50 reasons to fear the EU

The Independent has today published a list of 50 reasons to love the European Union, I have reproduced it below with my comments in red:

50 reasons to love the European Union

As the EU celebrates its anniversary, The Independent looks at 50 benefits it has brought, and asks: "What has Europe done for us?"

Published: 21 March 2007

1 The end of war between European nations Thanks to NATO and Cruise Missiles

2 Democracy is now flourishing in 27 countries Democracy is being crushed in 27 former nations

3 Once-poor countries, such as Ireland, Greece and Portugal, are prospering Once wealthy nations are falling behind their non-EU competition.

4 The creation of the world's largest internal trading market With the world's greatest regulations growing daily without democratic oversight anywhere.

5 Unparalleled rights for European consumers at the cost of being harried and observed

6 Co-operation on continent-wide immigration policy clearly with no success but also bringing unrestricted immigration from within the EU.

7 Co-operation on crime, through Europol the fear of EU arrest at home for activities which may well be not even criminal in your country.

8 Laws that make it easier for British people to buy property in Europe there were few such laws before the EU and those mainly in non-EU Switzerland.

9 Cleaner beaches and rivers throughout Europe So we lack the the abilities to achieve the same on our own?

10 Four weeks statutory paid holiday a year for workers in Europe Bye, bye competitiveness!

11 No death penalty (it is incompatible with EU membership) European Communities Act 1972

16th & 18th of December 1969. The House of Commons and House of Lords respectively confirmed abolition of capital punishment for murder.

• 1971. Arson in Royal Dockyards ceased to be a capital offence, or in fact any specific offence.

12 Competition from privatised companies means cheaper phone calls Most critically to the US, Canada Australia and New Zealand! Is this paper seriously suggesting such competition would not have existed without the EU?

13 Small EU bureaucracy (24,000 employees, fewer than the BBC) Vast numbers in all the member states enforcing the massive amounts of unnecessary regulation.

14 Making the French eat British beef again Possibly true but is this a benefit to the UK Like much in the EU it can only have been accomplished in an underhand way, your typical Frenchman or woman hardly goes out of their way to find UK beef - Charolais and Limousin are always preferred.

15 Minority languages, such as Irish, Welsh and Catalan recognised and protected Romansch is protected in Switzerland a non-EU state. Welsh was protected before 1972. Should French and German be encouraged at the expense of English? England's taxpayers subsidise the EU to achieve just that.

16 Europe is helping to save the planet with regulatory cuts in CO2 Rubbish - Kyoto is the worldwide governing Treaty of which only 2 EU states are expected to meet their targets.

17 One currency from Bantry to Berlin (but not Britain) One interest rate for widely different economies - end result is likely to be a disaster for some

18 Europe-wide travel bans on tyrants such as Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe Unenforced one of his ministers is presently at an EU meeting in Brussels Did this paper's editors miss the greeting of Mugabe by Chirac in Paris in 2003?

19 The EU gives twice as much aid to developing countries as the United States National Foreign Aid is not yet fully within the EU's competence, it is an individual matter for each country so how can this possibly, even if true, be claimed as an EU benefit?

20 Strict safety standards for cars, buses and aircraft Regulations, regulations and yet more regulations.

21 Free medical help for tourists My nephew broke his arm in Switzerland and received first class free treatment from the mainly Canadian medical staff.

22 EU peacekeepers operate in trouble spots throughout the world Basra, Baghdad?? .... Afghanistan is a NATO operation - how the lies just flow one upon the other!

23 Europe's single market has brought cheap flights to the masses, and new prosperity for forgotten cities Believe that Easyjet and Ryanair would not exist without the EU if you wish, I do not!

24 Introduction of pet passports Wow more regulated paperwork is a benefit?

25 It now takes only 2 hrs 35 mins from London to Paris by Eurostar Technological advances are supposedly only possible within the EU??? What about Japan's much earlier bullet train. America cannot make technolgical breakthroughs outside the EU ?

26 Prospect of EU membership has forced modernisation on Turkey Such membership appears unacceptable in Germany and France, what will be the result in Turkey having been strung along for so many years?

