The EU, good or bad for the UK?

As the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome that created the EEC, the forerunner of the European Union, approaches, the Europhile Independent newspaper has a feature entitled (Monty Python style), ‘So, what has Europe ever done for us? Apart from..’ and goes on to list 50 things it thinks the EU has done to benefit us.

Looking through their list there are things that the EU has had nothing to do with and others that have had a positively bad effect on Britain. Here are the ones I think they got wrong.

3. Once poor countries like Ireland, Greece and Portugal prospering Of course they are, and all because of EU subsidies. And who pays for those subsidies the top two of three wealthiest countries i.e. the UK, Germany and France. That’s why the poor eastern European countries have been queuing up to join, they want a slice of the handouts.

6. Co-operation on continent-wide immigration policy Co-operation doesn’t seem much in evidence when you get thousands of illegal immigrants waiting along the French channel coast trying to sneak into the UK and the French do nothing with them.

10. Four weeks statutory paid holiday a year for workers in Europe I think most people in the UK were getting that already, so nothing to thank the EU for.

11. No death penalty (incompatible with EU membership) Its an absolute disgrace we don’t have the death penalty in this country, every opinion poll on the subject always shows 70%+ want it, instead murderers serve an average of 14 years.

13. Small EU bureaucracy (24,000 employees, fewer than the BBC) What a joke, just the other day there was a report of how the EU are taking over two buildings in Westminster as an ‘embassy’ in London. They might have less staff than the BBC but boy do they milk the tax payers of Europe with salaries and expenses. Its a big unwieldly organization with input from 25 countries all wanting something, you know it must be as corrupt as hell.

17. One currency from Bantry to Berlin (but not Britain) But who’s economy is the runaway success in Europe at the moment, the UK’s. Ask the Italians or Germans if they’re loving the Euro.

22. EU peace-keepers operate throughout the world And as soon as a shot gets fired they run home. Look at the situation with Lebanon and Israel, France was banging on about the need for peacekeepers and how they were ready to take the lead. When the UN said ok but we need at least 15,000, the French said we’ll only send 200, pointless.

25. It will soon take only two hours from London to Paris by Eurostar Eurostar is nothing to do with the European Union.

36. Britons now feel a lot less insular Again nothing to do with the EU. Being more affluent and able to afford more holidays, cheaper air travel, being better informed through tv and the internet is what has made people more open.

39. Single market has brought the best continental footballers to Britain This is desperate, the best footballers are here because the Premiership clubs pay the highest salaries and they do that because of the multi-billion pound tv deal with Sky. That’s it, if Seria A or La liga had a bigger tv deal the players would be in Italy or Spain.

40. Human rights legislation has protected the rights of the individual One of the worst pieces of legislation this country has ever signed up to. Abused across the board by some of the worst criminals, whose ‘rights’ are upheld above everything else by judges who have never lived in the real world.

42. EU gives more, not less, sovereignty to nation states Utter nonsense, the politicians and bureaucrats in the EU are the same as anywhere else, they get off on power. That’s why they’re trying to push this European constitution through, to centralize power and give them more control. They want a single EU foreign policy and EU Army, we’ve got the EU flag, how about an anthem and EU President.

49. Europe has revolutionised British attitudes to food and cooking I think you’ll find tv shows with the likes of Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, Rick Stein and the rest of the celebrity chefs have done more to change attitudes than the EU.

The Treaty of Rome set up the European Economic Community(EEC) and that’s what people in Britain voted to stay with in 1975. Its morphed into this all powerful bureaucracy that nobody was told about. Let’s have another vote to see if we stay in or out.