France says Britain should lose its AAA rating

[DodgyAgent]

The treaty contained nothing extra for the UK at all. Cameron is under pressure to repatriate powers. He took the opportunity to hold up this extremely important measure to save the Euro, assuming that the others would agree, to a future opt out of any financial regulations that may appear at some subsequent point. In fact the fact that the others didn't agree means that Cameron achieved absolutely nothing, and the only logical step now would be to prevent the Eurozone using the EU institutions; otherwise the Eurozone will have won the day. They get their treaty through the backdoor and Britain didn't get an opt out on financial rules.

Can you explain to me what achieved last week, if the Eurozone goes ahead with the fiscal treaty and uses the EU institutions, bearing in mind the treaty he would have signed up to applied only to those countries using the Euro ?



What concrete opt out does Cameron currently have?

The whole point of Cameron's strategy was an opportunity to use the Euro crisis to push for some titbits, which as you can imagine went down really well with the 26 other countries.

The treaty would have imposed a financial transactions tax that would have hit the UK disproportionately harder than any other EU country. This is the same way as the French get so much in subsidies to support their hugely rural farming industry. It is being argued that the tax will happen anyway by majority voting and the UK is being "left out" etc etc. So the critics may well be right in that the UK has gained nothing. So Cameron now needs to follow this through. Politically he has "thrown red meat" at the Eurosceptics in his party and he has now positioned himself as someone who will stand up for the interests of the UK in the same way that the French and Germans (car manufacturing) and Spanish (fishing) have done - with, I add, the use of the veto.

The UK population does not like the EU so Cameron has scored political points, but he has also served notice politically that britain will fight for itself rather than give way on anything "just to sit at the table"

Of course what none of you seem to understand is that there are many different agendas being played out here. If anyone thinks for a minute that Cameron is acting against the interests of the EU they are wrong. He is standing/or not standing up to a gamut of conflicting interests of many different countries. The EU has no idea of what is best for it.

We in the UK should not be drawn into this growing monolith of a system that is going down the pan whilst stripping us of our sovereignty. I am now happy to stick with Cameron.

[AtW]

Why not research the differences yourself rather showing what a dumbkopf you are?

Stamp Duty is a tax on transactions, it just should be extended to cover derivatives and other tulip traded in the City.

This might help reduce income taxes, perhaps even get rid of Employer NI that is tax on jobs.

[sasguru]

You do realise the treaty only contained the fiscal co-ordination, there was absolutely nothing on the table for anything else. It was purely focused on the Eurozone..

You keep insisting on posting crap.
The treaty was a revision of the Lisbon treaty that is signed by all EU members, not the eurozone alone.

HTH, BIRRRRRRRRRRDI

[AtW]

The treaty would have imposed a financial transactions tax that would have hit the UK disproportionately harder than any other EU country. This is the same way as the French get so much in subsidies to support their hugely rural farming industry.

So those "bad" French support their good food producers to keep country side alive and well with secure food supply for cities, and "good" England got hot air tulip sellers in the City that deserve protection?

Perhaps maybe UK should have asked for like for like agroculture support like in France?

You see the key diffrence is that rural areas in France make good food for locals and visitors alike, where as City's tentacles cause misery in places far away from London.

[DodgyAgent]

Fair competition that's why.

What is fair competition?

[Jeff Maginty]

..

[Mich the Tester]

Damn right!

They do go on don't they.

[sasguru]

: where as City's tentacles cause misery in places far away from London.

Really? Taxes from the City are equivalent to half of all NHS budget.
Even after the bail out, the net contribution of the City has been overwhelmingly positive.

Who's going to pay for the public services?
Certainly not your company with its puny turnover which the state paid for anyway for the years you claimed benefits when you weren't earning anything

[BlasterBates]

The treaty would have imposed a financial transactions tax .

The treaty did not include a financial transaction tax. Cameron however wanted an opt out clause for a financial transaction tax. He didn't get one, the fact that he vetoed the treaty does not prevent the EU going ahead making a decision on one.

With or without the treaty would not make any difference with respect to the EU's capability to impose a financial transaction tax. What Cameron was betting on was that the EUro leaders would agree in their hour of need and give some powers back, i.e. the opt out clauses. The fact that they didn't means he failed.

[DodgyAgent]

So those "bad" French support their good food producers to keep country side alive and well with secure food supply for cities, and "good" England got hot air tulip sellers in the City that deserve protection?

Perhaps maybe UK should have asked for like for like agroculture support like in France?

You see the key diffrence is that rural areas in France make good food for locals and visitors alike, where as City's tentacles cause misery in places far away from London.

French farms are hugely inefficient by virtue of being very labour intensive. their inheritance laws enable this. And whilst I agree that the French way of life is very nice I do not want to subsidise it. British farming is far more efficient - bigger fields, more mechanisation etc etc. Your personal preferences completely miss the point - if you think France is so wonderful why dont you go and live there? No? because the quid pro quo for the wonderful "French way of life" is that entrepreneurship and business are heavily discouraged.