Unelected Bureaucrats

[original PM]

The Brexit campaign involved almost no facts whatsoever. It was truly disgraceful - either i) hoodwinking a gullible proletariat or ii) inciting people to major change without any knowledge of what might be the impact.

I guess a large proportion of the Vote Leavers didn't want facts anyway. But anybody not living in cloud cuckoo land would question the notion that we were innocent victims being abused by nasty foreigners bearing in mind we were one of the biggest players, and with a sweetheart deal.

The EU is a club just like your local Tennis/Bowls/Sequence Dancing club. Everyone has a say but people fall out and have bitter fights. Inevitably such petty arguments would be a feature of the EU but pulling out would not be a logical strategy for better Tennis/Bowls etc facilities, and similarly when the economic future of over 60 million people is at stake going off in a huff seems immature in the extreme.

It'll also cost about 60 billion Euro although there is some suggestion (eg FT) that if it's spread over a number of years we won't be paying a distinctly different amount to what we pay now. Even so, it seems a pointless waste.

In fact to continue the comparison let's say we only joined a loose scheme designed so that we could all buy our bat's n balls a little bit cheaper.

But before you know it we are not able to use our courts on Tuesdays a day Thursdays but we still need to pay for them.

In fact we need to pay more to build more courts which we cannot play on without paying again.

[original PM]

The Brexit campaign involved almost no facts whatsoever. It was truly disgraceful - either i) hoodwinking a gullible proletariat or ii) inciting people to major change without any knowledge of what might be the impact.

I guess a large proportion of the Vote Leavers didn't want facts anyway. But anybody not living in cloud cuckoo land would question the notion that we were innocent victims being abused by nasty foreigners bearing in mind we were one of the biggest players, and with a sweetheart deal.

The EU is a club just like your local Tennis/Bowls/Sequence Dancing club. Everyone has a say but people fall out and have bitter fights. Inevitably such petty arguments would be a feature of the EU but pulling out would not be a logical strategy for better Tennis/Bowls etc facilities, and similarly when the economic future of over 60 million people is at stake going off in a huff seems immature in the extreme.

It'll also cost about 60 billion Euro although there is some suggestion (eg FT) that if it's spread over a number of years we won't be paying a distinctly different amount to what we pay now. Even so, it seems a pointless waste.

Everyone has a say, some are more equal than others and if you can choke on the presidents pole you may get a slightly better table at the annual mutual appreciation society ball.

Just the sort of jingoistic bulltulip which needs leaving in the last century.

Why do we need a bunch of people to tell us when we can and cannot play tennis when there are enough courts for us all to play tennis when we want?

[scooterscot]

Indeed the UK will end up like Switzerland with all of the disadvantages i.e. freedom of movemernt, paying into the budget, EU regulations and no advantages.

Not quite, Switzerland recorded a government debt equivalent to 34%, meanwhile in the UK that number is 89%

The UK can ill afford a pay per view type subscription to the EU like Norway and Switzerland. Tories just spent one quarter of a billion pounds on unnecessary elections. - My goodness.

[BlasterBates]

Indeed the UK will end up like Switzerland with all of the disadvantages i.e. freedom of movemernt, paying into the budget, EU regulations and no advantages. They don't even have full access to the single market, it is just partial access. They have huge queues at customs, but no immigration checks and incredibly expensive supermarkets. Hardly any companies in Switzerland are part of EU supply chains and virtually no inward investment to export into the EU like the UK. Basically they rely on Swiss owned companies.

[Cirrus]

The Brexit campaign involved almost no facts whatsoever. It was truly disgraceful - either i) hoodwinking a gullible proletariat or ii) inciting people to major change without any knowledge of what might be the impact.

I guess a large proportion of the Vote Leavers didn't want facts anyway. But anybody not living in cloud cuckoo land would question the notion that we were innocent victims being abused by nasty foreigners bearing in mind we were one of the biggest players, and with a sweetheart deal.

The EU is a club just like your local Tennis/Bowls/Sequence Dancing club. Everyone has a say but people fall out and have bitter fights. Inevitably such petty arguments would be a feature of the EU but pulling out would not be a logical strategy for better Tennis/Bowls etc facilities, and similarly when the economic future of over 60 million people is at stake going off in a huff seems immature in the extreme.

It'll also cost about 60 billion Euro although there is some suggestion (eg FT) that if it's spread over a number of years we won't be paying a distinctly different amount to what we pay now. Even so, it seems a pointless waste.

[original PM]

A quite interesting read, maybe a bit late in the day but still: EUROPP – Is the EU really run by unelected bureaucrats?

Why do we need more bureaucrats?

Elected or otherwise?

[darmstadt]

A quite interesting read, maybe a bit late in the day but still: EUROPP – Is the EU really run by unelected bureaucrats?

There was also very little media coverage in the UK of the campaigns between the various candidates for the Commission President, so few British people understand how the process worked (unlike in some other member states).

EUROPP – Media coverage in Germany and the UK shows why both countries have radically different views over who should be the next Commission President