Fed up with European directives?

[GLASGOWOODS]

there you go

 

just to add to the discussion: Because teh EU introduced very strict regulations for car safety a few decades ago we now have far safer cars than we have ever had before. Then they introduced directives for fuel efficiency, we now have far more fuel efficient cars. They introduced directives for the use of mobile phones abroad, we now have far better rates and far fewer rip-offs than we did before. They introduced a right to claim money back of air carriers if they buggered you about, delays at airports have gone down across the board.

 

What I am saying is: Sometimes it takes a government to batter business around the ears to clean their act up. Dyson isn't happy with this new directive, I paraphrase: "It doesn't go far enough".

 

Dyson don't make an hoover over 1400 watts do they?

Mr Dyson says it is intelligent engineering, and not energy thirsty motors that leads to high cleaning.

 

---------- Post added 01-09-2014 at 20:39 ----------

 

You don't actually believe that the energy companies have the slightest interest in lowering the cost of our fuel? If miraculously overnight, the entire country somehow managed to half our use of electricity...What would happen to the price of it?

 

Scottish government paid power companies over £11 million this year, to not produce any electricity:huh:

 

---------- Post added 01-09-2014 at 20:48 ----------

 

Pete you have a few things muddled up here mate. This directive is part of the pathway to a more energy efficient Europe in 2020, something all member states agreed to - reason for this is three-fold: Europe has a rapidly ageing electricity manufacturing capacity that needs massive investment to remain functional, let alone competitive and two We all agreed that using up fossil fuels at the increasing rate we were doing was daft. Finally there is the small issue that Europe as a continent is more dependant on foreign states for energy than any other continent out there. The rate we use electricity and oil far outstrips supply on our own shores, thus we have to buy from naughty neighbours like Russia and the Middle-East.

 

For me, these first announcements are nowhere near far enough to force energy consumption down.

 

For those mocking the effect, I am sure you mocked the introduction of energy efficient bulbs (oh yeah, another EU directive, part of the same framework) it has demonstrably led to a significant decrease in electricity use though, not to mention the increased lifespan of thee units compared to old fashioned bulbs.

 

My experience of those "so-called" energy efficient bulbs is certainly not a good one. Overpriced, too dim and don't last nowhere as long as they should.

[PeteMorris]

I can see that there are a few people here who favour the directives from the EU (well...apart from the banana thing, and a few others)....But it occurs to me....Is it just an EU thing?....Is there no possibility whatsoever that, 'we' couldn't have thought of these things (ie Westminster)....I'm pretty sure that had someone in Westminster thought of the bendyness of bananas, they wouldn't last very long...

 

---------- Post added 01-09-2014 at 21:00 ----------

 

Dyson don't make an hoover over 1400 watts do they?

Mr Dyson says it is intelligent engineering, and not energy thirsty motors that leads to high cleaning.

 

---------- Post added 01-09-2014 at 20:39 ----------

 

 

Scottish government paid power companies over £11 million this year, to not produce any electricity:huh:

 

---------- Post added 01-09-2014 at 20:48 ----------

 

 

My experience of those "so-called" energy efficient bulbs is certainly not a good one. Overpriced, too dim and don't last nowhere as long as they should.

 

Personally I have utter disdain for Mr Dyson, no matter what he says. He moved his entire operation abroad making god knows how many people who believed in him and trusted him....redundant...yeah....I know...economics

[dosxuk]

I can see that there are a few people here who favour the directives from the EU (well...apart from the banana thing, and a few others)....But it occurs to me....Is it just an EU thing?....Is there no possibility whatsoever that, 'we' couldn't have thought of these things (ie Westminster)....I'm pretty sure that had someone in Westminster thought of the bendyness of bananas, they wouldn't last very long...

 

There's plenty of weird and wonderful ideas cooked up by Westminster. The best of them get taken over the continent, introduced to the Europeans and then the British public blame the EU when they get implemented.

 

That said, there's also plenty of occasions when British representatives have got EU plans changed for the better. (Not that you'll see any news coverage of them, nobody would dare publish a positive EU story since the readership don't believe them or want to read them).

[altus]

I can see that there are a few people here who favour the directives from the EU (well...apart from the banana thing, and a few others)....But it occurs to me....Is it just an EU thing?....Is there no possibility whatsoever that, 'we' couldn't have thought of these things (ie Westminster)....I'm pretty sure that had someone in Westminster thought of the bendyness of bananas, they wouldn't last very long...

 

It's a favoured tactic of all EU countries' politicians to lobby for unpopular legislation to be introduced via the EU so they can pretend to their own electorates that it's been forced on them by the EU rather than admit they supported it all along.

