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Mitochris

macrumors regular
Feb 9, 2011
163
242
Speeds when roaming are terrible.
You’re still missing the key reasons. Being in control of laws and not being dictated to by faceless, unelected bureaucrats. Some things won’t be as good, I.e. roaming charges, unless they can also be negotiated of course. Key fundamentals, such as sovereignty, will be positive. The number of times I’ve been lectured for voting Brexit because someone has to get a pet passport….. It beggars belief that people use these insignificant criteria to decide how they are going to vote on something as hard-fought for as sovereignty.
Why do people keep on blaming unelected bureaucrats? You had the chance to vote for members of the European Parliament every 4 years. Do you really think the laws and regulations put in place in the uk are drafted by the pumpkins sitting in the UK Parlament? Of course not. It is drafted and designed by unelected bureaucrats. It’s voted on by the elected officials. Just as in the EU.
 

constructor

macrumors regular
May 15, 2011
206
464
In what way is Britain less democratic than the EU?

The comment is perfectly reasonable. European power is held tightly by the Commission, an unelected body comprised mostly of the ex-Ministers of Europe. Ironically it’s anti democratic since you usually need to lose an election in your home country in order to ascend to it.

The commission is the only body capable of proposing new legislation, the elected Parliament cannot propose legislation. No wonder the old joke “If the EU applied to join itself it would be turned down for not meeting the criteria”.

Good riddance from my point of view. For better or for worse. Laws need to be made as locally as possible to the people that they affect.

Source for my claims: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/en/sheet/25/the-european-commission
That is a rather grotesque misrepresentation, as usual.

In actual fact, the European Commission is basically just the equivalent to the appointed cabinet of ministers in a nation state, only that in its case it's not a single elected politician making those appointment, but the entire council of elected heads of national member governments jointly agree on the appointment of the commissioners and (contrary to most national cabinets) the elected European Parliament also needs to confirm every single appointment.

The ultimate control is always kept in the hands of the elected heads of national governments (via the joint European Council) and the elected European Parliament – the Commission is just the executive organ the elected heads of member states delegate the day-to-day administration to.

There has long been a reluctance on the part of the member governments to hand over some of their powers to the parliament, but the European Parliament has fought for and gained quite a bit of additional powers over the years and it keeps gaining legitimacy and political weight, so the member governments can't run roughshod over it as easily as they once could – it is a very proper democratic development, really!

But there is actually no european decision which isn't ultimately under the responsibility of elected representatives, contrary to the UK with its unelected House of Lords, its secretly meddling royalty and in more recent times a government abusing the lack of a proper constitution by disabling ever more of the oversight and accountabilities it should normally face.

That lie about "unelected european bureaucrats" ist parroted by many who just never bothered with the facts but merely seek confirmation of their pre-existing biases and prejudices.

Doesn't look like that toxic tree is bearing any delectable fruits so far, though.
 

constructor

macrumors regular
May 15, 2011
206
464
Last tome i checked a contry has to apply to become an EU member, tthere are conditions, and the process apparently often lasts for years , and then all ( or was it 67% if the exsisting members have to sign off on the new members application and any exemptions the contry in question have gotten. Sonds like a lot mor work than Russia just deciding to invade yo one day right.
Every single member country has a veto against any new accession – so it was yet another blatant lie that Turkey could ever have become a member against the wishes of the UK while the UK was still a veto-wielding member. (Not that the UK would have been the only one to veto that with the way Turkey has devolved into an autocratic hellhole.)
 

Mitochris

macrumors regular
Feb 9, 2011
163
242
Yes, I have seen nothing to change my opinion. Seems to be important stuff was hidden in indirect policies. Sleight of hand. You seem obsessed with my viewpoint. Very much how the EU shills work. Perhaps you should spend your time elsewhere, trying to brainwash someone else?
The problem is that you base your opinion on incorrect information and people are trying to point this out to you but all you can do is claim that they are brain washed.
- bureaucrats are not running the EU more than in any other democracy, including the UK. You had the change to vote for the EU Parlament every 4 years, which is proportional and arguably more democratic.
- free movement of people was the foundation of the eu, and included for EU countries to remove migrants that did not contribute to the new country they moved to. The uk chose to not enforce this.
- Irland voted 3 times for different proposals, which were renegotiated after each vote
- the brexit vote did not have any terms of a potential Brexit and is therefore much less “informed” than the Ireland votes were. In fact, the Tories refused to but the brexit deal to the people, knowing it would have been thrown out.
These are all facts and not opinions.
 

jlc1978

macrumors 603
Aug 14, 2009
5,510
4,291
Brexit has made a new accession a much harder path than staying and reforming as a member would ever have been!

