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Originally Posted by Damien
Has this veto actually changed anything then? The EU 'Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs' has said that it doesn't exempt the UK from any additional financial regulations they wish to impose. I guess we knew this already as the treaty didn't contain anything about those regulations but it serves as a reminder.
If anything this may have damaged the chances of stopping those regulations as we are now further removed from a decision making within the EU, as well as possibly causing it's existing members to care less about UK demands. It's looking more like political grandstanding rather than effective bargaining for UK interests.
I am also wondering if such regulation is such a bad thing anything. A year or so ago we were disgusted at how a lack of regulation had allowed banks to cause chaos with our economy and now we are bitterly defending those very same institutions against that regulation being imposed by the EU. Not really sure that is in the interests of our country either, that after the last few years nothing has changed other than the debt incurred bailing out banks. What's the best argument we have in their defence? That will go elsewhere? Well so what? That was true when the current government was blasting the former government for failed regulation over the last 10 years.
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So far as I can see they're being defended against a Tobin Tax which
wouldn't apply outside Europe, that's the problem. I may be wrong but believe Cameron made the point that any such tax would have to be agreed globally in order to avoid the UK in particular being put at a major competitve disadvantage and the trading simply moving elsewhere. IIRC much of the regulatory change required has already happened.