Amazing value for £3 per week!
The earliest version of what we now call the EU had its origins in the aftermath of two World Wars, which exploded out of disputes between European countries. Those catastrophes were the continuation of a trail of death and destruction wrought across Europe by a history of wars that stretches back centuries.
But 1946 was perhaps different. European leaders were looking back on wartime deaths in their own lifetimes of nearly 100 million people, most of them civilians. That is more than twice the population of England at the time.
They felt an urgent need to stem the tide of death that ripped Europe’s children from their families. Winston Churchill famously said “We must build a kind of United States of Europe. In this way only will hundreds of millions of toilers be able to regain the simple joys and hopes which make life worth living”(1) Other war-chastened European leaders had less ambitious ideas and 1950 saw the first precursor that evolved into the EU as we know it.
The peace dividend has been immense. Over nearly 70 years, EU leaders have met more or less monthly. They know each other well. When you know someone socially, it is harder to demonise them and this, plus deep economic and growing social ties, is an important element in explaining why there has not been a war between EU members.
As a result, we, our children and grandchildren and most of our parents have lived war-free lives. It is a huge dividend. And that founding aim of the EU, as a peace project, may explain why the EU is so determined not to undermine Northern Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement.
Seventy years of peace laid the foundations for seven decades of economic progress without war’s destruction, but the EU is the source of many other unrecognised benefits we take for granted. So what are they? Here is a sample.
The EU is made up of 28 countries, yet every day, huge numbers of us travel around the EU as though there were no internal borders. Freedom of movement gives us the ability to travel as we wish within the EU. We can live, study, love, marry, holiday and retire pretty much wherever we want. Our driving licenses are valid everywhere. There are no border checks within mainland EU – and we only have border checks at the UK/EU border because the UK decided to opt out of the EU deal that set up border-free travel on the mainland.
The same applies to work except that there are restrictions - that successive UK governments decided not to apply - on economic migrants who don’t get work quickly enough. ‘Freedom of movement’ and the recognition of degrees and professional qualifications across Europe are the reason why it has been so easy to keep our NHS fully staffed with excellent medics and care in our homes given by well-trained carers. It has made it easy for our Premier League to employ European superstars. And part of our agriculture will collapse, or our food will become more expensive, without EU workers to pick our fruit and vegetables.
We are also free to buy and sell stuff freely around Europe, a market of 500 million people, without having to grapple with 28 legal and customs systems. The EU has created standardised consumer protection and put enforcement in the hands of our home countries. The same applies when we travel. Many of the consumer protections we now take for granted, including the abolition of roaming charges in Europe and compensation for flight delays and cancellations, have their origins in EU laws.
The EU has strengthened our rights at work too. EU rules set the working week at a maximum of 48 hours, guarantee a minimum of 14 weeks’ maternity pay, 18 weeks’ parental leave after childbirth. They are the origin of most of ‘our’ employment laws against discrimination on the basis of age, disability, religion and sexual orientation.
Then there is the environment. It is EU law that is being used to force our recalcitrant government to tackle the polluted air that kills far more of us each year than all our road accidents. It has forced us to clean up our dirty beaches and set recycling targets. The EU has set safety standards in transport and is an important source of protection for endangered species. And in dealing with the Climate Emergency we all face, measures taken by the EU can be amplified across the world because, as one of the world’s top three trading blocs, the EU has power that the UK on its own lacks.
We also get the security infrastructure with intense intelligence sharing that helps keep terrorism at bay, a system to keep nuclear materials safe and much more. Respected economics commentators have put the economic benefits on a scale that approaches £100 billion, though all estimates are disputed.
What does all this cost? The UK pays about £9 billion net per year (2) into the EU. That works at less than £3 per week per person - far less than all but the most frugal of us pay for our mobile phone contracts. And if those economic benefits are only £50 billion per year, that still works out at about £15 per week per person, or five times the amount we pay in. Do you feel that is a worthwhile bargain?
