50 years of the EU?

[Loosehead]

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1 257203,00.html
Well obviously it's not 50 years of the EU but the steps leading to the current EU. What would UK be like now if we had not joined at all? Has it done any good? or has it just overlayed us with a huge layer of "snout in the trough" expenses and general corruption?

[anotheoldgit]

Don't know much about this subject, so I can only go on my observations of what's happened since we voted to join The Common Market, (incidently we did not vote to be ruled from Brussels for starters).

I remember at the time they told us that by being in Europe, it would mean that certain goods ie wine etc. would cost a pittance, perhaps it did make wine cheaper in this country, but we did not benefit, it only enabled our greedy politicians to slap more tax upon it. They also told us that wages and taxes would be uniform across the member states i.e. the salary for a secretary would be the same if she lived in France, Germany or Britain for example. This also did not happen.

Gromit says ' when Mrs Thatcher signed up to the EU, it was the single best thing she did. Large companies and jobs would not be here.'

The trouble is these foreign companies are here on their own terms, and can withdraw from these shores if and when it suits them. Where would we be then? since we have lost our shipbuilding, steel manufacturing, coal mining, Breweries, most of our fishing fleet, farming is on the decline, and we have hardly any manufacturing base left. I do believe most of our ports are now foreign owned, and even our laws can be over-ruled by Brussels.

Europe doesn't do us any favours, they only use us for their own convenience, NATO is a prime example, of how our european partners couldn't care less about us, by leaving it up to us to provide the troops for the danger areas of Afghanistan.

Your power lines might have been grant funded by Europe Jake, but I do believe we get a pittance from Europe compared to how much it costs us to be a member.

If Europe is the best thing since sliced bread, then why don't they now give us a referendum either to stay in or come out of Europe? We have been a sole trading nation for centuries we do need to join a club.

[Goodsoulette]

Do you not think the NATO argument is a wishy washy argument? Just because "we" decided to go to war, should the rest of Europe be dragged in, when they are clearly opposed to it.

We could opt in to join the Euro (the strongest currency in the world), yet somehow loosing the precious pund will make us less British. On the whole arguments against being in the EU can easily be debunked or are predominantly about sovereignty.

What about all the employment rights that have certainly benefited, women, disabled, part-time and migrant workers. Not to mention anti-discrimination laws, of course this upset those who feel they cant call a spade a spade anymore and this country is just to bloody liberal lot.

[Hammer Head]

Losing the Pound has nothing to do with 'feeling less British' and more to do with keeping control of our own economy. All the countries in the Euro zone cannot alter their interest rates because these are fixed by the European Central Bank. Because of this, Germany has high unemployment. I get on extremely well with my neighbours but I wouldn't want to open a joint bank account with any of them.