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Originally Posted by techguyone
I'm still waiting for some people in favour of staying to speak up and put their reasoning forward so as to offer an alternative pov
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I'll pitch in here (sorry it's a bit late) I am an 'inner' for both moral serve serving and technical reasons. On the moral side, it cannot be denied that western Europe has gone through an unprecedented period of peace over the last 60 years. Fostering international co-operation surely must be a good thing both then and now. We are not the same country we were 100 years ago - we do not have an empire any more, enforced by guns. We have to work together in a civilised manner.
The European Union gives a formal framework for co-operation between nations. Issues like workers rights pushed through by the EU can only be a good thing. To say we would have had those anyway relies in our government wanting to preserve those rights. It was only a few days ago our government was proposing cutting welfare to disabled people. Would you trust future governments to keep the rights we have now?
This country is 'European' in outlook, like it or not. We are most like the Scandinavians in terms of how our society is run so why not work together?
From a technical level, I work for an international company that deals with the pharmaceutical industry. The difference between exporting to EU and non-EU countries is clear and that includes countries like Norway and Switzerland by the way. In my personal experience, exporting to non-EU countries takes at least 30 minutes of paperwork above exporting within the EU. In the office I work in, almost every country in the EU is represented so we have language coverage and it's a more interesting vibrant place because of it.
In addition, with the pharmaceutical industry, initiatives like the European Medicines Agency simplify medicines regulation, allowing companies to bring new drugs to market more quickly which drives down costs which, in the end, we will be paying for.
There are arguments saying we could have all of the above through trade agreements outside of the EU but, if that's the case, why leave? We would still have to comply with EU standards but have no influence on how those standards are set up.
Is the EU perfect? No, of course not. Is the UK government perfect, also no. The biggest failing of the EU to promote itself is its openness. The EU publishes pretty much everything it does in the spirit of openness so any proposal is 'out there', regardless on whether those ideas will ever become reality. The European Commission is particularly bad for this. It would be like the UK civil service publishing every idea and proposal.
Phew, a bit of a stream of consciousness there! Most of the reasons why I want to stay in are, to some extent self serving but I think the UK is stronger morally, culturally and financially in the EU