Cameron's messages to Britian and Europe

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798686

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Evidently you are more aware of the intricate workings of the EU than i am, i even actually had to pause for a moment to remember what CAP stood for :redface:. Common Agricultural Policy, phew and without google help.:rolleyes:

In the EU or out of it our closest trading partners are with other EU nations but we have no string pulling ability if we are not included. And subsidy works both ways surely. I know that currently the UK has the biggest projected economy over the next 25yrs of all EU nations so it can't be a bad thing right?.
And then i have to wonder why it is that apart from the BNP and UKIP, no other party is suggesting we pull out.

Aww, modest as always Sir Mitchy.

Not sure what to do about the string-pulling - it occurred to me, too. I think our trade is important to them, so we'd still be able to be part of the single market - but yep, might not have so much influence...altho we officially only have 1/27th of the EU's influence on trade decisions anyway. Not sure how Norway copes - but I guess we could hammer out our own terms with them?
 
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798686

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Should representation be relative to population or GDP?

Should be yeh - actually, a certain amount of things are weighted in terms of population size - like number of MEPs and stuff. Also, I guess voting weight also reflects population size to a certain extent...hmm, yep, so maybe I'm wrong on that trade comment. :redface:
 

Jason

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ill post a more serious postnwhen im more sober but is no one offended that he called the plans autistic?

Autism is a disorder, a health issue. It should not be used as a term of abuse. Yes his choice of words was unacceptable. There are also issues around the word "castrated". While not as clear as his reference to autism as the metaphorical usage is established it is nonetheless not an appropriate word. I understand he has said he is sorry.

It is indeed shocking that a French minister launches into abusive language over a set of proposed UK policies.
 
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Jason

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Should representation be relative to population or GDP?

I take this as applying to the allocation of power in the EU.

We seem to have a pretty basic democratic idea of one person, one vote so I would go for representation relative to population. The UK's population should give it 12% influence.

Representation by GDP would be a harder argument to make, but de facto is made in the real world of politics. Possibly we do need to take some sort of account of GDP else there are stresses and strains. The contribution of the UK to the EU GDP (2008, depending on whether PPP or nominal used) is in the region of 14-15%. The 2009 figure will be a higher UK percentage. There's also the oddity of the GDP of Guernsey, Jersey, Man and Gibraltar which because of their business-friendly environments have GDPs far bigger than their populations would suggest (but as BDTs are not part of the figures above).

Decisions like the selection of the president are taken by the heads of state. The UK with 12% population (1/8th of the population) has less than 4% of the power. Luxembourg with 0.1% population (1/1000th of the population) has the same power as the UK. The result of course is back room fighting and stitch ups. Basically France and Germany acting togather can coronate a president.

If we gave power according to the number of letters in a country's name we would have a system no less arbitrary than the present one.
 
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