> Though I'd say you can have a single market without much of the current EU-bureaucracy. Having common legislation makes it easier to trade though. If you are

> Though I'd say you can have a single market without much of the current EU-bureaucracy. Having common legislation makes it easier to trade though. If you are (for example) a UK company, you can trade with 27 other countries under a common set of rules, reducing costs and increasing certainty. However, without this, the UK government must either a) bilaterally agree trade deals with these 27 countries, or b) else join EEA, with all the costs of EU membership and none of the benefits. I definitely agree with your point about the legislation going too far though. Eurocrats in Brussels dreaming up nonsense that basically no EU citizens want, even those from "core" or strongly pro-EU countries. The phrase "an ever-closer union" is dangerous and unnecessary.