While I agree with you; it may come down to the EU deciding between having the UK back or punishing them to send a message to others that might think of leaving. Politics is strange.

Well, should Scotland become a member prior to England+Wales seeking accession, Scotland will have a veto by that point, as does Ireland, of course, quite possibly reunited by that point...
Oddly enough, Brexit may drive reunification more than anything else has.

Scotland may have issues because of Spain’s concerns over Catalonia’s desire for independence and remaining in the EU. Letting Scotland in would support their drive for independence and argument for staying in the EU, if the EU lets Scotland remain.
 

visualseed

macrumors 6502a
Dec 16, 2020
904
1,862
Brexit cannot be "overturned" since it has truly and completely destroyed the UK's EU membership. It's done and over. (Just the fallout keeps mounting.)

The only path for the UK back into the EU is now a completely fresh accession process under the much tougher accession rules of the day compared to the comparatively lax ones back in the 1970s.

But since one precondition is stable political and popular support for accession this will likely have to wait until most of the people steeped in toxic Brexit propaganda will have died off and the dire consequences have become entirely unmissable, even with eyes pinched shut.

The UK's EU membership terms were the most favorable of any member state. It still took them 11 years after application to be granted membership since France initially vetoed them. Re-joining now would see them get far fewer concessions including having to give up the Pound in favor of the Euro (thus becoming a full Eurozone member) which would also require the UK to keep a favorable debt-to-GDP ratio that it has yet been able to manage to date. Probably also would lose their opt-outs for Schengen zone and the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
 

visualseed

macrumors 6502a
Dec 16, 2020
904
1,862
Why do people keep on blaming unelected bureaucrats? You had the chance to vote for members of the European Parliament every 4 years. Do you really think the laws and regulations put in place in the uk are drafted by the pumpkins sitting in the UK Parlament? Of course not. It is drafted and designed by unelected bureaucrats. It’s voted on by the elected officials. Just as in the EU.

The UK supported (voted in favor of) 97% of EU laws enacted during the last 12 years of their membership tenure. The UK did far more to shape EU policy in its favor than the EU did to shape policy against it. In fact, it was only at the end when Brexit was introduced as a political wedge issue that UK MEPs voted the most against EU proposals and did so along their individual party lines and not as part of political blocs (to which the UK was no longer well represented in the centrist coalition that usually wins) as is customary.
 
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ForkHandles

macrumors 6502
Jun 8, 2012
460
1,099
In what way is Britain less democratic than the EU?

The comment is perfectly reasonable. European power is held tightly by the Commission, an unelected body comprised mostly of the ex-Ministers of Europe. Ironically it’s anti democratic since you usually need to lose an election in your home country in order to ascend to it.

The commission is the only body capable of proposing new legislation, the elected Parliament cannot propose legislation. No wonder the old joke “If the EU applied to join itself it would be turned down for not meeting the criteria”.

Good riddance from my point of view. For better or for worse. Laws need to be made as locally as possible to the people that they affect.

Source for my claims: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/en/sheet/25/the-european-commission
This unelected bureaucrat thing, it’s not what you describe.

Firstly, in the uk, you get to vote for an MP, that’s it, you win or lose you don’t get any other preference. PM, chancellor, home sec, defence sec, none of your business to decide.

Only government can propose legislation, your MP gets a vote, that’s it, mainly.

So one of those ministerial jobs was called eu commissioner, there were 28 of them, one selected by each country, each in charge of a different area of law, finance, defence, agriculture. Each were to create legal paths to achieve what the European council (28 prime ministers) decided.

You can’t despise the commission without having contempt for our own system.

