
Originally posted by John Danzig on his Ideas on Europe Blog

Originally posted by John Danzig on his Ideas on Europe Blog
Originally posted by Marion Thornly in her blog: Ceret Diaries: Musing’s on Brexit
On Facebook today I saw a post by a lady who wrote that she was going to vote to leave the EU for the sake of her grandchildren. I asked her what her vision of a future Britain outside of Europe was.
Her reply was this:
I want a country that governed by Westminster, not faceless bureaucrats in Brussels. I want a country that can decide for herself who enters and leaves its borders. I also want a country that makes her own economic decisions without reference to the eurozone...
I don’t have grandchildren, but if I did, I would want them to live in a country that had fair and just laws, whether these came from faceless bureaucrats in Brussels or faceless bureaucrats in Westminster. I would want them to live in a country with clean air and water, that protected wildlife, that had strong trading links with its European neighbours, that was part of a united Europe, however flawed that union might be.
People seem to have forgotten many things. The first of those is that during the 20th century Europe was ripped apart by two of the most terrible wars the world has ever seen. My grandfather was part of the first and my father just escaped being part of the second on account of his age. Surely we would not wish a repeat of this on our grandchildren?
Then there are the multitude of laws that the UK has had to adopt as a result of being part of the EU. These laws protect ordinary people against discrimination on the basis of gender or race in employment, pay and conditions in the workplace. Human rights laws have brought greater fairness for people who might otherwise have been victimised by the government.
An area close to my heart is the environment. EU legislation has brought improvements to the quality of the air and water in the UK as well as forced the UK government to abide by habitat and species protection measures. A recent letter from former heads of Natural England, English Nature, the RSPB and the National Trust has warned that pulling out of Europe could lead to “a very steep decline in pan-European protections in areas as diverse as water quality, energy efficiency and habitat and species protection.”
As a former Health and Safety director of a UK company, I am also aware of the huge impact of EU law on this area of life. H&S law might be much derided in the popular press but it has saved the lives of many employees.
All this is without reference to the huge importance of EU trade to the UK. It is no coincidence that the majority of business leaders wish the UK to remain within the Single Market, which has lowered costs and prices for consumers, and generated jobs and wealth within the UK. By leaving the EU Britain will be turning its back on a powerful economic force in the world, representing 23% of global GDP.
In conclusion I would wish my hypothetical grandchildren to grow up as cosmopolitan individuals, at home in the cultural and social milieu of Europe, rather than as insular people banging the nationalistic drum.
This gallery contains 11 photos.
Originally posted on Andrew James:
1973-78: A Common Market or a Project for Peace? My childhood and youth were spent in ‘splendid isolation’ from the rest of Europe. My grandfather had almost made it to the Western Front in 1917,…
I thought President Obama’s recent speech in Germany (reported this morning on France24) and the Huw Edwards interview with the president (on BBC yesterday) were very interesting.
He is, IMHO, one of the most intelligent and thoughtful US presidents for many years, and his views seem to be objective and well-considered (unlike the hysterical response from Farage).
Britain should take them very seriously – after all, being at the end of his presidency, he has nothing to gain politically.
Thanks to John Page a member of one of the SY2E – Remain in the EU groups.
Africans for Britain has withdrawn from the Vote Leave campaign.
We fear a take over of the campaign by the radical wing which is likely to scapegoat immigrants. Most of our members and sympathisers have a history of migration. We believe that the current system is discriminatory but we do not blame the beneficiaries or want to be used against them. Immigration wherever it comes from has been on balance beneficial to Britain.
Nigel Farage used the US-Australian Free Trade Agreement as the counter-argument to predictions that it would take 5-10 years to negotiate a UK-USA FTA.
His assertion is that it had taken just 10 months to negotiate the US-Australia FTA. Let’s look at it:
It is true that the actual commercial negotiation did only take 10 months using the North American FTA as a model
What he fails to mention is that the US had been trying to get such an agreement since the 1980’s, and when agreement in principle was reached in 2001, it took until 2003 for negotiations to start, and until 2005 for both countries to ratify.
Imagine if you will a married couple. They have been together for a considerable time. One day the husband decides that he wishes to divorce his wife. However there are certain caveats attached. Th…
Source: The prizes of promiscuity

Thanks to Paul Wild a member of one of the SY2E – Remain in the EU groups
As a Brit living in France, for 10 years, I feel that it is time to share some thoughts.
I teach English to business people in the Dijon area. So far, with no exception, everyone of them that have expressed an opinion have said that that they cannot understand why UK would want to leave the EU. None of them are totally in favour of the EU but they believe the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.
Like Eddie Izzard said so eloquently recently, if you want to change something, you have to be a part of it. You cannot sit on the outside and change anything.
However, it is possible to express an opinion as Mr Obama has done today. He is the leader of a country that is far bigger in size and economically to Britain – the UK is similar in size to most US states so our influence on the world order is significantly less – I am sorry that this will upset many people who believe the UK is a major player in world politics.
In my opinion, it is similar to California demanding independence from the USA! Similarly to what has happened previously, many of the BREXITers are very quick to decry his opinion, but they are unable to come up with any facts, supposition or ideas as to what life would be like should the UK exit.
This is my main concern; a movement based on putting down the opposing view,without suggesting a credible alternative, with how the UK will stand, is significantly flawed.
Obviously from a personal view, I would like the UK to remain in Europe, but if the leave movement could give me some hard facts as to my and the UK’s position in the future were it to leave, I would be very happy to reconsider.
However, there is a deafening silence on this issue.
As an additional statement, the fact that Boris criticises Mr Obama as part Kenyan, given his own cosmopolitan background displays a crassness, that defies belief.
Rant over!!
Thanks to Andy West a member of one of the SY2E – Remain in the EU groups.
On BBC Radio 4’s “”Any Questions” last night (22nd April 2016), Nigel Farage claimed that Norway makes no contributions to the EU (though he acknowledged it voluntarily makes some donations to poorer EU member states) and that it incorporates only a small number of EU regulations into its law.
He said all this with such authority and force that for a moment I was worried I’d misunderstood the situation.
But no. He was lying.
According to official Norwegian government report “Outside and Inside” (2012 — Google for PDF):
“All 17 ministries work with EU/EEA matters, and so do most of the subordinate agencies and all 429 municipalities, much of whose work deals with EEA-related matters. EU law has been incorporated to some extent into around 170 of a total of 600 Norwegian statutes and approximately 1 000 Norwegian regulations.
Norway’s association with the EU has implications at all levels, from matters affecting daily life (vehicle inspections, the working environment, food quality) to major structural issues (the common labour market and the financial market), as well as the balance of power between the Storting(parliament), the Government and the courts, politicians and civil servants, the capital and the regions, employers and employees, etc.”
Meanwhile, the Norwegian government’s Mission to the EU reports:
“Norway’s financial contributions include funding to reduce disparities in Europe and contributions to the budget of EU programmes and agencies we participate in.”
Per capita, Norway pays under its EU agreements roughly what the UK does.
Nobody on the “Any Questions” team seriously challenged Farage. They were shocked, and maybe, like me, doubted their own understandings. Perhaps they assumed he was playing by their own rules and not lying. Some hope.
Not only do leaders of the Leave campaign refuse to give any clue as to what a post-Brexit Britain would look like. They make up their own “facts” about the current reality.
Thanks to Graham Watt a member of one of the SY2E – Remain in the EU groups.