Are you saying Norway and Switzerland are bad countries for European exports? I admit that the UK is very interesting because of the 60 million people living there, but the incomes of the people in Norway and Switzerland is far superior to that of the UK.
You’re a slippery fish! No, this was in response to the comments about Switzerland and Norway being some kind of back door for imports to the EU.
Yea regulation in Norway. It is the anti-EU crowd that claims that there is too much regulation from Europe.. so what is it then?
You’ve twisted and turned once too many times. I have no idea what you’re on about there.
CAP insured that we could feed ourselves. That meant higher prices yes. But as I said, I would rather have higher prices and local produce than have lower prices and be fully dependent on outside sources. Plus CAP was also a reaction to other countries subsidies and tariffs at the time and later on.
We could have had a fairer system by simply offering to pay the same price we do now for food without cheating overseas and 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] world markets. CAP kept bloated or inefficient farming practice going. I’d rather pay top dollar for the best food fairly produced wherever in the world. Right now, we have created a Frankenstein system that impoverishes some 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] world nations and gives some farmers little hope of making their lives better. It could be argued these same farmers could give up and become economic migrants too.
Your incorrect economic history of the 1970’s…
Come on...you had to bring in xenophobia?
No, I’ve always posted that I admired the work ethic of many of the Polish workers, we have many here in the UK who refuse work. Some of the immigrants who came have benefitted our economy but nobody can claim the sheer numbers of peoples who moved was a good thing. In some cases the effect on local populations has been quite severe. To try and ignore the effect of opening migration controls is simply political correctness of the worst kind.
And now because you dont "like" Europe anymore and want to export more to god knows where.. then suddenly that part of the treaty is bad?..
This simply continues your hostile divorce view of a change to the UK position – the treaty might not work as well and thus needs to be renegotiated. That’s going to happen anyway as part of the 2014 / 2015 talks.
But as long as the US, Brazil and others have massive subsidy systems for their farmers, why in the hell should we remove ours?
Why not just offer to pay high prices for the best foodstuffs – same result as the CAP in securing foodstuff but without cheating 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] world farmers and producers. And cheaper.
And dont forget we have to insure local food production... that is the whole point of the EEC and CAP.
I know you’re not going to argue CAP as it stands is a good thing unless you’re a French farmer.
Eh? Without permission? Hell no.
Fish swim quite happily between coastal (European) and international waters.
Relative to England? yes there was next to no development in Wales and Scotland after the industrial revolution.
Funny, I lived in Wales before the 1973 entry to the EU and I don’t remember the Welsh living in mud huts or living feudal lives as serfs?
Yea.. in what.. 2 to 3 cities. The rest of the area was hardly massively evolved..
You can’t evolve the highlands or the welsh Brecon beacons – a lot of the land you’re claiming is under-developed is wild land. Now, we may have fish farms and vast pine estates where natural woodland and lakes once were. Great progress.
Wales and Scotland were poor areas in the UK.. and underdeveloped. The EU/EEC changed that.
You’ve claimed this repeatedly, now I’m calling you to demonstrate this.
Not quite on the scale of a Michael Foot classic, but a classic all the same...
arty
