British expats react to David Cameron’s ‘non’ to the EU

Go Doc, you've got my ear and vote.

I thinks some of the comments regarding how some of the British love to complain about everyone else being the cause of the problem just proves the point. The British think that they are always right, its a sort of disease, almost a junior version of the USA but without the armed forces clout or the finance. As for thinking that Cameron did what he did in the UK's best interest, I really had to pour myself a glass of wine to get over the absolute cranial stupidity of the comment. Cameron doing anything for the UK! Cameron does everything for Cameron end of discussion. The reasoning regarding why he did it is perfectly clear and more enlightening; the City of London funds the Conservative party, and like all British Conservatives their mantra is Party first , the country a very poor second. Stanley Baldwin another Conservative prime minister remarked "If we had told the people the truth, we would have lost the election" That tells you all you need to know about Thatcher, Major and Cameron, greedy opportunists working in their or their masters own interests. As an aside, democracy is just about alive in the UK, for how long is anyones guess, as the country is becoming more and more like the USA. I know that I shall get shouted down by the little Englanders, but who cares! Vive la france.

This is for your first commentator - Peter Hawkins, freelance writer in Marseilles. I'd just like to assure him that no-one here is deluded enough to imagine that we are 'a central player on the European scene', geographically or politically. We know we're not and we don't want to be thank you very much. However, we are the second biggest net contributor into the pot financially, so I think that alone entitles us to be able to say 'no' to things we don't like the look of, and we didn't like the look of this. Given the disgusting anti-British behaviour from some Eurocrats and MEPs calling for punishments and reprisals and for the UK to be marginalised and 'made to feel their loss of power in Europe' .. I think a few other countries will be discovering what happens to anyone who dares to say 'no. What a lot of people in France need to be reminded of is that we are not in the Euro, and have stated repeatedly that we have no intention of joining the Euro. We are the only country in that position. All the others are either already using the single currency or are committed to joining it at some future date. It's only a few weeks ago that Mr Sarkozy was telling Cameron to 'butt out, you aren't even in the Euro' .. so now he's butted out, and they still aren't happy. C'est la vie and all that. But being a Brit yourself you will know that all the threats and name calling coming from Europe will only serve to harden resolve. Say what you like about us, but we won't be bullied - 26 to 1 or not.

The Germans have a name for the Brits: inseln affen, meaning Island Apes and so I am minded to quote Jonathan Swift "the YAHOOS appear to be the most unteachable of all animals: their capacity never reaching higher than to draw or carry burdens. Yet I am of opinion, this defect arises chiefly from a perverse,
restive disposition; for they are cunning, malicious, treacherous, and revengeful. I was born in London but live most of my life in various European countries. I avoid going anywhere near the UK if at all possible, chiefly to avoid the Yahoos!!

The british had no choice on bank transaction tax, would the french except a 40 billion a year tax on there car industrie, no they would be on the streets and closing the ports as they allways do.
The next time the french want to demonstrate they will have to go by bus to berlin and beg the germans for some money.
I can not see this state of affairs being popular in france, but unfortunatly this is the sad position the euro zone has got into.
This has not happend by accident if you want to force countries together create a crisis,but this one is bigger than what the eurocrats bargained for.

The people in my state get irritated every time we have to bail out California or New York due to their really stupid socialist programs. Why should Britain have to bail out Greece or Italy because those countries can't control their own socialist spending. Cameron did the right thing.

Maybe its time the Uk became great and traded with the nations who wish for us to deliver the goods. Its time we decided who we accept or reject into the country or not, not Brussels.
I am fed up of the Uk paying Millions out and constantly being critised by the rest of the Eurozone.

While I do not agree with some of the views expressed above, why should the UK support an organisation which has failed to have the accounts signed off for around eleven years? All the while that some states thrive on corrupt practices the Eur will never be successful. That is what needs addressing. Who elected Merkel and Sarkozy to try to push everyone around? London is a centre of international finance, and I see that Germany wants to get it all for its own banking system. I have no doubt that UK (not just England) has had some benefit from EU, but at what cost to our sovereingty? Does any country really want to give up everything and be told what to do by Brussels bureaucrats. Ireland held a referendum and the result was said to be the wrong one by Brussels - democracy Brussels style. Good for Cameron in standing up to the bully boys!

Glad to see the UK is not following the rest of the sheep.

