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Mmm, I have much the same misgivings about the likes of EDF being allowed to go on spending sprees in other countres - including my own, Britain - when they are

Mmm, I have much the same misgivings about the likes of EDF being allowed to go on spending sprees in other countres - including my own, Britain - when they are mostly owned by the French state. At the less knuckle-dragging end of the Brexit voting spectrum, stuff like this showed a clear two-tier level of behaviour in the EU and was hard to rationalise in the minds of people somewhat on the fence. I know that I - as a Remain voter - had an on-going irritation at the situation. Samesame huge state/EU loans to the likes of Spain's Ferrovial to go on spending sprees here too. Perhaps if we'd as a country had a bit more spine and a bit less hesitance to occasionally mangle EU rules to our favour as our continental cousins were, our industrial Brexit-supporters (Dyson et al) might not have felt they were being so unduly hard done by. Oh well, it matters not any more.

Daishiman 5y ago
> Perhaps if we'd as a country had a bit more spine and a bit less hesitance to occasionally mangle EU rules to our favour as our continental cousins were, our industrial Brexit-supporters (Dyson et al) might not have felt they were being so unduly hard done by. The British finance industry made out by bandits by having the best of EU, UK and worldwide financial markets. UK kept a much tighter control of its currency than mainland EU countries, and did pressure _constantly_ to get EU rulings in its favor.
- detritus 5y ago
  Yes, I know - we played the game within the constraints of the rules available, for better or worse as far as the development of the Community was concerned. Our political overlords have played that game forever, particularly since the UK rebate. Strangely, that rebate was mostly because of antagonism about French support for its food industries... . That we've still not had a resolution to our financial market's future engagement with the EU shows how fundamentally [expletive]-ing stupid and utterly short-sighted Brexit was. Idiots, all.
pjc50 5y ago
> EDF being allowed to go on spending sprees in other countres - including my own, Britain Ssh, the only way we can get Hinkley Point C built at anything like reasonable cost is if the French government bails it out! :) The British counterpart didn't fare so well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Nuclear_Fuels_Ltd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Nuclear_Fuels_Ltd
- detritus 5y ago
  I'd rather we threw whatever guaranteeing stake the UK government owes into supporting Hinkcley instead to the likes of Rolls Royce and modular small-scale nuclear, which seems to me a better use of fission nuclear in the [hopeful] interim between now and fusion hopefully becoming A Thing in a decade (or five). Heck, given how much money the current administration's spunked, we could just add some more zeroes to the deficit and double up... . But yes, you're not wrong :) - ed - the loss of the British Nuclear industry's one of the last generation's stupidest mess-ups.
Rexxar 5y ago
> Mmm, I have much the same misgivings about the likes of EDF being allowed to go on spending sprees in other countres - including my own, Britain - when they are mostly owned by the French state. This was a UK political choice, this could have been manage differently by UK government. > Perhaps if we'd as a country had a bit more spine and a bit less hesitance to occasionally mangle EU rules to our favour UK is the country that has mangle EU rules the most.
- pigscantfly 5y ago
  > UK is the country that has mangle EU rules the most. Can you explain what you mean by this? To me, it's always seemed that Germany and France benefit most from EU integration at the expense of the southern nations which have less industrialized export economies. I'm American, but my two cofounders are British and Swiss, so European politics is a pretty common topic of discussion.
  - zwaps 5y ago
    What you say is true, but I think the point was that the UK has consistently cherry picked rules and developments coming from the EU, while also benefiting from the EU integration. Germany and France differ somewhat in that the EU structurally benefits them. However, they also participate in all mechanisms and, as a consequence, pay a lot of money toward other member states. The UK, by contrast, has tried to minimize obligations while trying to keep some benefits intact. Anyway, thing of the past.

Daishiman 5y ago

> Perhaps if we'd as a country had a bit more spine and a bit less hesitance to occasionally mangle EU rules to our favour as our continental cousins were, our industrial Brexit-supporters (Dyson et al) might not have felt they were being so unduly hard done by. The British finance industry made out by bandits by having the best of EU, UK and worldwide financial markets. UK kept a much tighter control of its currency than mainland EU countries, and did pressure _constantly_ to get EU rulings in its favor.

detritus 5y ago
Yes, I know - we played the game within the constraints of the rules available, for better or worse as far as the development of the Community was concerned. Our political overlords have played that game forever, particularly since the UK rebate. Strangely, that rebate was mostly because of antagonism about French support for its food industries... . That we've still not had a resolution to our financial market's future engagement with the EU shows how fundamentally [expletive]-ing stupid and utterly short-sighted Brexit was. