The wee hiccup that Greece is having at the moment
Bl**dy heck ...they are bankrupt , broke , potless
The Euro luvvies arguments just do not stack up . They should get their heads out of the sand and face the facts !
Hitched to a ‘Falling Star’?
It is foolish to link our fortunes to a region of the world with a poor record of economic growth and whose share of both world markets and
GDP is destined to fall. Even the European Commission takes a gloomy view of the EU’s prospects.
The European Union is a political project. It is not about economics, though its economic consequences are profound.
British participation in le projet européen, and whether that participation should continue, and in what form, is thus primarily a question of politics. But the politics cannot be assessed without an understanding of the economics
The balance of the costs and benefits of UK membership of the EU is unequivocally negative. The net costs are substantial
The CAP, is a ‘manifest absurdity’.The Chancellor calls it a ‘scandal’. There can be little doubt that the CAP has inflicted serious damage on British agriculture, the British economy and, not least, on Third World countries. For over 30 years the whole of British government policy has been directed to ‘integration’ into and ‘convergence’ with the rest of the EU. In the economic field, the UK has enacted swathes of directives and regulations that impact heavily not just on the ten per cent or less of the economy actually involved in exporting to the EU, but also on the 90 per cent that is not. Ever since 1973, as a member of the EU customs union, the UK’s commercial policy has been that of the EC/EU, not one that the UK would have necessarily chosen had it been free to do so.
The premise is that if the UK had been outside the EU, and been able to deepen its affinities with the rest of the world its economy would have grown . In other words, at the UK’s present level of GDP , its economy would have been £60 billion bigger than it actually was.
That is just one estimate of the opportunity cost to the UK of being in the EU for a ten-year historical period.
If the UK withdrew from the EU it would be in the interests of both parties—especially the remaining EU—to negotiate arrangements
providing for bilateral trade as free as, or more free than, they enjoy at present.
Though all EU countries have ageing populations the problem is especially severe on the Continent, where, with the exception of the
Netherlands, pay-as-you-go (i.e. non-funded) pension systems are the rule, and demography is particularly worrying. As pension
crises deepen, pressure will grow for EU-wide ‘solidarity’—in practice, for UK taxpayers to help fund bankrupt continental systems.
The UK and Germany already massively subsidise the rest of the EU, especially continental farmers, through the mechanism of the
EU Budget. So asking those countries to pay more would not exactly come as a surprise.
Growth in GDP, market size and equity returns will tend to occur outside Europe
• The EU Single Market will be a shrinking market, unattractive to investors
• The tax base will shrink; tax rates and debt will have to increase
• Shrinking and ageing populations mean more demand for healthcare and pensions with fewer people to provide them
• Most EU countries will see falling demand for houses, schools, factories and shops, with falling asset values and investment.
This will affect the financial and equity markets on which pension provision depends
Ninety Per Cent or More of the British Economy Is Not Involved in Exports to the EU
