European Parliament Elections

[pings]

As there is no Pirate Party UK as of yet, who most accurately represents these policies for the EU elections?

[rancidpunk]

Been looking into that myself, greens seem ok but we still need to get some candidates in the general election if we ever have one.

[Minyall]

I kept going over to the PP-International forum and wondered where everyone had gone! Great to see the site all up and running.

Just thought I'd chip in with this...

http://euelection.openrightsgroup.org/

The open rights group are on the PPUK level and provide a handy tool to see who you should vote for in the EU election. I'm in Yorkshire so going Green.

[azhao]

I kept going over to the PP-International forum and wondered where everyone had gone! Great to see the site all up and running.

Just thought I'd chip in with this...

http://euelection.openrightsgroup.org/

The open rights group are on the PPUK level and provide a handy tool to see who you should vote for in the EU election. I'm in Yorkshire so going Green.

Excellent link.

[Gavman]

Indeed,

Thank you for that link, although I really dont want to vote at all but apathy is one of the problems we have in this country so I shall be placing my vote for someone! (Just dont know who yet )

[azhao]

I think I'm going to spoil my ballot paper by writing Pirate Party of the United Kingdom on it, then ticking the box. Either that or Green or TCP/CPA.

[Sharkz]

Looks like it's the Green Party for me

[pings]

http://euelection.openrightsgroup.org/

cheers. guess i'll vote green.

there's a lot of press on 'illegal downloads costing money / jobs' atm. kind of worrying. i'd like to see this way of thinking eradicated.

link

ps the election system is proportional representation, so it's worth voting for a small party

[afonsoduarte]

Hoping a thread like this would pop up was the reason I joined in the first place. Seems like the Green Party is the one to go for.

[ahdkaw]

Excellent link, shame I saw after voting, but not that much of a shame as I voted Green! Get in!

I was surprised by the very large number of fascist and religious groups standing in my area this time around. And anti-EU policies seemed far more abound than than pro-.

[Sharkz]

There was plenty of anti EU stuff on there

[bavardage]

yeah it worries me. I personally really like the EU

[Sharkz]

Me too. I don't understand why we wouldn't want to be part of it. I guess some people still think that Britain is the strong empire leading country it once was

[rancidpunk]

The anti EU parties do play on peoples fears but do have some good points about the huge cost to the taxpayer that our membership costs the UK (£40 million a day). However to bury our heads in the sand and pretend we can make it alone or to start using dollars and becoming an outlying dominion of the USA is equally as ridiculous. Decentralizing the EU system and stopping ridiculous practices like moving to Strasbourg once a month to keep the French happy would seem to be a good start. We have to stop accepting such idiocy and not allow things to be done just because thats the way things have always been done. What we need is a worldwide movement called, say, the Pirate Party to start working inside the institutions that have brought us to this point.

[bavardage]

I agree that there are some things that do need to be fixed in the EU: i.e. the silly move to strasbourg thing, but it also annoys me this whole MEMBERSHIP COST OMG that the anti-eu partys play on all the time. Sure it costs us money, but it also gains us lots - I'm sure the loss of trade resulting from loss of common market would cost us quite a chunk of that fee, along with the farming subsidies we'd lose.

[rancidpunk]

I agree that there are some things that do need to be fixed in the EU: i.e. the silly move to strasbourg thing, but it also annoys me this whole MEMBERSHIP COST OMG that the anti-eu partys play on all the time. Sure it costs us money, but it also gains us lots - I'm sure the loss of trade resulting from loss of common market would cost us quite a chunk of that fee, along with the farming subsidies we'd lose.

I wouldn't dream of leaving the EEC, but the EU?

[bavardage]

Bleh I'm fairly pro-EU too. Imo Britain should sign up to the the open borders thing, take the euro and change the roads to driving on the right

[darkstar516]

hmm, its an interesting idea bavardage but i like the pound sterling, changing the side of the road would make it better for everyone (UK and EU people) though.

[Andy_R]

change the roads to driving on the right

Of course we'll have to make the change gradually

On a more serious note, I've still not seen any actual evidence to back up the claim that we would lose trade if we left the EU, Switzerland are not in the EU and they still trade perfectly well with it! The EU started off as a free trade association (The EEC) and free trade has always been one of their main reasons for existence. Why on earth would businesses in the EU stop offering us free trade just because we chose political self-rule? Surely when we are free of the EU red-tape and financial drain, we would be more competitive, and therefore more likely to do well in trade?

[Rok]

Leave the EU? Why?

Membership costs only £40million a day? Bargain. Where does the money go? To those who need it more so we can live in a more balanced world. Ireland is a prime example. Before you complain think about how much extra revenue is created in the UK through having wealthy neighbours. Besides how much does the current government spend on the military? Was it not £12bilion that was spent on a failed NHS IT system?

Like the pound? I don't have any particular feeling of loyalty to any currency but what I know I dislike is being charged to access my money everytime I leave the UK. Seems a bit thoughtless to like a currency for the sake of it. Besides I'm sure the ECB would have no problem with putting the Queens mug on the coins if thats what the people of the UK would like.

Anyone who is anti-EU should take the time to do some history reading. 20th century Europe is a good place to start. Personally I like having the stability and the knowledge that I can pass this on to my children.

On the otherhand a good dose of sceptism is never a bad thing.