Its good to see that Frrance 24 has taken an objective view on reporting the British veto. In the UK we can all see that mr Sarkozy is in a massive corner and appears to suffer from the little person problem. The worst thing about Mr Sarkozy is that he actually believes Mrs Merkel suports him. The sooner the French electorate sling this guy out the better for France and the better for Europe. Given none of teh 26 have actually signed anything and merely showed intent, the killer will always be in the detail and given to date the detail has been anything but forthcoming this is nt a done deal at all.

We who still reside in the UK are quite happy that Cameron has said NO. The EU has become bloated, undemocratic, unaccountable and seemingly run solely for the benefit of it's "fonctionnaires". This new "treaty" will do nothing to ease the eurozone crisis and will only serve to bind the hands of the other member states. Those who threaten and froth with rage at the UK's decision to consider its own interests first should remember that we have already been conned into shelling out to support a currency we do not use by the misapplication of "emergency" measures under the Lisbon Treaty.It therefore seems a little churlish to expect us to tax one of our few profitable industries into extinction for the benefit of others who have failed to control their own spending. It's a bit like expecting your neighbour to pay your credit card debt for your profligate lifestyle when he barely has the money to feed, clothe and shelter his own family. Generally Brits are happy to give to an emergency appeal and more generously than some but charity begins at home and this is still our home.

If someone thinks the other 26 nation states have signed up blindfolded, with muffs over their ears, he must be befuddled in his thinking. Just because they don't, naturally, speak English does not mean they are any less canny than their British counterparts.

Britain, has nowhere to go, unless we opt to be the 52nd state of America, 100% unacceptable across the Pond I would suggest, more likely we will become what we once were heading to become, before we half took the opportunity to be a part of Europe proper.An empire less state on the fringe of the EU, which, once the current situation is resolved, will dominate, but without any influential input from this renegade island nation.
What has happened to the Euro, is temporary, just as what happened to all the other currencies that were found wanting when the global fiscal implosion occurred.

As for Cameron 'protecting' the City of London, Brown did most of the work in that when bailing out the thieving banks, the thanks for which took place, lay in that same City of London financial centre.

The explosive forces rippled out from the major Bourses, including Wall Street, Frankfurt, Paris and elsewhere, not one of these constructs were blameless, so for Cameron to offer support, as he chilled towards any attempt to set in motion corrective means to an end by our European partners, is hypocrisy of a very high order.

He attempted to blackmail our Continental partners, his bluff was called, and he, tail between his legs like a whipped cur, walked.

I seriously doubt, if given the full facts, with less of the flag waving crap from the media,that the average citizen would consider following the line taken by our Thatcherite, (in part at least), leader, and his henchmen in Cabinet.

A banker is not in favour of a tax on banking transaction?! Next you will be telling us that the Pope is Catholic.

This was a crude trap set by Merkozy that failed from the outset. The 2 things that are doomed at the moment are the Euro and Sarkozy's presidency which is uppermost in his mind. Of course the thing uppermost in most expats minds is our relationship with France and the Euro when the merde coincides with the ventilation, and although it might effect me and mine here in France, I wouldn't trade my comfort for the decline of the United Kingdom which some of your correspondent would.

See it from Camerons point of view.
1) He instigated and forced through a new law stating that any change of or new EU powers were to be subject of a referendum in the UK. He did this not for one moment think that this would be enacted during his tenure.
2) He had just sufferd against a 3 line whip 81 of his own MPs voting against him jsut a few weeksd ago on an EU debate.
He was therefore between a rock and a hard place. there is no way that any of the european ruling elite would allow a referendum on any EU question. He could not agree therefore and if he did and tried to aviod a referendum he would be ousted by his own party and he was not going to get kicked out of office. So he used the veto to stay in power and judged that Merkosy would not be around in a few months when he would be it was the best move he never made.

IS DAVID CAMERON FOR CLEANING UP CORRUPTION IN GOVERNMENT THAT CREATED THE ECONOMIC MESS AND IS HE FOR UNION BLOC JOB CREATION: FOLLOW MY BLOG ON MYSPACE: LATEST UPDATE: 11/12/2011 - DAVID CAMERON - EUROPEAN UNION - FRANCE
British expats react to David Cameron’s ‘non’ to the EU

FRANCE 24 canvasses the opinions of British expatriates living and working in France following the UK’s rejection of a treaty that will bring closer integration in the EU.
By Tony Todd (text)

British Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday said the UK would not sign a new treaty aimed at tightening fiscal rules across the euro zone.

