Europeans, how's the EU?

[hohto]

I, personally as a socialist, have never supported the EU anyway. The only good thing that has ever come out of the EU was its control over European affairs in the time during the Cold War, and that's it. We should never have joined in the first place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you ask me, EU actually brings us closer to socialism than 100% independed countries. One principle of socialism is world wide union and EU is pretty much doing that, apart it's european and not whole world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Btw EU was found in 1992 by the Maastrich contract. How did it control our affairs during the cold war? ;)

[sheepdean]

the EU just gives all the farming budget to France and leaves the UK to look after itself while imposing ridiculous laws, such as not being able to give a dog a bone from a butchers

[Satenza]

Another step towards New World Order and the eradication of individualism.

[TiKRuy]

EU is bad very bad.. atleast for us Finns..

[TiKRuy]

Another step towards New World Order and the eradication of individualism.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

True. very true.. which very few know of

[sheepdean]

while it screws over everyone else in the EU, at least france, belgium, germany and the eastern europen countries are happy....

[Viktorkrum77]

EU is bad very bad.. atleast for us Finns..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wouldn't think so. Your previous Prime Minister was once President, so wouldn't that give you the better end of the deal?

[TiKRuy]

Our previous prime minister? hah last 2 prime ministers never get presidents place.. so who do you mean?..

[TiKRuy]

while it screws over everyone else in the EU, at least france, belgium, germany and the eastern europen countries are happy....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

France is happy? have u looked any news? France didn't even accept Eu's "base" law.

[pompey_spud]

Tikruy, please stop double posting?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On topic - BlueLancer and Viktor; We do have gun laws, and theyre very very strict compared to those in the US. I live in the countryside and know of only one family with a gun, and they do have a proper license and everything.

 

 

 

And BlueLancer, I don't know what this 'schengen agreement' is i'm afraid. Assuming France, Germany, Holland etc are in this agreement, surely their customs would have picked up on it, and then even Britain's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The point I was trying to make, was that if the EU didn't exist, then there would naturally be much tighter borders, and this kind of thing probably wouldn't happen as much.

[BlueLancer]

 

 

 

And BlueLancer, I don't know what this 'schengen agreement' is i'm afraid. Assuming France, Germany, Holland etc are in this agreement, surely their customs would have picked up on it, and then even Britain's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you read my posts, you'd know. It's an agreement between several wealthy EU countries to remove customs checks. Travelers can just go straight to the airport terminal and hop in a taxi or whatever they want to do without having to go through customs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This obviously doesn't work in your scheme because there are no eastern european countries in the agreement. It's very hard to get into it at the moment, and eastern european countries aren't getting inside the agreement anytime soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The agreement still doesn't stop security checks though, so the problem is not the EU but somebody else.

[Barihawk]

A huge money-consuming, time-wasting, typical political gibberish and mess. Does that describe it well enough in one sentence?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Agreed. It's like the UN on crack. Britain should have stayed out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like smaller-focus agreements like NATO, but large-scale alliances like this are just asking for trouble. It reminds me of the Robin-Hood system gone wrong. The rich get richer.

[Harrington]

Thing I enjoy most :

 

 

 

* More freedom of movement. Much less involved when moving from country to country.

 

 

 

* The Euro. We don't have it here in the UK yet, but I think they're planning on adopting it soon. Just love the idea of a common currency.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Think I hate the most :

 

 

 

* Too many petty disputes make it hard to establish and introduce new laws and policies.

[pompey_spud]

 

 

 

 

And BlueLancer, I don't know what this 'schengen agreement' is i'm afraid. Assuming France, Germany, Holland etc are in this agreement, surely their customs would have picked up on it, and then even Britain's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you read my posts, you'd know. It's an agreement between several wealthy EU countries to remove customs checks. Travelers can just go straight to the airport terminal and hop in a taxi or whatever they want to do without having to go through customs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This obviously doesn't work in your scheme because there are no eastern european countries in the agreement. It's very hard to get into it at the moment, and eastern european countries aren't getting inside the agreement anytime soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The agreement still doesn't stop security checks though, so the problem is not the EU but somebody else.

 

 

 

Well after reading the Wiki entry, it seems the security checks are random. So this, coupled with the corruption and casualness of the Eastern European customs, is the reason for so much gun smuggling. It seems to be that Britain's are the only customs who really check for this sort of stuff, and even then they don't check every car...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Harrington - how can you possibly be behind the Euro? Personally, if we did adopt it, I can see many many backlashes against the government, and perhaps it would be the factor which finally sparked the rejection of the EU from Britain. Many polls in the past have shown the majority want British independance.

