kowenicki said:
McGran said:
kowenicki said:
McGran said:
kowenicki said:
maximrace said:
The EU itself is a very good thing, our lives would be much worse without it. But the EU is not the same as the EMU (euro). The euro hasn't been that good economically... But it makes life easier ( no currency exchange). And if you say your country needs to leave the EU ( mostly brits) that would be a stupid thing to do because such countries would get isolated in european trade. |
give me an example of that and why in the name of sanity would any exporter want to isolate a potential market. This is the propaganda Europeans fall for. Pretty sure BMW want to sell their cars to as many people as possible for example.
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No customs are levied on goods travelling within the EU and members of the EU impose a common external tariff on all goods entering the union. So if we leave the EU everything we sell to the EU will be more expensive buy (result - reduced exports). Your BMW would also be more expensive as the UK would apply a tariff on imports to encourage you to buy British.
If you've ever bought a valuable item from outside the EU you'll have seen this in action - a letter from the post office telling you that there is a VAT (and possible duty charge) to pay on your item.
58% of our exports and 53% of our imports are with the EU - we need to be inside.
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I guess that's why nobody in Europe buys Japanese or US goods then. And why the Scandinavian nations are on their knees..... :-/
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The USA economy is worth over $14 trillion. The UK - $2 trillion.
Japan's economy is double the size of the UK's and they are discussing creating a free trade zone with China and South Korea rather than leaving one.
I'm not sure what your point about Scandinavian nations is since (Norway aside) they're all in the EU.
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I ma all for trade alliances like a watered down EU, no problem with that at all. With regard to Scandinavia, I was referring to the Euro. The Euro has brough no benefits whatsoever. it has ruined weaker economies and created a false sense of wealth for individuals within those economies.
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On the VERY off chance the EU would isolate the UK anyway, they could get into a similiar trade alliance with the US easy.
Really though, the EU has shown that it's extremly open to letting nations join the "Europeon Economic Zone" without having to sign on all of the various provisions or take on the euro.
The only reason the EU might pull hardball on the UK is because it's the UK.
