Questions for our European friends.

[mizlaplan]

I've noticed we have threads for "What American Friends" and also ""What British Friends" think/say/do, etc
As the first-poster I'd like to ask our friends in Europe..
What do you think of us British folk?

[Joszka]

Tittle of the thread should be "Questions for our continental European friends" : as far I know Great-Britain is (still) in Europe
I don't think nothing special about British folk, and I always appreciate to have a drink in an English pub near my flat (Bordeaux, France). I know or have met a lot of British people living here in France (English, Scottish, Irish) or during various trips: well, some are brilliant, some real dumbasses. Nothing special
They don't wave their flag at every turn and many of them were or are very open-minded and happy to be in France or Europe.

There's of course a British "identity", like a German or Italian, etc, one. But I prefer to avoid the usual clichés and to think about human beings, each different and each with a special relation to his origins, traditions & belongings, rather than homogeneous or uniform nationalist blocks.

I don't read every day the British press and I'm not specialist in British foreign politic but we have here the vision of a Great-Britain temptated to leave the E.U. More and more isolationist. And I deeply regret it. As same I deeply regret Great-Britain never has been an innovative and supportive member of the E.U. For me it's a major mistake.
I remember (I know it's a caricature but a real stuff at same time) Margaret Thatcher claiming "I want my money back", about G-B european contributions. Yep, but what for ? And what then ? Nothing or almost nothing.

VEF is too much "British" or "Anglo-Saxon" for my own taste, but I suppose
it's coz of "English language required"...
Too much pics of Pippa Middleton and other weird obscure British "celebrities" : in France we usually cut the head of our kings and queens. We don't promote and generously feed them as you, damn British folks, are used to do

I was in love with Petula Clark and Sandy Shaw, and Jane Birkin is here a national icon.
And I'm right now listening Benjamin Britten on the radio (no joke).

I can't say more, worse or better.

[knobby109]

Originally Posted by Joszka

Tittle of the thread should be "Questions for our continental European friends" : as far I know Great-Britain is (still) in Europe

There's of course a British "identity", like a German or Italian, etc, one. But I prefer to avoid the usual clichés and to think about human beings, each different and each with a special relation to his origins, traditions & belongings, rather than homogeneous or uniform nationalist blocks.

I don't read every day the British press and I'm not specialist in British foreign politic but we have here the vision of a Great-Britain temptated to leave the E.U. More and more isolationist. And I deeply regret it. As same I deeply regret Great-Britain never has been an innovative and supportive member of the E.U. For me it's a major mistake.
I remember (I know it's a caricature but a real stuff at same time) Margaret Thatcher claiming "I want my money back", about G-B european contributions. Yep, but what for ? And what then ? Nothing or almost nothing.


Too much pics of Pippa Middleton and other weird obscure British "celebrities" : in France we usually cut the head of our kings and queens. We don't promote and generously feed them as you, damn British folks, are used to do

I was in love with Petula Clark and Sandy Shaw, and Jane Birkin is here a national icon.
And I'm right now listening Benjamin Britten on the radio (no joke).

I can't say more, worse or better.

You cut the head off just one king and queen. The result was a guy called Napoleon who ended up finishing France as a world power in all but name.
Regarding the EU , it's widely regarded as undemocratic and after a thousand years of having our own Parliament and don't like being told what to do by a group of bureaucrats in Brussels.

[mizlaplan]

So what do our Continental friends think of the EU?
Try to keep it polite

[Joszka]

I'll be polite, no worries : Napoléon was'nt French but Corsican




What I like most about our differences is humor, but it seems it's not the most shared virtue on VEF...

Of course British humor (from Oscar Wilde to Churchill & from Benny Hill to The Monty Python, including Prince Charles & Joey Barton ) is one of my favs with Polish and Russian ones

I'll take time someday to explain why I'm a deep defender of the EU at same time I'm not satisfied (it's an euphemism) with its actual politic.

But recently something about Great-Britain made me laugh as hell... or strangle me : this !
The recent legislation of your beloved thousand years old Parliament about pornography and this "long list of sex acts banned in UK porn"

I can understand everything related with non-consensual violence (it's really tiime... ) but what the hell have your deputies against peaceful facesitting ?
Is it related with your traditional fish'n chips ???

That's a serious question

[seany65]

Joszka, There are many sections in Brit society which have different views on the EU.

There are the Liberal-Democrats which want ever-closer ties with Europe, there are those who want things to stay as they are, there is an 'isolationist' section of the Brit population, there is also a section which can't see why the EU has to gather more and more power into its own hands by making more and more laws over each country.
EG. the 'European Arrest Warrant'. Why is that needed when we all have extradition treaties with each other and we all co-operate with Interpol? It's just a step towards a pan-European police force.

