A two tier Europe, would it be that bad?

j1smithy

Amont the options being discussed for the EU is a notion of a two tier system, and therefore I ask would it be that bad if Ireland were in the "Slow" lane? Of course I assume the slow lane is the EU as it stands. As the structural funds have dried up, we wouldn't be losing out there in addition our farmers would keep getting CAP payments. We would still have access to the common market and keep Euro currency. So what exactly are we missing out on. If we wanted we could still adopt the Fast lane directives, but we would have a choice and that would give our government quite an advantage. (For example in environment legislation) I know we would be sacrificing our voice at the top table of the emerging superpower that is the EU (check out wikipedia) but we're so small we'd never be heard anyway.

With this in mind would the slow lane actually be detrimental to us?

Pride Fighter

It already exists in a way. Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Leichtenstein are in the EEA (European Economic Area) and as a result have free trade with Europe and full access to their markets. Those countries have a very high standard of living and vibrant economies. Switzerland and Leichtenstein have lower corporate tax rates than Ireland and attract a lot of foreign direct investment through international banking. If we were to leave the EU while remaining in the EEA we could lower our corporation tax even further, therefore attracting even more foreign direct investment.
We would also retain our neutrality by doing this and would be viewed as honest brokers by all nations of the globe and not part of Sarkozy/Merkels neo-imperialist goals.

tolosenc

I hate to continuously quote the same paragraph (though it does debunk almost all of the myths about Lisbon) but Section 1, Article 3a, Paragraph 2 explicitly states that defence is the responsibility of each member state, and theirs alone - so we, under Lisbon, would retain our neutrality as long as we wish, and a veto on EU policy regarding Defence issues.

Regards being in the slow lane, wasn't one of the main (but false) claims of the no side that we'd lose our say in Europe? That's exactly what would happen if we moved into the slow lane.

force eleven

Pride Fighter wrote: »

It already exists in a way. Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Leichtenstein are in the EEA (European Economic Area) and as a result have free trade with Europe and full access to their markets. Those countries have a very high standard of living and vibrant economies. Switzerland and Leichtenstein have lower corporate tax rates than Ireland and attract a lot of foreign direct investment through international banking. If we were to leave the EU while remaining in the EEA we could lower our corporation tax even further, therefore attracting even more foreign direct investment.
We would also retain our neutrality by doing this and would be viewed as honest brokers by all nations of the globe and not part of Sarkozy/Merkels neo-imperialist goals.

Pre Lisbon, such an idea would be unthinkable. But the EU has shown how things are in the last few months, and I think this debate should begin in earnest. What if we left the EU proper? Would we see massive job losses, massive economic turndown, and all the doomsday scenarios we've heard about? I'm not so sure, but neither is such a decision likely anyway. More realsitic is us as part of a two tier EU, which will be worse.

Kovik

This, naturally, can vary considerably by degree, so this is speculation.

Leaving the EU would make business for transnational companies marginally more expensive and likely result in few if any losses. It could affect overseas confidence for a while, though. We would lose our access to European development funds which would curtail our development of transport and infrastructure.

Also, we'd have to walk through the Green rather than Blue channels in airports across Europe, which is UNACCEPTABLE.

It wouldn't be a doomsday scenario by any means, but certainly it would yield a detriment without a benefit.

marco_polo

Just keep telling yourselves leaving the EU would be great lads. That will make it true :rolleyes:.