The more democratic thing comes from the voting system for parliament. In ours 42% of people get to have 58% off the parliamentary seats. That’s pretty awful.
 

H2SO4

macrumors 603
Nov 4, 2008
5,671
6,953
First USB-C, now this. When will the EU ever stop it’s anti-consumer overreach that stops companies innovating.
Can you share why you deem this anti competitive?
Assuming you don't mean that if service is the same everywhere there's less competition?
 
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Big Bad D

macrumors 6502a
Jan 3, 2007
504
532
France
You’re still missing the key reasons. Being in control of laws and not being dictated to by faceless, unelected bureaucrats. Some things won’t be as good, I.e. roaming charges, unless they can also be negotiated of course. Key fundamentals, such as sovereignty, will be positive. The number of times I’ve been lectured for voting Brexit because someone has to get a pet passport….. It beggars belief that people use these insignificant criteria to decide how they are going to vote on something as hard-fought for as sovereignty.
Unelected bureacrats - UK voted in European elections, and seemed to never treat it seriously. Keep dreaming for the Brexit benefits…
 
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MacknTosh

macrumors regular
Oct 24, 2015
142
267
The thing is, this is just a simple example that even the dumb dumbs can understand.

Big Bloc A introduces a rule that instructs all companies to follow.
…and even though several component countries of Big Bloc A don’t like or agree with this rule, they are out voted and must implement it anyway..

Swings and roundabouts.
 

Futurix

macrumors 6502a
Nov 22, 2011
591
684
Strasbourg, France
First USB-C, now this. When will the EU ever stop it’s anti-consumer overreach that stops companies innovating.
🤣🤣🤣
I mean, are there any Apple users who don’t want USB-C? I mean, I’m really tired of having different cables for my iPhone / AirPods and for my iPad / MacBook. Lightning is slower than USB-C in data transfer and it survived longer than the iPod charging by now - it’s time for an update!

Yea, cos it was all about mobile phone charges /s
Oh, Brexit ****ed up everything else too.

Speeds when roaming are terrible. VPN tunnel back to home network (they still need to sell your data wherever you are) and foreign network bandwidth allocations are parts of the problem. I doubt these tricks will ever be regulated.

Three UK Roaming on Optus Australia not only is restricted to 3G but is practically useless for browsing an Australian website because of the 4 trips across the planet. Get about 5K/s.

Local sims are still a necessity. Looks like esim apps are making this easier, not that it's ever been a chore going in a airport newsstand when arriving though.
Australia is not in EU, only in Eurovision. I roamed over EU for ages and speeds were usable everywhere. Certainly not restricted by the providers.

Also pardon my ignorance, but why is it that regulations there expire after a certain amount of time and have be renewed?
Because they want to update them at certain points in time - in this case 5 years after introduction. Next time will be in 10 years because first 5 are deemed a success.

Have the U.K. networks actually re-introduced the roaming fees? I thought they had delayed them. I’m abroad and haven’t been charged at all and I’m not with O2/Virgin Media.

I think it’s an unworkable cash grab by the networks that will be so incredibly unpopular with U.K. tourists that the mobile networks would face constant horrendous media attention for their greed when they originally said no roaming fees would be re-introduced.
Nearly all of them did for new customers - the rest will be hit with them on contract renewal.

You’re still missing the key reasons. Being in control of laws and not being dictated to by faceless, unelected bureaucrats. Some things won’t be as good, I.e. roaming charges, unless they can also be negotiated of course. Key fundamentals, such as sovereignty, will be positive. The number of times I’ve been lectured for voting Brexit because someone has to get a pet passport….. It beggars belief that people use these insignificant criteria to decide how they are going to vote on something as hard-fought for as sovereignty.
Pretty much everything that Tories did claiming it was a Brexit dividend was already possible in EU. The only sovereignty you’ve gained is lack of accountability for the ruling party that is now going to dismantle your own rights (but as long as they stuck “British” in front of the new gutted bill of rights, it’s fine for your kind). Tories are now breaking international laws and following Russia out of the international courts of law. Laughing stock of the world.

Even government’s own statistics shows that Britain is permanently worse off outside EU - and any benefits are yet to come.
 