27 Shopping without frontiers gives consumers more power to shape markets and companies more chances of standardisation and elimination of smaller competitors

28 Cheap travel and study programmes means greater mobility for Europe's youth Where do most British gap year students head? Not the EU countries in my experience!

29 Food labelling is much clearer In several languages means smaller print.

30 No tiresome border checks (apart from in the UK) Things in the UK are worse than ever before. Arriving at Stansted this month from France I waited half an hour with a British passport in very long multiple lines while four officials staffed desks for non-existent 'other' ie non-EU passport holders AND for the first time ever had my passport details entered into a computer in my own country... AND this is progress?

31 Compensation for passengers suffering air delays What a ridiculous idea that can only have kept the MEP in Strasbourg occupied while pouring greater costs on the airlines and adding yet more non-productive bureaucrats to the payrolls again increasing taxpayer costs for zero benefit.

32 Strict ban on animal testing for the cosmetic industry Perfectly possible on a country by country basis.

33 Greater protection for Europe's wildlife Perfectly possible on a country by country basis. In France the hunting season is still in full swing but effectively regulated to ensure it can continue to do so!

34 Regional development fund has aided the deprived parts of Britain Mostly by recycling British taxpayers money, which country's regions appear the more prosperous or well funded? Continental founder member countries or Britain's?

35 European driving licences recognised across the EU My pre-EU British Driving Licence, was and still is recognised across the world! Can none of us hire a car in the US or New Zealand for example?

36 Britons now feel a lot less insular How does The Independent know that? Briton's now feel more trapped and their politician's less accountable than ever before. The numbers polled who opposed the Euro but felt it inevitable we would joined clearly proves this point.

37 Europe's bananas remain bent, despite sceptics' fears Of course but this shows the lunacy and control freakery of an organisation that tried to unbend them by regulation.

38 Strong economic growth - greater than the United States last year One year from how many and with what statistical manipulation?

39 Single market has brought the best continental footballers to Britain So without the EU they would have refused the cash?

40 Human rights legislation has protected the rights of the individual and destroyed our common law heritage where all was permitted unless prohibited

41 European Parliament provides democratic checks on all EU laws Rubbish

42 EU gives more, not less, sovereignty to nation states How?

43 Maturing EU is a proper counterweight to the power of US and China Counterweights act in opposition. If the EU lost its fear of the US we would be a far better counterweight to the insurgents of Iraq, the nuclear adherents in Iran and to China

44 European immigration has boosted the British economy When Brown has gone the true costs and damage will emerge

45 Europeans are increasingly multilingual - except Britons, who are less so And this is a benefit to Britain?

46 Europe has set Britain an example how properly to fund a national health service Which is ignored by all political parties and has nothing to do with the EU.

47 British restaurants now much more cosmopolitan Curry has replaced fish and chips as the national dish, an EU positive? Our fisheries stolen and squandered.

48 Total mobility for career professionals in Europe The truth at last and the only real benefit is for the proponents of the new global civil society. True British entrepreneurs will still mainly be found outside the EU where innovation and competition and individual rewards are still attainable.

49 Europe has revolutionized British attitudes to food and cooking Europe has indeed, but not the EU

50 Lists like this drive the Eurosceptics mad Only because, as I have tried to show they are based on complete untruths or at least wild misconceptions.

A democratic trading organisation of European nations progressing as the consent of the people of those nations is obtained is a wonderful aim. The present EU meets few of those ideals and from my analysis of this newspaper's list only getting the French to eat beef again and the pets' passports seem to hold any validity. Small reason to love the costly, over-regulated and non-democratic EU.

Countries on the European Continent cannot ignore or ever rid themselves of their neighbours. A maritime nation such as Britain can choose its main trading partners from across the globe ignoring those next door without any penalty. Tying ourselves to a bureaucratic insular bloc of land-locked countries always was a mistake and is now clearly becoming a disaster.

The Independent's list of supposed benefits proves the emptiness of the entire EU project.