Who is actually being paid?

Pissless technobats or summink

For what?

I dunno. Watching TV earlier and it said Iceland and Norway although not part of the EU ate paying into Europe. So who is Europe?

This lot, apparently.

No need for yet another thread. Answer is available on STW already

Depends what you mean by Europe. For example, you could say that we are paying money to Europe because we have a balance of trade deficit. This has nothing to do with the EU.

We are also paying money in various forms into the EU, although most of it comes back again anyway. The rest goes to poorer EU countries, and a smaller amount to the administration and parliament.

Norway isn’t a member of the EU, but it is a member of the EEA, which allows free trade, as well as a signatory to the Schengen Agreement and a member of Europol, European Defence Agency etc. Part of the EEAs mission is to reduce economic disparity within Europe, which it does by collecting money from member states and distributing it to projects in poorer areas. Norway contributes this money basically in order to get the benefits of free trade and freedom of movement.

European Parliament building

Cost: €580,6832.889994kajillion

^ WTF is with those square trees? 😡

WTF is with those square trees?

It’s so they can be tied up in Red Tape. Same as with the bananas.

Parliament building
Cost: €580,6832.889994kajillion

…and still cheap compared to the Scottish parliament

WTF is with those square trees?

Meinkraft

I would love to see some proper figures and data for money paid to and from the EU just to start collecting facts to help me try and make up my mind.

The splinters from this fence are becoming uncomfortable….

I would love to see some proper figures and data for money paid to and from the EU just to start collecting facts to help me try and make up my mind.

Don’t be silly that would allow you to make a reasoned choice. You’re supposed to leave the choice up to your favourite politicians.

Mostly it goes to some douchebag who never bothers to turn up and do any work there

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/may/24/mps-expenses-ukip-nigel-farage

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/poor-nigel-farage-finds-it-hard-to-get-by-on-109000-a-year-plus-expenses-9901390.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ukip-meps-attend-the-fewest-european-parliament-votes-of-any-party-in-the-eus-28-countries-10316962.html

(Tho he did make the rare effort and voted against clamping down on tax havens last year)

Though it is a big number the amount we pay into the EU is only a few percent of GDP, and we get some benefit back, so net it is less, so as much as i despise the thought of all those corrupt and useless MEP’s swanning about swilling expensive vintage wine, scoffing expensive food and flying around on business jets, and claiming untold thousands of Euro’s every year in expenses, in real terms its not costing us alot and is a minor element of the out campaign in my view.

I have other concerns about the EU and the myths of the beneifts of the EU. It would be nice to see some decent facts and data coming out of both sides of the argument.

So the cheese eating surrender monkeys French farmers can continue their work?

European Parliament building

Cost: €580,6832.889994kajillionThat’s an artists impression from the architects. Here is the as-built:

I was reading in-depth analysis of the Common Agricultural Policy last night. The long and short of it being that farmers in the UK do way better than their EU counterparts – especially livestock farmers – on account of generally having bigger farms.

The UK’s *net* contribution is around £3.0bn, which is second only to Germany. That’s hardly a surprise though, given that we’re one of the EU’s biggest countries. On a per head basis, it’s about £50 – or just about average for the EU member countries.

£50 is a small price to pay for: freedom to work, live and retire anywhere in the EU; sustaining millions of jobs; environmental and product safety; restriction-free travel; being less likely to be ripped-off; better protection from terrorists, paedophiles, people traffic and cyber crime; stability around 57% of our trade; and greater international influence*.

*The real issue is that we need to start sending our A-team instead of our third division substitutes to the top table and actually start making an effort at the club board meetings. 😐

*The real issue is that we need to start sending our A-team instead of our third division substitutes to the top table and actually start making an effort at the club board meetings.

this ^^^^ really frustrates me that we vote in idiots like farige to be MEPs