Donate SIGN UP

Is Dissent In Europe Growing?

Avatar Image
naomi24 | 09:47 Sat 14th Jan 2017 | News
19 Answers
Deputy prime minister and leader of the Dutch Labour Party, Lodewijk Asscher, has said support for EU freedom of movement rules is 'eroding' across Europe over the way it has been implemented.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38613027
Gravatar

Answers

1 to 19 of 19rss feed

Best Answer

No best answer has yet been selected by naomi24. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.

For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
How could it possibly be implemented in a way that it is acceptable to reasonable people who aren't driven by idealism ?
// Mr Asscher the leader of the Dutch Labour Party said... the rule had been used as a "business model" for lowering wages. //

Miliband and Corbyn et al, have been saying the same thing for 7 years and are roundly lambasted. You have not suddenly become a Corbynista?
Question Author
Gromit, I think a lot of us have been saying for years that immigration from the EU pushes wages down. It's not rocket science!
Any sane person would see 'free movement' as the right for lawful citizens to go hither and yon but be prepared to prove your identity as and when required, not for unwashed chancers to roll about like tumbleweeds demanding their rights at the taxpayers expense.
I was with the Dutch employment minister right up until he said
"It means the smaller company that cannot afford to hire internationally is out of work."

Which demonstrates quite a profound misunderstanding of how business works. The smaller company is quite at liberty to employ foreigners on lower wages in just the same way as larger companies.

His idealistic 'level playing field' of wages would result in the cost of any job or product rising quite considerably, risking the possibility of companies becoming uncompetitive with those who do not have such constraints and risking developers / business leaders not going ahead with projects.

It's not ideal but I'm afraid it's ingrained in the European economy.
yes, the collapse of the EU disaster is imminent. Once the rest of the EU sees how successful Britain is post brexit, the other dominoes will fall.
A leftwing European politician states the bleedin obvious, and we are supposed to read that as a sign of dissent spreading across Europe.

It isn't.

The Dutch do not rule Europe, the French and Germans do. What some dutch geezer that no one has ever heard of says, is irrelevant in the scheme of things.
Question Author
Just as irrelevant as our leaders are then in the scheme of things, Gromit?
Naomi,

Yes.

David Cameron's Conservative Party used to be in the same European group of Conservatives as Merkel's Party. That meant he once had some influence at the heart of the EU, and had a say in shaping its policies.

Then he sidelined us by leaving that powerful group and joining a minor group full of crackpot poles and other no hopers. All by design, not accidental.
Question Author
Gromit, according to that it's just as well we voted Brexit then.
Naomi,

Basically, Cameron, or rather his Party, didn't want any influence, or they wouldn't have thrown it away. We had half left then.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/may/05/david-cameron-european-elections-epp
From wikipedia:

// Caroline Jackson believed that David Cameron was wrong to direct the Conservative MEPs to leave the European People's Party in 2009 because this meant a huge loss of political influence. She pointed out that the Conservatives had in fact enjoyed a high level of political independence within the EPP. She argued that the Conservatives' new position from 2009 in the "Conservatives and European Reformists group" with the Czech ODS party, the Polish Law and Justice party and a motley crew of European rightists, would mean that they would lose influence and visibility in the European Parliament at precisely the moment when the Parliament's powers were increasing. //
Disent in the EU has been growing for some time. The EU is effectivly the Germans achieving by stealth what they failed to do in 2 world wars.
Ymb,
I think you are mixing up resentment and discent.

The EU has always been run by right wing conservatives and left wingers in most EU countries resent that.
And there is a north/south, rich/poor divide, where the wealthy Germans run the shop for their own benefit, and stuff everyone else. So the southern states resent that.
But it terms of discent, there are very few signs of that, except for some short lived kerfuffle in Greece.
Freedom of movement is great for oneself - from I live, I can drive within two hours into either, France, Switzerland or Austria without hindrance, the problem is, so can terrorists.
Yep, close the borders and there will be no terrorism.
“Deputy prime minister Lodewijk Asscher said support was falling across Europe over the way it has been implemented.”

Er…the way it has been implemented? How else can it be implemented? The EU Treaties have always said that freedom of movement of people to live and work anywhere in the EU is absolute, guaranteed and is inviable. There are no variations available on that.

“Mr Asscher argued the Brexit talks were a chance to look again at the policy.”

Mr Asscher wants to mind his own business. If the EU wants to continue with its ridiculous, dogmatic, idealistic principles good luck to them. The Referendum result was a decision to leave the EU. It was not a signal that, as part of our exit discussions, what remains of the bloc might start talking about the fundamentals that the UK has rejected.

“Although Mr Asscher made it clear that he supported the principle of free movement, he said the rule had been used as a "business model" for lowering wages.”

What a surprise! I’ve also learned recently that the Pope is not a Muslim and that bears do not use public conveniences.

It's [the variation in pay for different nationalities] not ideal but I'm afraid it's ingrained in the European economy.

Precisely, Zacs. And that’s why the EU with it’s freedom of movement mantra will never be of any benefit to ordinary working people. It’s quite obvious that workers coming from countries where average pay is five to ten times lower than that in the UK will outbid people living here when selling their labour. It doesn’t work, it’s been seen that it doesn’t work but still the Euromaniacs press on.
Grommit; // close the borders and there will be no terrorism. //

"Up to 5,000 jihadists are feared to be in Europe after returning from terrorist training camps, the head of Europol has said. .."

And they all got in, and can move around, via open borders.

1 to 19 of 19rss feed

Do you know the answer?

Is Dissent In Europe Growing?

Answer Question >>

Related Questions

Sorry, we can't find any related questions. Try using the search bar at the top of the page to search for some keywords, or choose a topic and submit your own question.