Re: Should we pull out of Europe?
A difficult one this for me as i have been living in Italy for the last 25 years and have missed out on the build up of resentment in the UK against the EU.
Back in the 70's I had the good fortune to go on holiday camping in France, you wouldn't believe how "behind" it was in some ways WRT the UK back then especially in the South. I think the EU has been very important for the development of Southern European countries like France, Spain, Italy etc. Equally it is now promoting the development of it's newer member states -but at what price?
The Euro seemed like a good idea and is certainly handy for those who travel. In Italy when it was introduced 1 Euro=1,936.27 Lira but in the shops overnight what used to cost 1000Lira suddenly cost 1 Euro and no-one complained because 1:1 was easier to understand! Europe therefore became more expensive for Brits on holiday and viceversa...
I personally preferred Europe when each country had more af a national identity and it's own currency. That's what made each country different, interesting and "foreign", nowadays we're all mixed up together and there are McD's and kebab houses wherever you go...
I'm no economist, but surely if countries managed to trade with each other before the EU then surely they could continue to do so without it. Would you be banned if you weren't in the team anymore? As many have pointed out on this thread already there seem to be too many vested Political/Economic interests tied up in the maintenance of the bureaucracy.
It's a truly tangled web - can we be sure we aren't being deceived by our politicians in pursuit of their own interests?
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