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nexusrule

macrumors 6502a
Aug 11, 2012
623
758
The EU tends to be good at protecting consumer rights (better than here in the States) so I'm not surprised but I'm happy to see.

Also pardon my ignorance, but why is it that regulations there expire after a certain amount of time and have be renewed?
it’s not the norm, more of an exception (the expiring thing), can’t recall exactly the reason but probably some kind of compromise with companies to experiment and evaluate how it would have worked for consumers and them (companies were not happy to lose the income I guess). They’ve probably gone with the 10 years thing again to avoid delaying the measure due to discussions with companies and internal lobbyists if it had become permanent. But I would say it’s permanent anyway, in another 10 years nobody will accept to pay roaming after 2 decades without doing it.
 

sdz

macrumors 65816
May 28, 2014
1,225
1,552
Europe/Germany
Also pardon my ignorance, but why is it that regulations there expire after a certain amount of time and have be renewed?

They want to drive costs down by this regulation and maybe by 2032 the cellular providers created a "free market solution" to remove all roaming costs within the EU, so no regulation will be necessary any longer. AFAIK.
 

nexusrule

macrumors 6502a
Aug 11, 2012
623
758
You’re still missing the key reasons. Being in control of laws and not being dictated to by faceless, unelected bureaucrats. Some things won’t be as good, I.e. roaming charges, unless they can also be negotiated of course. Key fundamentals, such as sovereignty, will be positive. The number of times I’ve been lectured for voting Brexit because someone has to get a pet passport….. It beggars belief that people use these insignificant criteria to decide how they are going to vote on something as hard-fought for as sovereignty.

You can vote for the EU parliament you know, there are no unelected bureaucrats. The brexit parties were on the EU parliament too. The faceless unelected bureaucrats is pure propaganda. Are there people in the EU that are bureaucrats and not elected? Yes sure, like there are in all governments, yours included; you don’t elect any single people working in the government, you elect the people that make and vote the laws in the parliament and that are responsible of hiring all the rest. Democracy 101.
 

Mitochris

macrumors regular
Feb 9, 2011
163
242
…and even though several component countries of Big Bloc A don’t like or agree with this rule, they are out voted and must implement it anyway..

Swings and roundabouts.
Not sure I understand. Isn’t this what democracy is all about? I mean, the political opinions in the UK are not necessarily in unison.
 

ForkHandles

macrumors 6502
Jun 8, 2012
460
1,099
🤣🤣🤣
I mean, are there any Apple users who don’t want USB-C? I mean, I’m really tired of having different cables for my iPhone / AirPods and for my iPad / MacBook. Lightning is slower than USB-C in data transfer and it survived longer than the iPod charging by now - it’s time for an update!


Oh, Brexit ****ed up everything else too.


Australia is not in EU, only in Eurovision. I roamed over EU for ages and speeds were usable everywhere. Certainly not restricted by the providers.


Because they want to update them at certain points in time - in this case 5 years after introduction. Next time will be in 10 years because first 5 are deemed a success.


Nearly all of them did for new customers - the rest will be hit with them on contract renewal.


Ah, typical brainwashed and ignorant Brexiteer. Pretty much everything that Tories did claiming it was a Brexit dividend was already possible in EU. The only sovereignty you’ve gained is lack of accountability for the ruling party that is now going to dismantle your own rights (but as long as they stuck “British” in front of the new gutted bill of rights, it’s fine for your kind). Tories are now breaking international laws and following Russia out of the international courts of law. Laughing stock of the world.

Even government’s own statistics shows that Britain is permanently worse off outside EU - and any benefits are yet to come.
Don’t worry too much about the British Bill of Rights. It is jingoistic nonsense, it is a waste of parliamentary time. It is created to appeal to a daily Mail reader.

Thankfully it incorporates fully the treaty governing the European Human rights court. Not a rewrite of it, a full reference to the existing treaty.

It’s legal affect will be to have more cases referred to Strasbourg.

Pure propagandaring
 
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ForkHandles

macrumors 6502
Jun 8, 2012
460
1,099
…and even though several component countries of Big Bloc A don’t like or agree with this rule, they are out voted and must implement it anyway..

