On 18/05/2017 16:11, James Harris wrote:
On 17/05/2017 23:55, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
James Harris wrote:

To the British the single market is simply a place to trade. To the
Europeans, however, the single market is a way to achieve ever greater
union. Many Brits have no idea how our European neighbours think about
it.

Rather says it all that you split the EU into the UK and everyone
else. As
if every other country in the EU was united against a common enemy - the
UK.

You may have read that. I didn't write it. I was contrasting the UK view
with the "weighted average" view of the rest.

By "weighted" average I mean that some countries have much more
influence than others.



The reality is EU members, of course, all have differing views of how
things should be done for the best.

I've never seen what the disadvantages are of having a degree of common
standards and objectives.

They are fine if you agree with them, but constraining and limiting if
you do not.

Oh, and common EU standards can focus on minutiae and become incredibly
hard to change. I head recently that Nick Clegg said the EU took 15
years to decide on the definition of chocolate.

https://youtu.be/mfRlIAiHRhI

And the top levels of the British government - PM and Chancellor - had
to get involved in trying to persuade the EU to let the UK remove VAT
from tampons. I don't think they ever succeeded. But it's good to know
that our top officials are not wasting time on trivia. ;-)

EU rules become an edifice, a trap.


--
James Harris