Quote:
Originally Posted by Damien
So what will the agreement be? The EEA is the best example we have of a country not being part of the EU but being part of the free trade agreements. Maybe Switzerland as well. There is no example of a country doing what we propose to do, leaving the EU but keeping all the trade advantages. It is not Europhile scaremongering to therefore look at the closest example there is.
I don't think the concerns are scaremongering. I think they're valid. Rather than scaremongering it could be that there are actual ramifications to consider on this issue and two sides to the debate.
---------- Post added at 09:37 ---------- Previous post was at 09:32 ----------
These numbers are temporary. We're not talking about the next year or the next 5 years. We're talking about a change that could affect us, for better or worse, over the next 10, 20, 50 years. Do we see Europe being a key market as we go forward? Europe is obviously a basketcase right now but I don't see it stagnating and falling over the next few decades. Conversely we might be fundamentally unable to be apart of it if it become more united....
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Well of course they are but they're what we have right now and things aren't looking as though they're going to get better any time soon. After all this time when things have inexorably moved in a direction most of us don't want, do we have to wait another 20 years before having the chance to say yes or no? I'd suggest that if we were still in the EU by that time, there'd be no way out at that point because more and more binding decisions will have been forced upon us and powers taken away.
The EU has grown too big too fast and yes we're in grave danger from the fallout whatever we do. However, the Eurocrats have shown themselves to be as singleminded in their approach to Europe's future as they are out of touch with economic reality and it should be for the people of the UK to decide whether we want more of the same or go our own way and accept the consequences f so doing. In the absence of any crystal balls that's all we can do isn't it?