UK in the EU today

Since November, 1, 1993 the EU has been in place. On January, 1, 2002 the euro was launched.

In 1997 the Labor took office. The Labor party is traditionally more pro-European than the Conservatives (T. Blair).

Since 1997 T. Blair’s government pursued a “prepare and decide” stance, committed in principle to joining the single currency.

He also pledged a referendum on British membership in the EU when the time to join would have come.

But that was to be decided by the Chancellor (Gordon Brown at that time) and his “five economic tests”.

In June 2003 the Chancellor stated that “the economic conditions for the UK to join it were not right”.

G. Brown concluded that the costs of joining the euro by the UK outweighed the benefits (merely political decision). The gov-t., though, promised that a referendum would be held on the issue. However, in 2008 the Labor Government refused to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, which was due to come into force in 2009. The Lisbon Treaty is an international agreement that amends the Maastricht Treaty and the Treaty of Rome (the latter forms the constitutional basis of the EU).

The Lisbon Treaty was signed by the EU member states on 13 December 2007.

The British Parliament merely ratified the Lisbon Treaty in July 2008 without holding a referendum.

By the late 1990s the strength of anti-European feeling in Britain was such that the UK Independence Party was born, winning seats in the European Parliament for the first time.

The party not only rejected euro membership but was keen to withdraw from the EU itself.

Many British economists believe that the UK involvement in the EU is very costly.

Most of the money Britain receives from the EU is used to subsidize farming. As far as 2011 statistics goes, the figures have not changed greatly: 4,7 bln euro & 3,6 bln euro as a rebate.

12. Speak on the Republic of Ireland’s economic development & its main sectors of the economy. The Celtic Tiger period, the present crisis.