The manner in which Brussels and Berlin handled the bailout and resultant debt crises made things worse for the most vulnerable Greeks, and they could not have been aware of such, The country should have been allowed to leave the Euro and recover, but the credibility of the Eurozone was not thought up to the test. Millions have suffered as a result.
The migrant crisis goes well beyond Iraq and Syria, it includes the EU's wretched treaty with Turkey and the instability surrounding Libya. Policy formed in Brussels will have been responsible for hardship, abuse, injury and death. Did you not see MSF's statement on the matter last week?
The Lisbon Treaty has established the sway of QMV, as well as such wasteful endeavours as the European External Affairs Service (this latter already costing 1bn pa). The EAW is an infringement of a Briton's basic rights as criticised by Liberty. Judiciaries of lesser competency can extradite British citizens, with high profile cases where innocents have been kept in jail for many months.
Intelligence cooperation would occur irrespective of the European Union, as out ties with America testify to.
The EU already has an impact on VAT, an area which they hope to expand later this year IIRC. When Christine Lagarde was finance minister, she was a committed supporter of tax harmonisation, it's not a new thing.
I suppose that was to illustrate how i think European cooperation should have evolved over the years. Rather than courts, EU Commissioners and a flawed currency union; it should have been consumer protections, science (ESA, medical advances e.t.c.) and the environment.
I would cite these three as examples of what i would consider to have crossed a line:
Now i'll freely admit that i have been tad acerbic at times and sarcastic at others, but rarely without provocation. Related to which, i thought this to be one of the most apt replies during the debate yesterday:
Indeed. As it was I struggled to find someone to vote for last year, a win for Remain would could mean i fail to vote for the first time. Pretty much every party leader for 2020 would fall into one of two categories: complicit in deceiving the public, or unacceptable on policy grounds. So after two decades in which my passion for politics has gone to define part of who i am, there'll be nothing. Leave wouldn't be a certain thing either, but the status quo is dispiriting enough in itself.