Funnily enough, I was going to post a new thread earlier about how Scottish independence ties in with Europe.
My cousin is a rabid pro-Scottish independence supporter, but he also seems to be extremely pro-European.
What I don't understand is how one can be both - on the one hand, the Scottish independence movement is all about national identity and the repatriation of sovereignty and self determination for the Scottish people. Meanwhile, in Brussels, Mrs. Merkel is telling the rest of Europe to get ready to surrender sovereignty to make Europe work properly.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't really see how these two things are compatible. Clearly, as things stand right now, they're not.
Didn't they cause the money issues greece is now having?
Wild deduction: TM, you are against Scottish independence, if it means joining the Eurozone.
Am I right?
A European Union is really an excellent idea. The European Union is... not.
Welcome to the Hotel Eurofornia.It now leaves member states in a really awkward position if they ever wanted to leave.
Welcome to the Hotel Eurofornia.
I've always been of the opinion that the UK (and/or it's individual members) need to be part of the European trading bloc - but the EU itself is becoming (or has already become) something that it was never intended to be (atleast I hope not anyway), which is hugely undemocratic, massively unbalanced and increasingly corrupt - not to mention the one-size-fits-all solutions that are/were never going to work in a bloc comprising so many different individual states.
It's already happening across Southern Europe - and it ain't going to end well. I think by the time any referendum happens in the UK, things in the Eurozone will probably not have improved much - if anything, it's likely to have gotten worse.I also fear that control will be passed in a way so that we (the citizens) don't even get a say in the matter.
It's already happening across Southern Europe - and it ain't going to end well. I think by the time any referendum happens in the UK, things in the Eurozone will probably not have improved much - if anything, it's likely to have gotten worse.
Traditional olive oil jugs are to be banned from restaurants across Europe following a decision in Brussels.
The European Commission has declared that only non-refillable, pre-packaged factory bottles with tamperproof lids can be used from 2014.
It will end the practice of restaurants sourcing their own artisan products to be used in bottles and dipping bowls.
The mindset of a bureaucracy that would come up with a regulation like that is ample reason to avoid it like the plague.
With regard to the poll, there should be an "I have no opinion" (or "I don't care", if you prefer) for each of the three groups, especially the third.
3 - I suppose that if the UK - in isolation - hits trouble, the USA (if they can) and the EU (if at all possible) will come for the rescue, because that can't happen. So, the trading channels would never close and maybe the UK could even get better deals "from teh outside"? . If the EU hits (even more) serious trouble, who knows what will happen, but with the UK out, maybe (??) it will be easier for them (UK) to avoid such trouble within borders too.
http://news.sky.com/story/1092569/eu-to-ban-olive-oil-bottles-from-restaurants
You would have thought that the EU would have more pressing things to deal with. Apparently not.
Here in the UK that doesn't really concern us. In countries like Italy, Spain and Greece, olive oil is big business, with huge brand labels. They're on the tables of every cafe and restaurant you go into, similar to tomato ketchup, or HP/brown sauce in the UK. That move by the EU is akin to a ban on refilling Heinz Tomato ketchup bottles with cheaper alternatives (Which IIRC is already illegal), or refilling bottles of Spirits in pubs with knock-off brands (Also illegal). All it does is help enforce existing laws about false advertisement, by preventing businesses from refilling the bottles with other brands to protect the consumer (Especially in terms of cost - if you pay a premium for a brand you expect to be given what you payed for).
I've read several articles on this today. All of the ones i've read in the British media have been 'Why are they wasting their time with something so trivial?'. I think they missed the part where the European Union essentially covers an entire continent.
This particular ban seems more akin to banning the refilling of an antique glass Heinz ketchup bottle with Heinz ketchup - requiring that the only bottles used are those opened new and then discarded once empty. And I don't think the glass ones have tamperproof seals, so plastic only.
Ultimately the consumer is at a mildly reduced risk of food poisoning through contaminated olive oil (transferring it from tub to antique bottle of course being an opening for contaminents) and being ripped off by having 15ml of cheaper olive oil in a dipping bowl than it says on the bottle, at the expense of a loss of character and massively increased waste. And the expense of expense, since you can't now buy a catering-sized tub of olive oil and put it into your old glass bottles...