Swings and roundabouts.
At this point it is customary to ask you for an example of countries affected and laws imposed.
Can you name the legislation to which you’re referring please?

Or is this just something you heard once?
 
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Mitochris

macrumors regular
Feb 9, 2011
163
242
Price increases aren’t the only measure. You can’t easily increase prices in such a competitive market. It may be reflected in other ways, reduced R&D, less call centre staff etc. Ultimately any corporation has a percentage target for profit which needs to be met lest the shareholders start sharpening their knives. The lost profit will be factored in somewhere along the line. But no, I agree it’s not cheaper here because of the reintroduction of roaming.
The thing is, the profits made due to roaming charges were just a money grab. There is not technological reason to put extra costs on it.
 

Enclavean

macrumors 6502
Jun 14, 2018
264
1,819
Personally, I am a little more worried about the fact that you as a medical student are not smart enough to pick up on the fact that the statement is so obviously sarcastic and you still thought it was serious.
If I’m being fully honest I meant to reply to the guy saying the EU is like Russia with guns, so I apologize.
 

dave61

macrumors member
Jun 2, 2010
54
22
Clogland
Key fundamentals, such as sovereignty, will be positive.
Sovereignty was never lost, just shared to gain benefit.

The modern world is highly integrated thanks, in part, to countries sharing sovereignty for mutual advantage. If you want sovereignty then the UK should also leave organisations like the UN and the WTO.

The government's own economic forecaster says that productivity is 4% lower, permanently, because of leaving the EU. The pound is 10% lower than before the referendum. A team at UCL has calculated that food is 6% more expensive because of Brexit. And on, and on, and on.

Sovereignty is intrinsically worthless; you can't eat it, you can't pay bills with it. What matters is what you do with it.

What the current government has done with it is trade deals that disadvantage our own farmers, declined to implement safety checks on food entering the country, threatened to break international law, and promised more powerful vacuum cleaners.

No wonder most people now think that Brexit was a mistake.
 

SidricTheViking

macrumors 6502
Aug 20, 2014
394
439
You understand "the intricacies of the EU" yet you don't understand what the border policy within the EU is and actually does because you clearly seem to believe it has something to do with "forced mass migration" which it absolutely does not. The 1 example you believe you have and you don't even know what it is. It isn't "forced" upon anyone, never mind on a "mass". Where you live within the EU is your own choice.

And for the record, the open border policy of the Schengen Area only applies to EU citizens and visa holders. Not to refugees which is clearly the racist rhetoric you think you're going for. And yeah; refugees are during a crisis (emphasis on crisis, because otherwise this doesn't even happen) moved between all countries within the EU because these countries have decided that solidarity is something they should partake in. And yes, the people that are selected to be moved to other countries during a crisis don't in general have a choice or say in that because to them the borders of countries within the EU are closed.

tl:dr; the 1 example you give is just a complete misunderstanding of the example you you're giving and the situation you seem to imply you're talking about is the exact opposite of it.

"I understand the intricacies of the EU". pff


May I point out that not only was the Brexit referrendum the second time that that referendum had been done in the UK, but also that the Leave parties said that if Leave didn't win, they'd just do it again?
For further clarification, let me add that there is one EU member country that is not part of the Schengen Agreement - my home country: Ireland! So, it’s opt in, not obligatory. And when the UK was part of the EU it also opted out of the Schengen Agreement.
 

SidricTheViking

macrumors 6502
Aug 20, 2014
394
439
I wish plans in Canada were as cheap as the EU. I think we pay the some of highest prices in the world. ‘Unlimited’ plans are generally over $100 a month and then they throttle you to like 100kbps after 20GB because of their ‘fair use’ policies, which is obviously all BS.

5G is basically pointless here. Even with an unlimited plan, you’ll just get throttled after almost nothing (relatively speaking these days). With 5G you’ll just reach that point sooner.
There is no EU mobile data plan as such. Each country had its own rules. Here in Ireland we tend to pay significantly higher rates than many other EU countries and than the UK…sigh. Size matters indeed (our economy is simply too small to encourage price wars, etc.).
 
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