Eurozone To Put Trade Tariffs On Goods From The Uk

[Georgia O'Keeffe]

Why do so many people think we're separate from the EU? 36 years and counting.

mmm, last major bear market ended 1976, mmm rather large correlation id say, the growth of the EU could be seen in direct correlation with the Bull market that started in the mid 30s and saw its last decent correction in the 70s, it may well regress or dissappear if this is a major degree bear market, Cooperation grows during bulls and protectionism grows during bears

[happy_renting]

Some people in this thread seem to confuse the ''Eurozone', the EU, the EEA , the EFTA and Europe.

[babesagainstmachines]

Some people in this thread seem to confuse the ''Eurozone', the EU, the EEA , the EFTA and Europe.

The Final Countdown?

[CrashConnoisseur]

We impose tariffs on stuff coming into the UK from the EU. You cannot import booze, fags and many other items without customs duty being imposed at certain levels.

It's not a tariff or customs duty, but an excise duty which is payable at the same rate on all such goods for sale in the UK regardless of where they originate - perfectly legal under WTO rules.

[billybong]

.... must have been a really busy news-week...

You're talking garbage. It's definitely true and it was reported on mainstream TV at the time and it wasn't that long afterwards that Thatcher left power. Look it up in the news archives.

If you were there at the time you'll likely remember how strained UK and "european" relationships were at the time.

You are correct in that news reporting (and the variety of outlets) was very different and more limited in those days. Basically just the TV, radio, newspapers and a few magazines.

It's also true that it wasn't that widely reported in the sense that although it was actually on the news on mainstream TV (which of course had a wide audience) as a report of a very serious remark by the then German Chancellor but it didn't attract the sort of repeated, prolonged and headlined coverage that say a more formalised statement of threat might have made. That is it was played well down.

But the threat was still there and still clear.

Edited May 22, 2010 by billybong

[Toilet-Currency]

True or not about the tariffs...

We are quietly being manouvered into an "in or out" position by parts of the eurocracy. When/if Cameron blocks a new treaty - perhaps on the mooted changes to state budgets- he will be told by Sarko, Merkel and the Commission that it is time for the UK to go. Cameron will not be allowed any nuance to the UK's membership of and support for the EU project and its institutions.

The war on speculators kicked off by Merkel will then morph into a scapegoating offensive against the UK (as home to much of the financial sector). We will get the blame for europe's many institutional and economic failings. It will be much more bitter than Germany vs Greece.

[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

It would certainly make sense for the UK to join the Eurozone as soon as meaningful financial reforms have been implemented and the current crisis has been resolved.

[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

True or not about the tariffs...

We are quietly being manouvered into an "in or out" position by parts of the eurocracy. When/if Cameron blocks a new treaty - perhaps on the mooted changes to state budgets- he will be told by Sarko, Merkel and the Commission that it is time for the UK to go. Cameron will not be allowed any nuance to the UK's membership of and support for the EU project and its institutions.

The war on speculators kicked off by Merkel will then morph into a scapegoating offensive against the UK (as home to much of the financial sector). We will get the blame for europe's many institutional and economic failings. It will be much more bitter than Germany vs Greece.

Fair enough really - the UK helped spread the toxic free market doctrine which resulted in the current crisis. The UK must take much of the blame. Anglo-Saxon capitalism has hit the buffers, thank goodness.

Edited May 22, 2010 by gruffydd

[Toilet-Currency]

Fair enough really - the UK helped spread the toxic free market doctrine which resulted in the current crisis. The UK must take much of the blame. Anglo-Saxon capitalism has hit the buffers, thank goodness.

The UK has certainly helped spread the free market doctrine. I don't agree with the rest.

There have always been speculators and financial crises. The problems have stemmed from combining relatively free markets for trade with rigged markets for money supply, currency, interest rates etc. Add some fraud, short termism, vested interests, crap regulation and plenty of ramping and you have all of the ingredients.

Depending on your point of view, joining the euro either entrenches the free-market philosophy you dislike, or applies a different and perhaps more extreme version of the same failed policies.

