What are the positive reasons for staying in the EU?

[cunning fergus]

People have to realise there is no 'British Empire' to trade with anymore, and the EU allows open-borders trading for both products and skills. If we left the EU, we would have to renegotiate these with the Europe. Also, a lot of manufacturing firms are based in the UK because they are inside the EU, so Honda, Nissan and the like do not have to be concerned with respective import/trade tariffs.

People may bemoan EU's laws, but you need to remember that certain things like the Working Time Directive are there to protect employees, and is clearly something which key principals would be scrapped if UKIP or any party of that type would power in the UK.

The fact that the EU allows open borders for products and skills is part of the problem and does nothing to protect employees wages, as we have seen in this country, but also elsewhere in the EU in the last few years. Frankly the WTD was merely a bone to throw the unions so they didn't kick up a fuss about free market capitalists opening up the labour market.

People like Tony Benn and Bob Crow understand in it those terms, they are hardly swivel eyed UKIPPERS.

As for manufacturing being in the EU it is not as important as you would like to think and offers no advantage to setting up outside the EU.

http://bankwatch.org/bwmail/54/asleep-wheel-ford-cuts-jobs-europe-eus-bank-delivers-ford-turkey

The fact is that being in the EU costs this country billions, not just the membership fees we read about.........there are EU levies on VAT and booking flights not to forget the costs of more regulation...........this is a burden saps the ability of firms to be competitive and effects SME much more than the multi nationals.

The EU likes to offer itself out as the worlds biggest market but that will be unlikely in years to come, and maybe a lot sooner given their recent incompetence in maintaining financial control in its own currency. This will be the crucible in whether the EU will survive in future.........that said things are changing and the new realpolitik is that countries in the eurozone will do the Germans bidding.

That reality is already proving to be unpopular in parts of the EU as newly impoverished electorates are now waking up to the future.

 

[The Birdman]

That's a shame because we have some nice beaches. Also, the piers would become redundant with no sea!

Does that mean we would not have a Navey

 

[piersa]

So far, as I see it, trade would not be that detrimentally affected and we would get more control over our borders so not anyone could come into our country from the EU and use our welfare system. We could let the most skilled ones in that would benefit our country. That sounds pretty good to me.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Or go out to a nice restaurant and review it

True. Went to a very nice one on Friday for my wife's birthday.

 

[jgmcdee]

the working time directive is a classic case of EU meddling,simply put there are countries that like the WTD and some countries that do not.This is meddling in social policy and is an area that should be left up to individual nation-states.Even the pro-European Centre for European Reform said in a report 3 months ago this directive "is flawed in many ways".

It's not meddling, it's lawmaking. And of course it's flawed; every law is flawed. As to why anyone in the UK is moaning about it, given that UK employees have an opt-out, is beyond me.

I'm in favour of some lawmaking being carried out in Europe purely because it's Europe-wide and harmonisation of laws brings benefits. The more people with the same laws the easier it is to understand each other, trade with each other, move from one place to another, etc. At the end of the day we have European union for all of the same reasons that we have UK union, with all of the benefits and downsides that it brings just on a larger scale.

What I'm not in favour of is Britain's neurotic relationship with the EU: we want this law but not that one, we like this law (oh except that bit of it), ah now that we have to abide by the laws that we helped put in place we'd rather not because it crimps our style and so on and so on.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

It's not meddling, it's lawmaking. And of course it's flawed; every law is flawed. As to why anyone in the UK is moaning about it, given that UK employees have an opt-out, is beyond me.

I'm in favour of some lawmaking being carried out in Europe purely because it's Europe-wide and harmonisation of laws brings benefits. The more people with the same laws the easier it is to understand each other, trade with each other, move from one place to another, etc. At the end of the day we have European union for all of the same reasons that we have UK union, with all of the benefits and downsides that it brings just on a larger scale.

What I'm not in favour of is Britain's neurotic relationship with the EU: we want this law but not that one, we like this law (oh except that bit of it), ah now that we have to abide by the laws that we helped put in place we'd rather not because it crimps our style and so on and so on.

Well put. And you echo my thoughts on the EU. :clapclap: