What's good about the EU, and what's not good? And most importantly...

[BercowsFlyingFlamingo]

...what impact do these things have on your life?

I don't want to get into a leave v remain debate, I'm interested to know what people think are the good points and not so good points of the EU regardless of how you voted. In fact, you don't need to say how you voted.

My own knowledge of the EU was very limited I'm ashamed to say until I joined mumsnet and started doing a lot of googling.

From my own limited knowledge I was aware of the EU working time directive which I signed to opt out of as a nurse and wish I hadn't as finishing work at 9.15pm and being back there at 7am wasn't fun. I was aware of fantastic research between UK and EU universities, medical research, university and medical staff giving us the benefit of their experience and expertise, cleaner beaches, safety standards (although I like the kite mark of old), food standards (I was pissed off that the EU wouldn't allow proper Mountain Dew to be sold here), and probably a few others. Not much really.

Growing up I'd heard complaints of "red tape" but nothing as to what this was. Complaints of Europe making us sell things in grams and kilos. The infamous bendy bananas and imperfect fruit and veg. I didn't pay much attention to these though.

I've discovered far more in the last year, since I became interested in politics, and doubt I'm the only one who had such limited knowledge hence my interest in finding out what others think the EU is all about.

And yet, the EU have been talking with Turkey

OMG. This is and always was a complete myth. Do some proper research before repeating Faragist drivel.

There was never any chance of Turkey joining the EU. They have technically applied but will never^ ever meet^ the criteria. Yes Cyprus is one of the reasons why they can't and won't join.

Not a cat in hells chance.

The prospect of Turkey joining the EU is less than zero.

For the first time ever I am going to call a Leave poster thick. Do some bloody research. Look at the LSE or in facts or even the basic BBC dummies guide
There are 35 plus complicated criteria Turkey has told it had to meet on everything including human rights.

Get your facts straight.

The hurdles required include adopting all the current EU standards before any country can be admitted to the bloc. In the first 10 years Turkey only managed to adopt the rules on one thing. That was science and research. In the other 34 areas it has not even made a start.

" Turkey applied to join what was then the European Economic Community in 1987. It then waited 10 years to be declared "eligible" for accession talks, which finally started in October 2005. "

In all this time it's met just one criteria.

"Progress on the technical talks has been demonstrably slow, but more significantly there is no sign of momentum within the EU to bring Turkey in.....On 16 March, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Turkey's bid to join the EU was "really not on the agenda now".

" A 2015 Commission report on Turkey highlighted many areas of difficulty. These include concerns about Turkey's human rights record, new limits to freedom of expression and its state of public administration.
Perhaps most importantly, the Commission said there had been "no progress on normalising bilateral relations with the Republic of Cyprus". Turkey is the only country that recognises the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The EU and the United Nations only recognise the Greek Cypriot government as the legitimate government of the whole island."

Pro. Easy movement of goods and services without paying high tariffs
Con. Our contributions into the EU cover this many times over.

Pro. Free movement of workers and excellent eu workers many of whom are prepared to do work uk citizens won't, and also highly skilled, well educated workers improving the wealth of our country.
Cons. Perceived influx of people from the EU putting pressure on local communities and services, including criminals who have not been screened out via passport controls.

Pro. Wealth of the U.K. generally has improved since being in the EU.
Con. Paying more into the EU than we get out in net terms.

Pro. Improvement in food standards and safety standards. Ditto working conditions.

Con. Standards may have improved simply because knowledge has improved without having to pay for the EU to impose standards?

Pro. Being able contribute to standards by being in the EU and having a voice.

Con. Having to reach agreement with 27 other countries when applying standards and making deals.

Pro. Being part of a community and having greater clout when making world deals.
Con. Having to watch money we have paid in excess of most EU countries wasted on vanity projects and top heavy bureaucracy.

I'm sure there are more.

yellowallpaper
a whole bunch of rather weak and otherwise pathetic 'cons there.
Vanity projects like garden bridges, HS2?
UK government failing to forward EU 'allocated' funds to the projects that had requested them.
You have to have universally accepted standards. to continue trading across borders, a 'standards regulation body' has to exist so each side knows what they will receive in any given transaction.

