French rejects EU Constitution

[Mr. Peanuts]

As long as we have a strong pound and I can go to France/Belgium to get cheap imports then I'm a happy bunny.

Woo for the economy :greedy:

[scumbag]

As long as we have a strong pound and I can go to France/Belgium to get cheap imports then I'm a happy bunny.

Woo for the economy :greedy:

woo for Britains economy, i found that Germany is the cheapest place in Europe by far, Berlin rules :grin:

[Pressure Drop]

there seems to be a large proportion of people in Europe who just fear change , foreigners and any one who is different from them. The ignorance about Europe and the Eu i've came across from people (probably kids) in England has been quite shocking. They are argueing with me that the UK isn't a part of europe and not in the EU and are extremely anti-europe and against migrants in genreal. Quite alot of there fears seem completely irrational and saying things like they must keep the £ for purely traditional reasons and not economic or pratical.

I'm pro europe and have seen vast amounts of EU money pumped into Northern Ireland since the peace process, it has helped alot and i'd like to see more education into the EU for the general public as at the moment to many have no real idea what it even does.

Really? Wasn't it like 1.5 just a few months ago? That's a pretty big drop. Good for me if I travel to Ireland over the summer.

where abouts you thinking off going to?

[NaiLed]

why WOULDN'T i want to keep the pound?

[Pressure Drop]

woo for Britains economy, i found that Germany is the cheapest place in Europe by far, Berlin rules :grin:

yes but its not all good to.

It is harder for manufacturers to export goods and have tourists go to britian becuase of such a strong pound.

[scumbag]

even though our currency is strong, there still seems to be no shortage of tourists coming to Britain, i live in a small(ish) towm and even we get Japanese tourists
they should visit somewhere better in England than here

[Mr. Peanuts]

Well seeing as Southport hosts many attractions, why not come here?

Back on topic though, as PD said, its harder to export as our manufactured goods will cost more for foreigners to buy, and we import many, many things here.

I do think you get too much patriotism here in the UK and many people just want to keep the pound for the pound's sake. I mean who in the right mind would want currency shared by other countries? PAH.

[Squeezer]

its the french.

who cares?

[GuruMeditation]

Of course, you all lived in France for so long you know why they rejected it.

a) The prime minister and president are a long standing national joke.
b) It's a welfare state, and the French have a paranoia about anything that could jeopardise this. For example all state jobs are reserved for the french. That means (in theory) all teachers, doctors, postmen, transport servicemen .. all should be French. There are work arounds (foreign teacher assistants doing the work of a teacher, a couple of Frances top surgeons have the status of a highly ranked nurse) but these work arounds are very cheap. Add to this a high unemployment level (approx 10%) and a natural instinct to strike for whatever reason (including entire train lines shutting down for a day because "one of our colleagues got fired" and "a passenger talked to me very loudly and very rudely") and we should have seen this coming.
c) Over powerful trade unions that could ask their workers to jump off a cliff if it meant they'd keep their good retirement plans.
d) The commies command 5-10% of the vote. They all would have voted against the constitution and belong in groups b and c.
e) The extreme right command 10-15% of the vote at any one time. They partly belong in group b, and will do anything to make sure Turkey don't get into the EU.

In Holland and France you can blame the extreme parties (Pim Fortuyn, Front National on the one side, PC on the other) for the no vote.

The Brits just know the EU stinks as a whole. A gravy boat for politicians to float down to the bank on, and to fund endless seminars about jack shit.

If you like consultants, you like the EU.

[Tone]

"[The war in Iraq is] a rare opportunity to move toward an historic period of cooperation. Out of these troubled times... a New World Order can emerge."

George H W Bush, September 11th, 1990

[Miku19]

One of my teacher put it this way:

"They have just written down all the 'shady' things you have to do anyways if you're in the EU"

I haven't really read what the constitution includes, but what my teacher said might be true.

[Da1andonly]

Holland voted no aswell. Way to go.

[Fallen Angel]

In Holland and France you can blame the extreme parties (Pim Fortuyn, Front National on the one side, PC on the other) for the no vote.

Not exactly. The current cabinet has made some economical decisions, mostly cutbacks, that have made them extremely unpopular with the Dutch people. Personally, I'm fairly convinced that any other cabinet would have been forced to make similar decisions, but maybe not to the same extent.
Dissatisfaction with our current government is believed to be the number one reason why so many people voted against the adoption of the constitution.

The fact that our government launched several last minute campaigns to sway the people from voting against the adopton of the constitution, which were based on horror stories about a failing economy, unemployment and erupting conflicts within the EU, didn't help either. Lesson learned: do not try to frighten the people into voting the way you would like them to by using obviously flawed "arguments" and scare tactics.

Also important. The Netherlands were one of the founding countries of the European Union, and we contribute, by far, the most funds per citizen, and we have always strived to comply with EU regulations about budget deficits. This means that the Dutch people have seen a significant drop in purchasing power over the last few years, while countries like France and Germany ignored the same rules, and did nothing to decrease their budget deficits without any consequences. The adoption of the Euro without a democratic voting process, and the fact that most people believe we sold the Guilder to cheaply didn't help either. Needless to say most Dutch people feel we got royally screwed over by the EU, and that a European constitution may not serve our national interests.

[X Machine]

The funny thing is that the planned referenda in Denmark, Poland and Britain will be cancelled now probably. That's democracy in the EU for you!

[GuruMeditation]

Miku : It just takes all the different rules and puts them on one piece of paper. Anyone who says it's shady had a shady agenda of their own and didn't like one of the documents that got voted through before

Fallen Angel : How about we just form a union with the decent countries that can get along?

I was thinking about Portugal, Ireland, UK, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Poland .. maybe some of the eastern countries.

France : A liability. You're out.
Germany : You're too buddy buddy with France. You're out.
Belgium : Brussels home of the EU? Tell the other countries we don't want that they screwed it up for everyone and you're in.
Italy : Too lazy. You're out.

Get all the countries who would work their butts off to make an efficient, hard working and effective union.