[PeteMorris]

There's plenty of weird and wonderful ideas cooked up by Westminster. The best of them get taken over the continent, introduced to the Europeans and then the British public blame the EU when they get implemented.

 

That said, there's also plenty of occasions when British representatives have got EU plans changed for the better. (Not that you'll see any news coverage of them, nobody would dare publish a positive EU story since the readership don't believe them or want to read them).

 

Do you have examples of this?

 

---------- Post added 01-09-2014 at 21:11 ----------

 

It's a favoured tactic of all EU countries' politicians to lobby for unpopular legislation to be introduced via the EU so they can pretend to their own electorates that it's been forced on them by the EU rather than admit they supported it all along.

 

Same question...Do you have verifiable examples?

[dosxuk]

Do you have examples of this?

 

While I can't point you in the direction of a document which says "this EU law was created by the Brits", I do know of several things incorporated into EU regulations in the areas of health & safety, electrical specifications and telecommunications which were either British ideas or requirements and have subsequently become European regulations.

 

The harmonisation of electrical wiring colours was heavily influenced by the UK, with most of the EU happy to use the same colours for multiple phases, but the Brits unwilling to give up our easy to identify colour scheme.

[tzijlstra]

Yes I see your point, but how many people 'follow' their MEP...Be honest...do you?....Does anyone?....and if you did, and he was talking about the thickness of A4 sized paper...would you even bother again?....That's what I mean.

 

As a Dutch citizen I see/saw it as my democratic duty to be informed of what my party does and doesn't do. I have slowly got used to the cumbersome UK system which is designed to steer everything through 'local representation' in the form of MPs although these MPs seem to have little to no real influence in parliament.

 

There has never been an easier time to stay up to speed with what your democratic representatives do than now. I suppose it helps I have been trained as an EU-information specialist a decade or so ago whilst being part of the EU Information Point for my province in the Netherlands, that doesn't mean that I don't think everybody should have at least some notion of what their government is up to, something that is sadly lacking in our society.

 

Do you have examples of this?

 

---------- Post added 01-09-2014 at 21:11 ----------

 

 

Same question...Do you have verifiable examples?

 

Because the EU is a big organisation there are various complications to how law is formed, there is the phenomenon of bargaining: I will vote yes for this if you vote yes for that and so on.

 

All new EU law is co-decided by the member states AND the EU parliament, none of them come from the EU alone. Laws are not the result of a single person forcing through a topic, there are simply too many parties to work in that manner. What happens is that, for example, the British Labour party wants to see an amendment to the regulation of working-hours, they talk to their French, Italian, Polish counterparts who agree and together they form a majority in the PES (Party of European Socialists) who then go to work on the other parties in the EU parliament whilst the national parties lobby their respective governments to support something. Once this process completes new directives are issued.

 

All new legislation is proposed by the EU Commission which is in fact all heads of state, this is why EU summits like the recent one are so important, this is where new ideas are brought forward and handed over to the administrators to turn into practical proposals that stand a change to go through parliament.

 

If that sounds cumbersome, that is because it is, one big issue the UK (and other sceptics) keeps blocking is to streamline this by directly electing a council or linking the appointment of this council to the Parliamentary elections. Apparently this is too much centralisation so we are stuck with the creaky system we have now.

 

PS: You can literally find ALL documentation related to these summits and practically all Parliamentary debate on the EU websites, it is incredibly transparent although dense and huge.

[Penistone999]

Pete, there already was a thread on this, not sure what it was called.

 

Anyway, England already imports most of its energy, doesn't it make sense to start becoming self-sufficient?

 

 

It does, and we should start by getting out of the EU money pit/ circus ASAP , then we can become self sufficient regarding our borders,

 

---------- Post added 01-09-2014 at 23:51 ----------

 

If they want to save energy they could start by not launching satellites into the wrong orbit.

 

get rid of the EU parliament and the amount of hot air released into the atmosphere will decrease dramatically.

[tzijlstra]

It does, and we should start by getting out of the EU money pit/ circus ASAP , then we can become self sufficient regarding our borders,

 

Repetitive and entirely lacking in depth of understanding. As such also predictable, you will have to try harder Penistone, your arguments are beginning to sound increasingly hollow.

[Penistone999]

I wonder how many people will suffer as a result of this directive. If anything, you will be saved from buying a noisy, energy eating inefficient domestic appliance. Why not look at this positively, instead of thinking the EU are out to make your life miserable

 

 

There is NOTHING positive about the EU .