Keeping peace is worth £6.4bn
THERE is far more to Britain's membership of the EU than just money.
Conceived out of the ashes of the Second World War, the victorious allies determined to remould the political structures in Europe to ensure we never had another world war.
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Flying the flag: There has never been a war between two EU members.
To achieve this a suite of international treaty organisations were established, to ensure Europeans worked together instead of killing each other.
The Council of Europe was the first, and now has 47 members. It established the European Court of Human Rights with the purpose of providing legal protection for the individual from a state.
Nato was established to provide a military alliance against external aggression. The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was established to ensure free and fair trade, thus forging an economic bond between nations.
The ECSC evolved in time to become a forum for cultural, social and scientific cooperation, and is now the EU. The economic, social and scientific achievements of this cooperation are taken for granted, and have improved our welfare and living standards.
Low air fares, action on mobile phone roaming fees, the freedom to travel, work, invest and retire anywhere in the EU are just a few.
However, for me the greatest achievement of the EU is not a single war has been fought between two members since it was founded. That alone is worth £6.4 billion per annum.
ERIC GOODYER High Street Colsterworth
18 Comments
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by m, gedling
Tuesday, July 20 2010, 2:21AM
“last point because eric never replies when he is beat (asks a lot of questions but never has any real answers)
how can you equate a euro war to the tune of 6,4 billion per annum ?
for a start there has never been one so no comparison,
secondly labour broke us so we havent even got 6,4 million let alone billion, does that mean we will lose before we begin ?
thirdly if we are attacked we will strike back with nuclear warheads,
the belligerent EU country will be decimated within minutes not per annum (this wont be an american drawn out oil conflict dont forget)
total cost = zilch, the warheads were already built and we werent gonna use them for anything else.”
by m, gedling
Tuesday, July 20 2010, 2:05AM
“not a single elephant has been run over by a train since i introduced the flicking of a paper ball out of the window on the 8,37 to st pancreas , i dont know why or how but it just works,
maybe its because i have an atomic bomb attached to the elastic to act as a deterrent,
or maybe its because all the elephants are in the EU, eric your a star,
did you get your deposit back when you stood against the bnp ?”
by m, gedling
Tuesday, July 20 2010, 1:56AM
“JCA "Need i go on" no you would be here all night,
most of us understand how america stitched us up good and proper every time we became bed partners ,
now that more countries are joining the EU (like latvia ,Croatia etc) lets see how long this peace lasts,
getting back to the phone tarriffs,
some people really do need to do their homework on this issue,
who blocked who when the EU wanted to reduce the roaming charges ??
and who won ?
more to the point, why did this MP interfere in the first place apart from getting lobbied by her sponsors ?
politics sux no matter which country you live in,,,,,,”
by Wladimr, Poo-tin
Monday, July 19 2010, 10:07AM
“"knowing Russia have us over a barrel"
Yes, you're right, my bankrupt, corrput, ill managed, third world economy will soon have you kneeling before us!
OR
Maybe you should look a little bit further to the East at China, and then South of there to India?!”
by Bill Lawrenson, Keyworth
Saturday, July 17 2010, 9:00PM
“Just how many names is Mr S posting under or is it that his spelling problem is infectious?”