Is it a determined drift towards greater isolation from Europe, or is the UK right to protect its own interests beyond those of its continental neighbours?

FRANCE 24 spoke to some Britons living and working in France.

Peter Hawkins, freelance writer, Marseille

It’s not an irreversible decision, and it’s definitely more about British domestic policy than about the EU. Britain has always been the awkward partner in Europe, and I think Europe actually benefits from having an awkward partner.

From what I’m hearing I think the French are unfazed, unsurprised and unbothered. It’s just the way that it has been reported in the UK that makes Britons feel that their country is a central player on the European scene. It isn’t. Britain is on the fringes of Europe and it always has been.

Jonathan Holburn, entrepreneur, Paris

I am shocked and disappointed. This riles me incredibly. The UK is the one country in the EU that is the least committed to the euro, a currency whose survival is crucial to Britain’s economic health.

And if we’re not in Europe, where are we? Tied to the US? The euro may have been badly implemented, but Europe is committed to sorting this mess out. We should be pulling out all the stops to help our neighbours, because it is in our interests.

It’s embarrassing that this news confirms the sad truth that it is the eurosceptic little Englanders who are running the ship, and that the UK is just fiddling around on the outskirts of Europe.

Gavin Doughty, banker with HSBC, Paris

David Cameron was protecting British interests and I believe he did the right thing. In principal, keeping out and protecting the British banking sector from having to contribute a damaging transaction tax is a good idea.

I disagree with many aspects of the banking industry, but a transaction tax, which would have been imposed if the UK signed the new treaty, is a bad idea.

My French colleagues actually appreciate the way the British stand up to people the way Cameron has. And I believe they wish their own leaders would do the same. I think Nicolas Sarkozy is in a corner and Angela Merkel has him exactly where she wants him.

Britain is different from France and Germany, we have an island mentality and the French understand that.

Iain Black, barman at the Bombadier pub, Paris

The euro isn’t our currency, so why should we be expected to save it? It’s as simple as that. The overwhelming majority of income from the proposed transaction tax would come from London. Why should the City pay for the survival of the euro?

As for Cameron, I don’t really believe the reasons he gave. I think he was pandering to the right-wing British press, who love him for it, while protecting his rich friends, who will stay rich with the UK keeping its distance from Europe's problems.

As for the French, I honestly believe that they wish they were in the same position as the UK, with the power to say “no, we will not bail you out this time.”

John Airson, tourism executive, Paris

I feel that this decision - which let’s face it was inevitable - is just as much motivated by nostalgia for a time gone by, as it is in a getting-off the speeding train/economic-protectionism ploy.

I think it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if more countries attempted to go down the road of economic-independence. This is what most people are crying out for after the recent series of domino-effect economic crises.

I think the French secretly envy the British for taking this path. They trust their politicians about as much as they understand the rules of cricket.

David Cameron is absolutely right to reject this new 'treaty'. As a concept Europe is in a mess from which it will not emerge any time in a hurry. France will probably soon have a new president with very different ideas, Italy now has an unelected government imposed by Brussels, while both Greece and Spain have their hands now completely tied. The Eurozone is decidedly not a good place to be

What Treaty is that - No one will know what that Treaty will contain until after the event - and that's when you are told - You should have read the small print. We've been had too many times to fall again for EU duplicity

Speaking as an 'ex-pat' property professional who has been full time resident in SW France for over a decade the decision of David Cameron came as no surprise. Yes I think it is 'little Englander' isolationism , yes I think it is pandering to his Right Wing, and I think it is sad that Britain doesnt take on board the need for a powerful united European block to counter both US Imperialism and the rapidly emerging dominance of China and the East. This attitude is wonderfully summed up by a news headline often used in the UK in times of bad weather .... "Storms in the Channel, The Continent cut off" ... when the reality is that the Continent still continues to trade with each other - by road - and its is actually Britain that is 'cut off'.

Britain has once again shown lack of leadership and a total ignorance of what it means to be European. They now join the xenophobic 'Republican' party of Ireland on the looney fringes of Europe. My French, Irish and German friends are aghast at their attitude. Lets get on without them!! I'm European and proud of it.