UK better off inside EU - government study

[pampango]

The economic benefits of Britain's European Union membership outweigh the loss of independence on policy, the government said on Monday in a review that will underpin Prime Minister David Cameron's plan to renegotiate EU ties and hold a referendum.

"Is that trade-off, between cost and benefit, between economics and politics, of overall benefit to the UK? It is not possible to give a simple, unambiguous, and universally accepted response," the review said. "But most observers, and indeed most of the evidence received for this report, answer positively."

The prime minister is under pressure to appease rebellious Conservatives who believe Britain could prosper outside the EU. They see the bloc as a bloated, wasteful, meddling bureaucracy that threatens the sovereignty of national parliaments.

The right-wing Daily Telegraph newspaper, which published a leak of the survey, chose to focus on what it called the massive cost burden of EU rules on British business.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/07/22/uk-britain-europe-idUKBRE96L0H720130722

The "burden" of EU regulations seems to be a key reason that most Conservatives want the UK to leave the EU. Deregulation seems to a corporate/conservative policy everywhere.

There are more results of the study yet to be released but, so far, these are not the findings that UKIP and the Tory eurosceptics are looking for.

[davidpdx]

1. I just took a class on EU law

and the discussion about the UK staying in the EU came up quite often. If the UK left the EU it would be a huge setback.

[pampango]

2. Then what motivates the UKIP'ers and the Tory base to want the UK to leave the EU?

I would guess that different things motivate different parts of the base, but business regulations and immigration seem to be two big ones.

[davidpdx]

3. Actually that makes sense given they are righties

The United Kingdom Independence Party I didn't know much about until I looked them up on Wikipedia just now. They are Eurosceptics and opposed the Maastricht Treaty, which is really all I needed to know.

I don't profess to know a lot about it, but I've taken two MOOCs (EU law and Common and Civil law) which have gone into the reasoning behind the creation of the EU. EU law is so damn complex!

Croatia just became the 28th member on July 1st. Several other nations are candidate or potential candidate members.

The UK, Sweden, and a few others are members but sit off to the side with regard to the currency union.

I think if they are able to keep it together it will be good for them. The question is will they be able to do that.