http://news.ft.com/cms/s/ef7ac232-5d...00e2511c8.html
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It is generally believed Britain's membership of the European Union is a good thing. But the, at times divisive, debate over joining the euro and fears about the consequences of EU enlargement have led to this assumption being challenged.
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My bias alarm always goes off the scale, when such an outrageous lie opens an article. Generally believed by whom? Certainly not the British people!
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There have already been challenges to the wisdom of Britain's membership, including from Civitas, a right-leaning think-tank, which argued last year that membership amounted to a net cost of 4 per cent of the UK's economic output, equivalent to £40bn annually.
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Always trying to make out wanting out of the EU is right-wing. I'm more interested in the fact it costs us 4% and rising thanks.
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Another critic, Professor Patrick Minford of Cardiff Business School, identifies "unacceptably high" ongoing costs of 3.2 to 3.7 per cent of gross domestic product in a book to be published this year. Assuming the EU would impose the same trade barriers it levies on non-members, he concludes "the UK would be considerably better off" leaving the EU.
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Too bloody right!
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However, a separate study by Brian Hindley and Martin Howe - "Better Off Out?" - for the Institute of Economic Affairs found a net economic cost to Britain of withdrawal, albeit a small one of less than 1 per cent of gross domestic product.
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You know what, even if this was true, I would rather pay the 1% and know we were in control of our own future.
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The consensus is that Britain has gained enormously from the EU. The main political parties are united in supporting membership as are business organisations, such as the Institute of Directors, the CBI and the British Chambers of Commerce.
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Oh do come on, we all know the main parties have a concensus that they benefit from and EU gravy train, but British business certainly does not. How do they get away with such blatant rubbish?
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The Tory party, which opposes the EU constitution and euro adoption, accepts the widely-quoted findings of a European Commission report that the EU's GDP in 2002 was 1.8 percentage points, or €164.5bn, higher than it would have been thanks to the single market.
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Another great reason not to vote Tory. They accept anything the European Commision pumps out. They are best buddies with Mandelson and co, and any Tory out there must be horrified to see this confirmed.
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The biggest perceived benefit of Britain's EU membership is tariff-free access to more than 450m people in 25 countries - the world's largest single market.
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We don't need to give over our powers to sign up to a mutually beneficial free trade agreement. I am getting sick of this lie that we have to be a member to get this!
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For Ray Barrell, of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, the two are inextricably linked. He estimates EU membership has raised UK GDP by 3 to 5 per cent, equivalent to about £35bn- £60bn, with most of the gain derived from increased competition rather than free trade.
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Sorry but where the hell does he get these figures from. I would suggest they were pulled from his ****. The EU doesn't increase competition at all, it stifles it. How come all these pro-EU figures are guesses and pie in the sky assumptions?
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Norway, for example, is outside the EU but has low-tariff access to the single market. In exchange, it contributes to the EU budget but has no say over the drafting of regulations.
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Like their tiny little voice would make any difference in an EU monster anyway! The bottom line is they get all the good stuff, with none of the bad. Sounds like a great deal to me!
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Mr Barrell accepts that these gains have to be offset against the cost of the CAP. The net cost to Britain of the CAP is the difference between the costs the policy imposes on taxpayers and food purchasers, and the gains of the farmers. For Britain, this amounted to a net cost of £4.5bn in 1998.
The CAP is the main reason why Britain pays more INTO phpbb_the EU than it gets back, even with the rebate negotiated by Margaret Thatcher in 1984. According to the Foreign Office in a guide to the EU published last month, over the past five years Britain has paid on average about £120 per person per year to the EU.
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So we are not getting any benefit at all. We lose money overall and that is the bottom line. Losing money and control of our country, why don't we bend over for them while we are at it?
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But the Foreign Office estimates that the gains from EU membership are greater - at nearly £300 per person from access to the single market alone.
Ian McCafferty, chief economist of the CBI employers' organisation, believes the main beneficiary of EU membership has been the consumer, who has enjoyed a range of products and services at competitive prices.
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Does anyone seriously believe this BS? Business has had hundreds of regulations poured onto it by the EU, driving costs up. The only reason we get things cheaper now, is China. We know our food costs more because of CAP, but can anyone seriously point out one product or service that is cheaper because of the EU? We have a couple of covert Europhiles here, give me an example! The articles example is a joke :-
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These include low-cost airlines, which emerged with the liberalisation of air travel across Europe, the development of financial services and - notwithstanding the recent rise in energy costs - lower electricity prices.
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Liberalisation of air travel? What a crock. Easyjet fly to non-EU countries for just as cheap. The electricity costs haven't got any cheaper (indeed they are going up now). How has membership of the EU made electricity cheaper? Another crock.
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In a recent survey of 451 business leaders, it found only 32 per cent thought EU membership had benefited their business, down from 75 per cent in 1998. Yet a large majority wanted more integration in Europe and fewer differences between national tax systems.
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A survey by whome. BIE per chance. Even so, this still found less than a third of business seeing any benefit. I'm sure business does want more integration on certain thins, but that doesn't mean membership to the EU is required.
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The difference of opinion about the costs and benefits of EU membership suggest that any thought of leaving the EU, in preference to stepping up the pace of internal reform, would be a hugely risky step to take.
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And it finishes of as it started. Disinformation on an epic scale, and I have just lost any remaining respect I had for the FT. It is obvious to me that it would be a massive risk to stay in the EU, even when you use just the facts from this biased report.
04-01-2005, 03:02 AM
Costs and benefits of belonging to the European Union
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