Edited May 22, 2010 by Toilet-Currency

[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

The UK has certainly helped spread the free market doctrine. I don't agree with the rest.

There have always been speculators and financial crises. The problems have stemmed from combining relatively free markets for trade with rigged markets for money supply, currency, interest rates etc. Add some fraud, short termism, vested interests, crap regulation and plenty of ramping and you have all of the ingredients.

Depending on your point of view, joining the euro either entrenches the free-market philosophy you dislike, or applies a different and perhaps more extreme version of the same failed policies.

short termism and crap regulation were certainly part of the Anglo-Saxon package! Don't get me wrong on the Euro - if they don't implement drastic reforms, the project is doomed.

Edited May 22, 2010 by gruffydd

[huw]

You're talking garbage. It's definitely true and it was reported on mainstream TV at the time and it wasn't that long afterwards that Thatcher left power. Look it up in the news archives.

Are you sure that it wasn't simply a case of someone predicting that failure of the EU would ultimately lead to another European war? That is entirely different from saying, "sign this treaty, or we mobilise"

By the sounds of it, it should be easy for you to provide a link to an authoritative source ... that would resolve the question.

If you were there at the time you'll likely remember how strained UK and "european" relationships were at the time.

Strained is one thing, proposing to go to war with a fellow EC and NATO treaty signatory whose forces are stationed on your soil to protect you from a greater threat is something else.

Edited May 22, 2010 by huw

[Roman Roady]

Feck'em once the european civil war ends ( 2021) , we can go over and nick what's left

The civil war has taken place....1914 - 1945

[okaycuckoo]

The civil war has taken place....1914 - 1945

1914-1990.

At this rate we may get another Hundred Years War!

[blankster]

I thought a fundamental cornerstone of the EU was free trade within its area. So I can't see how they can introduce trade tarrifs - it's just some journo speaking off the top of their head.

There's a lot of 'manufacturing' by the anti-EU brigade. I reckon the EU is a pretty strong institution, and the eurozone within it is too. Like I said in another thread - the Greek debt crisis is less of a problem, numerically, for the EU and the euro than the California debt crisis is for the USA and the dollar.

Edited June 4, 2010 by blankster

[oracle]

This was just mentioned in a BBC News report by Steff Flanders - the Eurozone is our biggest market and apparently they are peeved that we are not helping them bail out the Euro mess.

get rid of ratzinger and the closet nazi's running the EU from behind the curtain and we might consider it.

the EU is attempting to make it's mark as the successor to the british(anglo american) empire.

...just depends on what type of empire emerges out of the ashes.

US will still be there,in some form...but maybe not carrying quite the clout it does at present.

.....goes with the territory.......they're probably only half way through their life.

UK(british) empire/commonwealth is about to get fractured...in order to esablish these new bio-regions.

Edited June 4, 2010 by oracle

[Realistbear]

This was just mentioned in a BBC News report by Steff Flanders - the Eurozone is our biggest market and apparently they are peeved that we are not helping them bail out the Euro mess.

pauses for breath , gasps for air

[right_freds_dead]

the sums are equal the previous war starters.

[jonb]

We impose tariffs on stuff coming into the UK from the EU. You cannot import booze, fags and many other items without customs duty being imposed at certain levels. In the EU you can freely import export what you like and how much you like.

It is excise duty, not customs duty, and it is the same excise duty as for the equivalent things made in this country.

[Guest sillybear2]

We already pay tariffs to the Eurozone, it's called our EU contributions and feck all back in return :-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/1505731/Blairs-return-of-EU-rebate-will-force-spending-cuts-at-home.html

If anyone is breaking EEA rules it's Germany and France for not opening up their energy markets, despite buying half of ours.

[Dave Spart]

This was just mentioned in a BBC News report by Steff Flanders - the Eurozone is our biggest market and apparently they are peeved that we are not helping them bail out the Euro mess.

The Eurozone may be peeved the UK is abstaining from their bailout, but such dissatisfaction this does not facilitate the imposition of tariffs on goods and services from the UK.

The mere act of joining the EU guarantees free trade irrespective of monetary arrangements.

