What has the EU ever done for you?

[jasjas1973]

With all this doom and gloom, i thought i'd start something a little positive...
For me its travel and food.

I can travel around europe as easily as i can the UK, we've EHIC, one currency, i ve worked in Sweden and found love! picked fruit in france, worked in a bicycle shop in Mallorca.
I remember what a PIA it was pre EU, open skies flights, no tunnel, loads of different currencies and border checks, green cards, travel insurance and before anyone says it - i'm not middle class by any means, i left school at 16 and my mum was on benefits.

Then there is food, in the 70s Spagbol was considered adventurous cooking, now look at what we can find in our shops plus a load of euro cooking programs.

Oh and then there is trade, my friend can export to 17 EU countries from Plymouth as easily as he can to Luton or Hull & trade disputes are easily settled.

We've also had a load of worker rights regulations, not least the Working time directive, which gives many a max 48 hr week, many employers inc mine would happily see their work do far more.

AIBU ?

On a light hearted note I have to thank Poland for I love sauerkraut!

It saved my husband's life when he had a heart attack in Belgium and it didn't cost us a penny with our EHIC cards and travel insurance.

I was in a group (not in the pub) a few nights ago and I asked everyone to tell me what freedom of movement of people meant to them. Not a single person knew that it only applies to EU citizens; it does not apply to non-EU citizens currently resident in EU countries.

There are restrictions on freedom of movement of people that we've never enforced; we can deport EU citizens who don't have a place of residence and a job after three montns in this country, if we know where they are, but we don't. When that legislation was originally discussed, the UK vetoed the more strict conditions of the original proposals. That's one reason why majority voting has been allowed in some areas.

We've also never enforced the powers we have; almost the only country in Europe to do this. Instead of reinforcing the Border Agency and police forces so they can be more effective in tracing and removing illegal immigrants, they've done the opposite; now the Border Agency reckons it needs 40,000 more staff if it were to be effective. Some studies have put the figure needed somewhat lower, about 30,000, but that's still a lot of people short of what's needed.

it does not apply to non-EU citizens currently resident in EU countries

If someone from Australia comes to say France (which is in Schengen), surely they can move around other countries in the Schengen area without any hassle.

Of course, we aren't in Schengen so we have control over who comes in. I think that if someone from Australia comes to the UK, they need a visa for the Schengen area.

I've also seen that even countries in Schengen can have control over their borders - even if it upsets the EU.

It's like there was misinformation and lies when it came to the referendum.

Freedom of movement is not about physically moving around. It means a citizen of one EU country can work in another on same terms as the citizens of that country. Australian in Germany cannot simply go and start working in France.

My course was funded y a grsnt from Europe.

Just to be clear - and I say this as a remainer - non EU citizens can move around and work in the EU if they have an EU spouse (and i may be relying on this, after 31 October!)

Just to be clear - and I say this as a remainer - non EU citizens can move around and work in the EU if they have an EU spouse - after 31 October

Has that been officially confirmed ? I thought it would be up to individual countries ?

Guilty of not RTFT...

Folk are confused about what immigration policy is. How it actually happens.
In UK, employers implement our immigration policy. Seriously. I suppose so do benefits agencies.

Employers & benefits agencies check your status if you're allowed to work/receive benefits. They are the detection filters.

It's rare to be stopped at border for having wrong passport. The border is actually 'controlled' by employment policies. if you can find cash in hand jobs (likely unscrupulous employers) then you can and in future will be able to enter UK, work & move around pretty freely, yes.

On continent it's more standard to have an ID card with you at all times & ok to be asked to produce it, so more 'stop and search' events when illegal aliens could be noticed. Not a policy in UK.

In UK, employers implement our immigration policy. Seriously. I suppose so do benefits agencies.

Not just employers. Banks, landlords, local authorities, and the NHS are supposed to. Schools were illegally (or rather the Home Office was illegally using school records to check peoples immigration status). That was stopped after a court challenge. Well, we were told it was stopped. As we know the Home Office is above the law, so the reality is anyones guess.

On continent it's more standard to have an ID card

We don't have ID cards in the UK. Mainly because the words "cheap", "simple" and "appropriate" have been removed from government planning templates.

Having an ID card system would simplify so many things and would avoid some of the things the (incorrectly) EU gets blamed for.

atm we need gov id gateways, passports, driving licenses, bank details, utility bills, its a complete mess and easy for fraudsters to circumvent.

We could really learn from our european neighbours on this but once again the media will oppose this with their lying and dramatic headlines.

The GBP's appreciation of any immigration policy and how it works is strictly limited to "we don't like darkies". Simple and horrible but true.

Complex and empirically observed arguments can be made til the cows do their thing. BUT if the racist scaremonger who is our PM and his 'supporters' can build on GBP ignorance, they will do at a cost to us all.

We could have had an ID card system. The problem is the mere idea sent the civil service into a masturbatory frenzy of the potential for data slurping that made it impossible to navigate Whitehall without wellies for a few years. There was mandarin spunk everywhere.

We already have the bare bones for an ID system - the DVLA. It's relatively "simple" to extend the mechanism so that it can provide "non-driver" driving licences (c.f. some US states, if you don't like being too European). That's proof of who you are that you can carry. Once we know who you are, your citizenship or immigration status can be added to the record.

Of course it's that latter where the dark secret at the heart of UK life is exposed which is the lack of any records regarding peoples immigration status. Hence Windrush.

They helped with funding for my BA in UK, including my year abroad in Italy. I only had a Spanish passport at the time.

They also funded a great language department in my university, which helped train hundreds of translators and interpreters over the years.

They've made it possible for me to travel extensively around Europe without any bureaucracy.

Not to mention the hundreds of other research projects, buildings etc that surround me and they've funded, even if I don't realise.

The Erasmus project gave a lot of kids from ds’s very disadvantaged school a chance to travel that they would not otherwise have had.

If you talk to my uncle who was born in 1930, was bombed out of his home & lost his father in WW2, the bonds formed with the EU have given us the longest period of peace in Europe since 1914. He is a remainer and realises that the EU isn't perfect but it's just been used as an excuse for all that's wrong with the UK government and he sees us as stronger in than out.

For me, it's given me the chance to study & work abroad.

@DGRossetti apologies late back to the thread. Having trouble linking so will try to post a pic

Dh is an EU citizen as are my children so my understanding is that I could move to the EU with them and benefit from the same rights as them.

The charity where I did the Freedom Programme after leaving my abusive exh receives funding from the EU. The EU also gives funding to their self esteem course and directly funds their return to work course. All of which helped me tremendously at an awful time in my life for which I'm very grateful for as well as to the volunteers who gave their time and expertise for free.