But 1946 was perhaps different. European leaders were looking back on wartime deaths in their own lifetimes of nearly 100 million people, most of them civilians. That is more than twice the population of England at the time.
They felt an urgent need to stem the tide of death that ripped Europe’s children from their families. Winston Churchill famously said “We must build a kind of United States of Europe. In this way only will hundreds of millions of toilers be able to regain the simple joys and hopes which make life worth living”(1) Other war-chastened European leaders had less ambitious ideas and 1950 saw the first precursor that evolved into the EU as we know it.
The peace dividend has been immense. Over nearly 70 years, EU leaders have met more or less monthly. They know each other well. When you know someone socially, it is harder to demonise them and this, plus deep economic and growing social ties, is an important element in explaining why there has not been a war between EU members.
As a result, we, our children and grandchildren and most of our parents have lived war-free lives. It is a huge dividend. And that founding aim of the EU, as a peace project, may explain why the EU is so determined not to undermine Northern Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement.
Seventy years of peace laid the foundations for seven decades of economic progress without war’s destruction, but the EU is the source of many other unrecognised benefits we take for granted. So what are they? Here is a sample.
The EU is made up of 28 countries, yet every day, huge numbers of us travel around the EU as though there were no internal borders. Freedom of movement gives us the ability to travel as we wish within the EU. We can live, study, love, marry, holiday and retire pretty much wherever we want. Our driving licenses are valid everywhere. There are no border checks within mainland EU – and we only have border checks at the UK/EU border because the UK decided to opt out of the EU deal that set up border-free travel on the mainland.
The same applies to work except that there are restrictions - that successive UK governments decided not to apply - on economic migrants who don’t get work quickly enough. ‘Freedom of movement’ and the recognition of degrees and professional qualifications across Europe are the reason why it has been so easy to keep our NHS fully staffed with excellent medics and care in our homes given by well-trained carers. It has made it easy for our Premier League to employ European superstars. And part of our agriculture will collapse, or our food will become more expensive, without EU workers to pick our fruit and vegetables.
We are also free to buy and sell stuff freely around Europe, a market of 500 million people, without having to grapple with 28 legal and customs systems. The EU has created standardised consumer protection and put enforcement in the hands of our home countries. The same applies when we travel. Many of the consumer protections we now take for granted, including the abolition of roaming charges in Europe and compensation for flight delays and cancellations, have their origins in EU laws.
The EU has strengthened our rights at work too. EU rules set the working week at a maximum of 48 hours, guarantee a minimum of 14 weeks’ maternity pay, 18 weeks’ parental leave after childbirth. They are the origin of most of ‘our’ employment laws against discrimination on the basis of age, disability, religion and sexual orientation.
Then there is the environment. It is EU law that is being used to force our recalcitrant government to tackle the polluted air that kills far more of us each year than all our road accidents. It has forced us to clean up our dirty beaches and set recycling targets. The EU has set safety standards in transport and is an important source of protection for endangered species. And in dealing with the Climate Emergency we all face, measures taken by the EU can be amplified across the world because, as one of the world’s top three trading blocs, the EU has power that the UK on its own lacks.
We also get the security infrastructure with intense intelligence sharing that helps keep terrorism at bay, a system to keep nuclear materials safe and much more. Respected economics commentators have put the economic benefits on a scale that approaches £100 billion, though all estimates are disputed.
What does all this cost? The UK pays about £9 billion net per year (2) into the EU. That works at less than £3 per week per person - far less than all but the most frugal of us pay for our mobile phone contracts. And if those economic benefits are only £50 billion per year, that still works out at about £15 per week per person, or five times the amount we pay in. Do you feel that is a worthwhile bargain?
1: Churchill,
Winston (19 September 1946). Speech to the Academic Youth (Speech).
Zürich, Switzerland. Archived from the original on
20 August 2010. Retrieved 18 November 2013. Via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_Europe#cite_note-19
2: https://fullfact.org/europe/our-eu-membership-fee-55-million/
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