Edited June 4, 2010 by Dave Spart

[Guest sillybear2]

The Eurozone may be peeved the UK is abstaining from their bailout, but such dissatisfaction this does not facilitate the imposition of tariffs on goods and services from the UK.

The mere act of joining the EU guarantees free trade.

With qualified majority voting they can get back at us in different ways, like introducing rules and regulations to hobble our industries. The UK didn't want to join the Eurozone because we suffered a foretaste of their current problems in the form of the ERM, a lucky escape that produced longterm gain from short term pain. Back then the Bundesbank was also setting rates according to its own needs and it was killing us, the peg was unsustainable. Call it an expensive lesson, they are usually the best kind, you don't forget them in a hurry.

I'm not surprised they'll want to blame the absense of the UK for their present problems, everything they've done so far has been a sticking plaster simply to divert attention away from fundamental problems, from providing a new credit card to a deeply insolvent nation to banning short selling and attacking ratings agencies because they had the audacity to point out that the emperor is naked, anything to avoid aknowledging the fundamental failure of their little project and its irrevocable imbalances.

Edited June 4, 2010 by sillybear2

[huw]

I'm not surprised they'll want to blame the absense of the UK for their present problems

They have a point actually, the problems would have cropped up much sooner, and be resolved now (one way or another) if the UK had been "in"

[Dave Spart]

With qualified majority voting they can get back at us in different ways, like introducing rules and regulations to hobble our industries. The UK didn't want to join the Eurozone because we suffered a foretaste of their current problems in the form of the ERM, a lucky escape that produced longterm gain from short term pain. Back then the Bundesbank was also setting rates according to its own needs and it was killing us, the peg was unsustainable. Call it an expensive lesson, they are usually the best kind, you don't forget them in a hurry.

I'm not surprised they'll want to blame the absense of the UK for their present problems, everything they've done so far has been a sticking plaster simply to divert attention away from fundamental problems, from providing a new credit card to a deeply insolvent nation to banning short selling and attacking ratings agencies because they had the audacity to point out that the emperor is naked, anything to avoid aknowledging the fundamental failure of their little project and its irrevocable imbalances.

I can't see what substantive action the EZ could take without breaking EU law.

I know mainland EU countries banned exports of UK beef for a long time after the Foot and Mouth outbreak, but that was a ban on hygiene grounds and hardly an existential threat to the UK economy.

What do you envisage they might do?

Edited June 4, 2010 by Dave Spart

[oracle]

The UK has certainly helped spread the free market doctrine.

how on earth can you call a corporate elite following fascist policies on the way up,and stalinist policies on the way down a free market?

it's nothing of the bloody sort.

if these politicians had any balls they would let the stragglers go to the f***in wall...no bail outs,nothing.

you took a risk,and it was a bad bet....tough.

you do not get your money back if you go mental on the gee-gees........time for these people to learn by the school of hard knocks.

supplementing/subsidising their habit obviously doesn't work.

[Guest sillybear2]

I can't see what substantive action the EZ could take without breaking EU law.

I know mainland EU countries banned exports of UK beef for a long time after the Foot and Mouth outbreak, but that was a ban on hygiene grounds and hardly an existential threat to the UK economy.

What do you envisage they might do?

You make the point for me, they'll find numerous legal technocratic clauses and bind us in red tape with a bull$hit pretext.

If I had to hazard a guess I'd say they'll push through endless new financial regulation 'to target UK based locusts and speculators that are the source of our troubles', given the reputation of the financial sector they're hardly going to face much opposition, Greece has already started attacking foreign pharmaceutical companies so that's another one of our leading sectors they could undermine, and remember Germany and France could leave us freezing in the dark with rolling blackouts in a few years time by continuing with what they're already doing... nothing.

If Germany and France are going to have to bail out the PIIGS they will also have to find a way of hurting the UK and making us 'pay' in order to "restore the balance" and share the pain. This is the natural order of things. Forget about European harmony and solidarity, the EU has always been an economic cold war, it's an improvement on raining bombs down on each other, the realpolitik will always be about pursuing national political and economic interests above all else.

Edited June 4, 2010 by sillybear2