tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36227136.post5269345194448435057..comments2024-01-16T08:40:53.682+00:00Comments on <a href="http://www.openeurope.org.uk">Open Europe</a>: Ten years on, what Britain can learn from the Swedish euro referendumOEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00556463374230498875noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36227136.post-594823732161576772013-09-17T22:06:42.191+01:002013-09-17T22:06:42.191+01:00What I have learnt in the last 5 years, let alone ...What I have learnt in the last 5 years, let alone 10, is that our MPs and the EU cannot be trusted with our futures.<br /><br />No democracy, no transparency, no accountability and no financial clue have led to a complete loss of confidence and trust.<br /><br />I quite agree that should there be a UK renegotitation we will only end up in the same situation in a few years time.<br /><br />UK out.<br /><br />SCAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36227136.post-5640270073145382782013-09-17T16:45:35.706+01:002013-09-17T16:45:35.706+01:00"Though there may have been some politicians ..."Though there may have been some politicians in Sweden and elsewhere who saw the single currency as the ultimate way to set the snowball rolling towards an EU superstate,"<br /><br />This is not only untrue, it's a deliberate attempt to obscure the ONLY reason the Euro was devised: to force its users and other EUSSR countries into a crisis that would precipitate total, anti-democratic political union.<br /><br />Some liars call this a "conspiracy theory."<br /><br />But honest people know better.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36227136.post-67306567917409458482013-09-17T16:07:59.301+01:002013-09-17T16:07:59.301+01:00Open Europe is located more in the real world than...Open Europe is located more in the real world than the Brussels elite but I still do not see why your mentor should consider it would automatically be a good thing for the UK to remain in the EU after a few changes, even major ones.<br /><br />What the UK population signed up for (me included) was to be part of a Common Market' not a Disunited States of Europe with 'One People', 'One Government' and 'One Leader', (now where have we heard that phraseology before?.....In German it will perhaps be clearer.....'Ein Volk', 'Ein Reich', 'Ein Fuhrer'.<br /><br />If the guys in Brussels will roll the legislation back to 1975 (and give the UK back its stolen fishing rights) then who knows; such an unlikely attack of reasonableness might just do the trick and keep the UK in the EU but absolutely nothing less will do and let's be completely real guys; there is as much chance of that happening as England winning the next World Cup.<br />Average Englishmannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36227136.post-24499096121943084902013-09-17T11:54:36.897+01:002013-09-17T11:54:36.897+01:00The reasonable argument put by reasonable men like...The reasonable argument put by reasonable men like Mats Persson that Britain should remain inside a reformed EU ignores the question of how long the EU would remain reformed. Even post-reform, the interest groups in Brussels would remain to push for centralisation and aggrandisation; there are no countervailing incentives to ensure equal pressure in the opposite direction in favour of liberalisation. So even if Britain did opt to remain in a reformed EU, it would be only a matter of years before the same problems provoked the same debate all over again. In brief, the incentive-structure in Brussels, as in all political markets, means that enduring, long-term reform of the EU ain't going to happen. Out is the only answer.Martin Andersonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36227136.post-13714343578082595452013-09-16T20:36:11.362+01:002013-09-16T20:36:11.362+01:00It is clear to most UK citizens that neither the E...It is clear to most UK citizens that neither the EU nor the Euro work. The EU has presided over the biggest economic disaster that Europe has seen and yet everyone responsible is still in their jobs..<br /><br />The UK's own politicians have let the country down badly by not seeking any kind of mandate from their own electorate over the last few decades. Politicians have gone off piste.<br /><br />The UK's referendum must happen ASAP and not in 2017 to prevent further damage to the relationship between parliament and the people.<br /><br />When it does come, the baseline for the referendum must be leaving the EU in favour of EEA/EFTA membership and not leaving the EU per se.<br /><br />Free trade -Yes<br />Sovereignty - No<br /><br />SCAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36227136.post-84778072053909692332013-09-16T18:43:07.317+01:002013-09-16T18:43:07.317+01:00This is one of the best pieces I have read for a l...This is one of the best pieces I have read for a long time. I think the concluding remarks about the UK are dead on. If Cameron gets a "kind of" half satisfactory deal with the EU and that is followed by a slim majority for staying in, that will be more or less the worst outcome, because it will settle nothing, and the in/out debate will simply come back to life.<br /><br />If the EU was really thinking of its own best interests, they would offer Cameron major concessions to keep the UK firmly in the Single Market, and accept that the rest of the EU superstructure isn't needed or appropriate for the UK.<br /><br />Unfortunately, events such as Barosso's speech this week make me think that EU leaders are in such a sealed bubble that such an outcome is pretty unlikely.jon liveseynoreply@blogger.com