http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29751124

I seriously doubt that's the full story, but what's wrong with the EU?

More explained on this page.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29757296

More information about our economy has been used to calculate its size, including:


and

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29754168

Paul, lol, that's where Lev's sig comes from, but I didn't realise it had to be included at EU level. Damn those hoes!

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/o ... le-cameron

Bloody hell. Gangsters and incompetents on either side...

1.7 billion steps closer to the EU exit door ...

And how much of that money have they received back in grants for redevelopment, farming subsidies, new industry etc.? Or are they still trying to keep stumm about such opportunities, so that they can get a big fat rebate at the end of the year to help make their spending look better or to make the EU look like they are milking the UK population?

According to recent news reports, the UK pays out roughly £2.7bn more in payments to the EU than it gets back. I suspect it's incredibly hard to prove exactly whether being a member of the EU is a gain for any given member state or not in terms of total trade and similar factors, given how interweaved the economies of the EU countries are. Well, that and the fact the EU's organisational accounts are little more than an act of fantasy.

However, I think it would be logical to assume that being in the EU is not an obvious gain for the richer states like the UK and Germany, who must in some way be subsidising the poorer ones like Spain and the accession countries. One of the whole points of the EU is to attempt to normalise the economies within it.

Oh, I don't know. Germany looks set to get a rebate out of this round of recalculations while Greece has been asked to pay more. While I obviously haven't seen the figures I can't help but feeling that subjectively that just doesn't seem right somehow.

I think Roisin Conaty made an interesting observation on HIGNFY last night - this is a bit like a relationship with one side trying to get the other to split it up by making outlandish demands. It's playing right into the hands of the anti-EU birgade here and presumably in several other countries as well.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29874392

thank you and goodbye ...

Cameron must have to be dragged out of bed in the morning at this point

It doesn’t seem right UNLESS there are heaps of prostitutes and drug dealers ion Greece that have been unaccounted for.



She may be right, though this is testing resolve. I’d also join in with the chorus that claims that there is NO WAY that anyone was caught by surprise by this last week. These economic revisions have been going on for a while, and they were backdated to, what, 2002. And no one said “hang on, this will bollox up our payments to the EU”? Ever? Remember - it’s the UK revising its figures:


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29751124

So, the ONS filled in a form, and two days later a mahoosive bill landed on the doormat at Number 10, and there was a lot of OMG! WTF? etc.? Is this how government works now? Are they really that incompetent?

It’s analogous to you being told by HMRC to redo all your tax returns for a decade because something went wrong, and you find BEFORE you send in the form that you are likely to owe a shed load more than before. You know the bad news is coming, possibly months in advance.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29886824

simple answer, withhold all payments to the EU ...

Or, and here's an idea, we could grow up and pay what we owe.

We knew this might happen when we signed the treaties so let's not act surprised and hurt when the rules we agreed to get enforced.

But it's not democratic for states to defy public opinion by following laws and honouring treaties.

UK's £1.7bn bill to EU 'halved' says Osborne
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29956289