I see nothing wrong with going back to the old 'E.E.C.' organisation. Which we, (and I presume those who joined it earlier) actualy voted for membership of. We were not asked if we wanted to be part of a developing 'United States of Europe' in which each individual country will be made to disappear into one amorphous european 'blob'.

There are those who support the EU on the grounds of 'Peace', saying it's brought peace to Europe, or it's prevented war in Europe. I don't buy that. There was no war between members of the EEC. (Dunno if Iceland was in the E.E.C. when we had the 'COD wars' with them?)

There are those who scoff at the idea thst the EU wants more and more power over each country. If it doesn't, why does it make every new member give up it's own currency and make them take the 'Euro'? Don't believe they are 'made to take it'? Look at the votes that went on in the Rep. of Irealnd (and the Netherlands?). First they vote NO, then they are made to take the vote again and when they voted YES, they were not allowed to have another vote.

I'm for co-operation by the countries of Europe with each other in trade, production standards, catching criminals etc. but I don't see why we should accept a Europe with ever-increasing powers which is meant to lead to the individual countries and peoples of Europe disappearing in an amorphous, characterless, cultureless Blob called the U.S.E. or whatever.

[DTravel]

Elsewhere someone posted that the Netherlands has just been forced by the EU to make all file uploading and downloading illegal. Is this true and any opinions about it?

[tafkab]

Hello !

Well, welll as a German I really see it like Joszka,
and as a EU critic I agree to most what seany65 said.

The EU is an regulatory monster that should be stopped and limited to their real purpose.
And not specify how a Banana should look like.

BTT
Our British friend ? Who do we see them?
As seany alreday suggested their are no british people. It is the same as in the rest of Europe. There are Welsh people, there are irish people, there are Londonian people, there are sctish people and so on.
They have been visited by everyone like the rest of Europe, so their genom is italian, german ( at least in the Windsor family) , french, danish/norwegian and so on.
So they are like the rest of us. Of course with some very special things like theiur humor.
And I am a big fan of Monty Python and Doctor Who which both proof what I said.

And by the way they are driving on the wrong side of the road. :lol:

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by seany65

...there is also a section which can't see why the EU has to gather more and more power into its own hands by making more and more laws over each country.
EG. the 'European Arrest Warrant'. Why is that needed when we all have extradition treaties with each other and we all co-operate with Interpol? It's just a step towards a pan-European police force.

I have very mixed reactions to the EU myself. I was only 12 when we had the referendum, but I had strong anti-European views at that time and I still think now we would have done much better to vote "No" in 1975 and leave, as Norway left. But I also think it is far too late to talk about leaving now; in 1975 the disruption would have been minimal, but forty years have elapsed since then and the disruption now would be huge, as would be the harm to our economy and to our society.

On the specific point of the European Arrest Warrant, I think it is beneficial. For example, the 21/7 bomber who fled to Italy was back in British custody in a matter of days when under the old extradition rules it would have taken months, if not years. Back in the days of the "Troubles", Irish courts made thwarting British extradition warrants and harbouring known terrorists into an art form; that would not be possible today. But against that, the potential loss of due process is a big worry. Much as I detest Julian Assange of WikiLeaks, I do find this notion that the European Arrest Warrant can be invoked when no actual charges have been laid down by a Swedish court unacceptable and the idea of extraditing someone just so prosecutors can question them is also unacceptable. Let them come here and question him in the presence of his solicitor in a UK police station and when, only when the man has been formally charged with a crime, then, and only then, should extradition be possible. On this basis I would suggest that the Warrant is a good idea but its practical workings should be being discussed at inter-government level.

[beutelwolf]

Originally Posted by mizlaplan

So what do our Continental friends think of the EU?
Try to keep it polite

I am an expat German, living in the UK for a substantial part of my life.

I am broadly in favour of the EU, as a concept, even as a concept that goes beyond the original ideas of the old EEC. However, that concept is problematic with the membership base the EU has acquired - too diverse to make that work properly. So, I'd rather see either a more EEC-like EU with its current membership, or an EU-like one with a much reduced and more coherent membership. I don't see either happening though.

A political problem with the EU was that they kept the veto of individual countries. That was fine when the EEC had 6 countries to begin with, but does not work with 25 or whatever the current headcount is. The logical thing would have been to replace the veto with a blocking minority, allowing a minority of countries to block a majority decision, but only when that minority has a certain critical mass, expressed as a percentage of the overall votes.