We need the EU?
Interesting in that i saw some stats yesterday and it all points to the fact that we really dont need the EU, rather the EU needs us to ratify their nonsense.
Our exports breakdown as 60% to the US, 10 % to UK, 12 % to EU. Not sure of the remainder breakdown but its 18%.My point is 70% of our exports go to the US and UK. 70%. If this isnt enough to show us that we dont need to be licking the EU arse ,nothing is.
interesting,
Westside.
im very skeptical of the eu. Though then again i am one of those "nwo conspiracy nutcases".
Well
looking at these stats we do f'all business with the EU. I mean 12%? Interestingly enough moderate growth is predicted for 2011 and at the moment the US is slowly picking up.Originally Posted by Rayden
how coincidental,
Westside.
you are probably right man.
Truth is we have more in common with the U.S and the U.K as compaired to the rest Europe anyway.
Established Member
Where did you get your stats from?
Main Trading Partners - 2008 €m
* Imports Exports
Great Britain and Northern Ireland 19,202.7 15,864.3
Other EU Countries 17,353.0 37,976.3
USA 6,762.8 16,674.3
Rest of World 14,266.3 15,879.5
Total 57,584.8 86,394.4
Source: CSO - Statistics: Balance of Trade - Main Trading Partners
UK = 18%
EU = 44%
USA = 19%
RoW = 18%
At one point 85% of our exports went to the UK & US with the UK accounting for about 60% and they dictated the price they were prepared to pay. The EU with its single market allowed us to remove our dependency on the UK and stabilised our prices/income.
Queue Monty Python “What did the EU'ers ever do for us.......................
For me the most important thing the EU does is to force our politicians to think (i.e. invest, legislate, plan etc) longer term, not for four/five year cycles
I did hear one time that 72% of statistics are made up on the spot:-)
TV3 news yesterday,
Westside.
Banned User
Certified E-I Addict
I think we should get out now, before we have to start bailing out Greece and a few more countries and before they start letting in countries like Turkey, Hungary and Bulgaria (no offence to people from there).
I am still traumatised from the argument the Irish government was making before about how it would be "unfair" for us not to let the Nice and Lisbon treat go through because we got so much from the EU, now it was time to give it back to other countries.
What a load of fucking bulllshit. It's obvious they've never held any real jobs and had to worry about money themselves. In the real world you take what you can and can give charity if you want.
You can be sure the bankers didn't say "hold on a second now, I won't get out with my stocks intact, I'll wait for the big bust to help the other individuals", no way. Even though they had insider information and weren't playing fairly!!! Morality has nothing to do with it, we're not all a big happy family. Who's bailing Somalia out?
The ONLY thing I would say in favour of keeping the EU is that our government has so little of a clue how to run a country themselves that at least the EU ensures there is some bit of sanity and intelligence there.
Established Member
I agree that these countries have a poor international reputation but I also believe the only way they can truly change is to become a member of an organisation like the EU where there are external monitors to push for change.
In a country that has endemic corruption it is nigh on impossible to change the system from within as no matter how idealistic and removed from corruption you are the entire system is against you.
To put it another way, Archimedes, I think, it was that said “Give me a big enough lever and I will move the world”. My addition is “but without a fulcrum you are buggered!”.
In the short term there is a penalty for including these countries in the EU but in the longer term, when these countries reform, the increased numbers give us a voice against countries like China and India.
That said, the countries in the EU are far from perfect themselves but each country is subjected to external monitoring and a system of checks and balances helps things to evolve in the right direction.
Established Member
Certified E-I Addict
I'm amazed that politicians think we can be one country despite our massive cultural differences. I have nothing culturally in common with someone from Greece - how can we both be part of one nation? All empires that were too multi-cultural* ended up having massive sectarian problems - for examples, the breakup of the old Soviet Union, or Yugoslavia, or the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. It works in America because the idea of being Something-American, whether that be African, Irish, Native or whatever, is already well ingrained in their people.
*I don't mean "welcoming of foreigners", I mean "made up of ethnically different people".
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