[BlueLancer]

 

A huge money-consuming, time-wasting, typical political gibberish and mess. Does that describe it well enough in one sentence?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Agreed. It's like the UN on crack. Britain should have stayed out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like smaller-focus agreements like NATO, but large-scale alliances like this are just asking for trouble. It reminds me of the Robin-Hood system gone wrong. The rich get richer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I totally agree about the general scale unnecessarity of the EU, it's bureaucracy, etc., the "Robin Hood" system does work... For the new member countries :P They get to leech hundreds of millions of euros a year for free for about 4-5 years, only then do they start paying membership fees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They use those aids to build roads, structures, etc., which is practically financed by the wealthier countries. So it partially works.

[pompey_spud]

While I totally agree about the general scale unnecessarity of the EU, it's bureaucracy, etc., the "Robin Hood" system does work... For the new member countries They get to leech hundreds of millions of euros a year for free for about 4-5 years, only then do they start paying membership fees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They use those aids to build roads, structures, etc., which is practically financed by the wealthier countries. So it partially works.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And yet countries like France and Spain get millions and millions of Euros when they aren't strictly needed. My knowledge on the subject is a little hazy, but if i remember correctely, Britain is one of the few countries which actually loses money in the system, and we lose massive amounts of it.

[Barihawk]

But eventually Robin Hood fails. Like how France is lapping up agricultural benefits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I came from an incredibly rich High School. 5 years ago we built a 12 million dollar field house for our athletes and an 8 million dollar mock-field with turf for the band. To this day, they still get Robin Hood money. While the schools paying that money are going flat-broke.

[dusqi]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/e ... s_what.stm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The net givers and takers from the EU budget. Don't just look at the graph though, notice this sentence also:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, the countries whose net contribution is largest as a proportion of their gross national income are the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany, then the UK, Italy and France.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It makes me sad that the EU uses more money in administrative costs than it puts into research.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, despite disagreements with how the EU budget it spent (far too much on agriculture), I (as someone living in the UK) am actually warming to the idea of having a decent alliance to counter the growing economic power in Asia, and the eccentric economic power of America. The Euro currency has also gone surprisingly well so far.

[Lageris89]

I would be happy not to have our parliamentary sovereignty compromised and why Turkey & Romania were allowed in I'll never know.

[Marabu]

I'm from Estonia and my opinion is that although EU gives us a decent ammount of money for (as previously mentioned) building roads, healthcare etc. It also makes our country less independent, all these new EU [cabbage] laws and directives + few years we had to start giving out the new RED passports, if anyone has at least a vague idea of Soviet Union, they'll know what did Soviet passport look like. So I guess we're back in somekind of union again, only the name has changed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(ofcourse, SU and EU are not really compareable, but they might be soon)

[pompey_spud]

^^ which is the exact reason I don't want Britain to adopt the Euro. We would completely lose our worldwide symbol of power, and would be essentially on the same plane, economically, as a country like Andorra, or Latvia (no offense meant to natives of these countries, they're just small).

[Viktorkrum77]

Our previous prime minister? hah last 2 prime ministers never get presidents place.. so who do you mean?..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matti Vanhanen was both Finland's Prime Minister and President of the EU. So I would assume this would benefit greatly Finland as it is has the head seat of the EU. Or at least used to. I think the EU has a new president now.

[TiKRuy]

being president in EU just means that more money goes to waste for that seat. And if Matti Vanhanen is president of EU.. that doesn't chance a thing

[Nedich]

I like the EU as it means europe can stand strong against any invaders and lay off France guys if you have ever been there you will know most of the northern area is agricultural so you cant blame them :roll:

[Geordiequeen]

I think at the end of the day we should not have a EU. All that is needed is one group where all the leaders of the countries of the world meet up and talk about important things and if people are left alone to run their own country in a democratic way. People in government think outside the box far too much. There are simple solutions to most of the world's problems today if the whole world works together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I mean now the EU is trying to change our history. Germany (backed by the EU) is trying to write a new history book which our children would get taught and they will not be taught about the horrific events of the holocaust so how we can let our children grow up not knowing that. If the holocaust did one thing for us it taught us that we should never treat people in that way ever again. They would not get taught of the World Wars so how would our children know what would happen if another broke out so we could end up with more death and destruction. We should let countries do what they wish and should only interfere if innocent lives could or are at stake.