We do not love the EU

The Political elite really need to get it into heads that we do not love the EU.

50 Responses to the Independent
The Independent this week lists 50 reasons why we should love the EU. Donal Blaney has something to say about that.

Today’s Independent has sunk to new depth of vacuous journalism by posting on its front page “50 reasons to love the European Union”.

1.The end of war between European nations – the EEC came into being in 1957. World War 2 ended in 1945. And US involvement in Europe through NATO, and the threat of invasion by Soviet Russia, may also have had something to do with it…

2.Democracy is now flourishing in 27 countries – how fantastic that we in Britain can put our democratic society down to the EU. There was I thinking that we, and our European cousins, all had democratic traditions that pre-dated 1957 but it goes to show how bad my education was.

3.Once-poor countries, such as Ireland, Greece and Portugal, are prospering – thanks to subsidies paid for by wealthier countries that have held those wealthier countries back from keeping up with American rates of economic growth.

4.The creation of the world's largest internal trading market – but we keep being told that India and China are now free market economies and, therefore, internal trading markets that are far greater in size than the EU.

5.Unparalleled rights for European consumers – which are harming businesses from remaining competitive as the pendulum has swung too far.

6.Co-operation on continent-wide immigration policy – this is a reason to LOVE the EU? Seriously?

7.Co-operation on crime, through Europol – I am sure those British plane-spotters arrested in Greece feel relieved to learn that we are adopting such levels of co-operation.

8.Laws that make it easier for British people to buy property in Europe – but higher taxes to pay for the EU mean that any profits earned are eaten up.

9.Cleaner beaches and rivers throughout Europe – these Europhiles claim the credit for everything, don’t they?

10.Four weeks statutory paid holiday a year for workers in Europe – and this is a good thing for our economic growth how, exactly?

11.No death penalty (it is incompatible with EU membership) – it was actually blocked by the European Convention of Human Rights.

12.Competition from privatised companies means cheaper phone calls – I think Lady Thatcher deserves the credit for privatisation, not the EU. But it’s nice to see The Independent come on board and embrace privatisation!

13.Small EU bureaucracy (24,000 employees, fewer than the BBC) – that’s like saying I am a better person because I only beat my wife once a week as opposed to someone who beats his wife every day. The EU bureaucracy is growing, not shrinking.

14.Making the French eat British beef again – wow, The Independent has even begun bashing the cheese-eating surrender monkeys now!

15.Minority languages, such as Irish, Welsh and Catalan recognised and protected – they were protected anyway! They managed to survive centuries without the help of the EU!

16.Europe is helping to save the planet with regulatory cuts in CO2 – or, alternatively, it is reacting prematurely to climate change without any certainty that CO2 emissions are the problem and by failing to do enough to encourage technological solutions to climate change.

17.One currency from Bantry to Berlin (but not Britain) – and yet still the economic growth rate of the EU and the United States are higher than those in Bantry or Berlin.

18.Europe-wide travel bans on tyrants such as Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe – which he is ignoring and he remains in power terrorizing his fellow Zimbabweans.

19.The EU gives twice as much aid to developing countries as the United States – that is simply untrue. Sorry guys. Of course the fact that EU countries have any spare money to give away to the third world is only thanks to the fact that those EU countries don’t spend enough on defence because they sit back like spoiled children relying on the US to defend them.

20.Strict safety standards for cars, buses and aircraft – as if these would be less strict if the EU didn’t exist.

21.Free medical help for tourists – it’s not free, guys. It’s paid for out of taxation. Have you still not learned that there is no such thing as government money, only money previously belonging to taxpayers until it was appropriated by the state?

22.EU peacekeepers operate in trouble spots throughout the world – doing the easy jobs so that the US does that tougher ones; this seems to miss out on noting that EU peacekeepers fail to intervene lest they get a graze on their elbows.

23.Europe's single market has brought cheap flights to the masses, and new prosperity for forgotten cities – but these cheap flights blight the environment, oh Independent. Surely “the masses” (as you so charmingly refer to us) are supposed to stop flying to save the planet?

24.Introduction of pet passports – I might give you this one although I have yet to use my dog, Bella’s passport to go overseas.

25.It now takes only 2 hrs 35 mins from London to Paris by Eurostar – and there was I thinking this was paid for by the British and French taxpayers. Did the other EU states chip in to pay for this?

26.Prospect of EU membership has forced modernisation on Turkey – now THAT is satire, surely?

27.Shopping without frontiers gives consumers more power to shape markets – but it isn’t truly a market without frontiers. There are limits on the amounts of goods we can bring into the country so consumers don’t actually have this power.

28.Cheap travel and study programmes means greater mobility for Europe's youth – they are only cheap because they are subsidized by taxpayers.

29.Food labelling is much clearer – again, as if this wouldn’t be happening anyway!

30.No tiresome border checks (apart from in the UK) – nice and easy for terrorists and jihadist sympathizers to move freely around Europe (apart from when entering the UK).

31.Compensation for passengers suffering air delays – we are getting to the meat now, aren’t we?!

32.Strict ban on animal testing for the cosmetic industry – thereby causing the cost of cosmetics to rise and some companies to go out of business.

33.Greater protection for Europe's wildlife – yes, because all those nasty member states wanted to ruin wildlife until the EU came along.

34.Regional development fund has aided the deprived parts of Britain – by subsidies instead of encouraging true economic growth.

35.European driving licences recognised across the EU – you have GOT to be joking. An Italian’s driving licence is worth the same as mine? Have you SEEN the way people drive in Rome?

36.Britons now feel a lot less insular – yes, the nation that conquered a quarter of the globe and which trades with every corner of the earth is such an insular little country, isn’t it?

37.Europe's bananas remain bent, despite sceptics' fears – but the EU still spent time and money passing pointless regulations on the curvature of bananas…

38.Strong economic growth - greater than the United States last year – one swallow does not a summer make.

39.Single market has brought the best continental footballers to Britain – and brought in wage inflation, diving, dissent and decimated our national teams.

40.Human rights legislation has protected the rights of the individual – ECHR, not EU. Sorry guys!

41.European Parliament provides democratic checks on all EU laws – ROFLMAO.

42.EU gives more, not less, sovereignty to nation states – oh come ON!

43.Maturing EU is a proper counterweight to the power of US and China – and there was I thinking it was simply an economic union without aspirations of being a superpower in its own right!

44.European immigration has boosted the British economy – just ask people who have lost jobs to Polish plumbers and Estonian waitresses.

45.Europeans are increasingly multilingual - except Britons, who are less so – ah the joys of English being the global language of business!

46.Europe has set Britain an example how properly to fund a national health service – wrong. Switzerland has shown Britain how to run and fund a health service.

47.British restaurants now much more cosmopolitan – with smaller portions, menu items no one can pronounce and waiters with attitude problems.

48.Total mobility for career professionals in Europe – again, simply nonsense. As an English lawyer I cannot simply go and work elsewhere in the EU.

49.Europe has revolutionised British attitudes to food and cooking – yes, those great European companies that are ubiquitous such as McDonald’s, Starbucks, Burger King…

50.Lists like this drive the Eurosceptics mad – they just make us more Eurosceptic!


By: Donal Blaney | 21-03-07 16:41