Criminals entering the UK, is down to the Border force not doing it's job properly. NOT an EU issue.
UK taxes paid in many Northern areas do not mean the people that pay them get equivalent services from the government/councils. the london area ratepayers receive nearly 3 times the amount of 'services' compared to greater Manchester/Liverpool area., be it road maintenance public transport etc. Again all bugger all to do with the EU.

I don't see how anyone can do the maths and genuinely think the less than 1% membership fee, was not worth unrestricted access to a market on our doorstep worth $18.8 trillion of 500 million consumers. Of course it was worth it.

Both May and Johnson's plan impact assessments show a much greater drop in GDP.

In some cases we may now have 30% WTO tariffs instead.

54321go. If EU criminals (costing £140 million) account for 4,000 of the prison population then its very little to do with the border agency as criminals don't necessarily need a serious conviction in their home country to commit a crime in the U.k. well who'd have guessed that?

A pro of any post Brexit deal would be criminals have less chance of getting in because of a points system.
A con of this is low paid workers working in the farming sector may be blocked from coming in and our whole farming industry will go down the pan.

Totally agree HS2 and a (wtf) garden bridge are a waste of money. Not least because a train service designed to link the north to the south and improve the northern economy was started in the South! So if it's cancelled the south continues the have better links and the north will get none. Totally cock up, even an idiot knows you should start it in the north!

A major pro.if we do leave is we can negotiate a sensible tariff with the other countries instead of waiting for the EU to lumber on for another 100 years trying to reach a trade agreement with America.
A con to this is we may have to accept different food standards, although it's possible to negotiate tariffs separately and bring down the 30% or whatever the actual figure is.

Desperately waiting for a true Leaver to come on and dispute my pros and cons, but it's always the Remainers. I'll argue an opposing point of view with anyone lol!

@Timeywimey10
I find it massively frustrating when I am researching something and because I can't be bothered to/won't accept cookies, I can't read the websites I need.

Let me get this right. You can't access the websites you need because you don't want to accept the cookies now you are told about them. Instead you preferred it when you could access the websites you needed because you didn't know about the cookies you were accepting. In other words, you prefer being kept in the dark about what information you are sharing.
OK. Weird but OK.

You misunderstand what I said, but it doesn't matter. This discussion is turning into AIBU - and if you aren't 100% ardent remainer you are stupid.

In RL I always feel incredibly left wing. I come on here and feel like I am the most reactionary right winger bar Johnson and JRM at times.

@Timeywimey10
You misunderstand what I said

What was it that you did mean then?
The cookies themselves haven't changed - only the fact that you are now told about them. Why does that mean you can't access the websites you want?
FWIW, I agree that the pop-ups are irritating but I'm not sure why they would stop someone accessing a website they want to use. I might have been a little sarcastic in my reply to you but I didn't call you stupid.

Made I a not in animal cruelty etc field but even I know farming standards are not equal across the eu and there is no body to enforce standards either. Not one with teeth.

UK is leading light in animal care, farms.

Op, rolling out the old bendy bananas is so very tired. There are so many deeper and complex issues with the the eu and any Google will raise very broad range of articles, reports etc on this.

Desperately waiting for a true Leaver to come on and dispute my pros and cons, but it's always the Remainers.
Could that be because leavers rely on talking bollocks or misrepresenting facts by any chance.
Trade agreements with the USA, well, if you mess with the GFA, they won't happen any time soon.

wallpaper - I thought your pros/cons were pretty balanced and agreed with them. I voted Leave - but have nothing to dispute on the points you made.

Anyway it's 6pm and the Arms should be open now if anyone wants to join me for a pint.

"Let me get this right. You can't access the websites you need because you don't want to accept the cookies now you are told about them. Instead you preferred it when you could access the websites you needed because you didn't know about the cookies you were accepting. In other words, you prefer being kept in the dark about what information you are sharing.
OK. Weird but OK."

From my view, I knew about them before.

I manage my cookies via my browser settings

I don't need to be told every time I visit a new site, use a new device, or the site upgrades itself, that its bloody storing my cookies.

I think the option to warn about cookies should be something the individual can turn on or off if they so wish.