefeathers I have ever heard. It's NATO which has achieved that peace, and the EU has been a product of the peace, not the cause.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson