EU Membership - should we get out?

[Chrisjay]

 The cost per citizen is £1,968 per year to remain a member of the EU and the cost is rising.

The annual budget contribution from various countries and what they then get back is baffling.

Take Ireland for instance it contributed 1.3 bn euro but got back 2.5 bn so why did they get in such a position as to need a bail out?

In order of contributions Germany 22.2bn, France 17.3bn, Italy 14.4bn and the UK 13.7bn (euros)
In order rebates Germany 12.2bn, France 13.5bn, Italy 11.0bn and the UK 8.2bn

Spain contributes 9.0bn but gets 13bn back, Belgium contributes 4.0bn but gets 5.6bn back, Poland contributes 2.1bn but gets 5.3bn back, Greece contributes 1.9 bn and gets 6.8bn back (another one that needed bailing out.
Portugal contributed 1.4bn and got 3.6bn back (one who looks like needing a bail out)

The UK suffers a massive 49.4bn deficit in trade while Germany has a massive 70.8bn surplus in trade it does not take a genius to realise the trading we do within the EU is not as advantageous to us as it is to Germany.

Should we stay or should we leave and become a trading member only?  In the news today 48% of the country want to pull out with 27% staying in and 21% undecided, if there was a referendum this year have you thought about how you would vote?

[caminito]

OUT !

 An argument ad-nauseam we hear from Euro-fanatics is that we benefit from being in the EU due to the trade advantages we get from being a member of the EU. They paint a nightmare scenario saying that if we left the EU we would lose many trading opportunities and therefore the economy would be damaged significantly. Like many Euro-fanatic campaigns the claims have little basis in fact. In fact what actually happens is completely the opposite of what the Euro-fanatics say.

Stoddart , Thanks to a probing question by the Independent Labour peer Lord Stoddart on the 25th November to the government and answered by Lord Taylor of Holbeach, we now see that our actual relationship with the EU is extremely detrimental to our trading ability. The UK has run up a colossal deficit of over £260 Billion with the EU in the ten-year period 2000-2009. Clearly then the so-called trade advantages we constantly hear about are illusory. Furthermore considering money is scarce; this is not where you would like to see money being wasted on.

To put this large number into context the budget deficit that is hardly a small number stood at the end of 2009/10 at 170.8 Billion.   The government is committed to cutting the size of the national deficit. However the EU deficit that is much larger is ignored. The government needs to wake up to the fact that if we want to put our economy back on track we need to leave the EU. Once again Britain is giving more to other EU member states than they are getting back. It highlights how our relationship with the EU is a lose-lose situation.

[Papaumau]

Britain's relationship with Europe from the present government point of view:

Have a look at THIS

Remember that most of the Tory part of this coalition government is supposed to be Euro-sceptic !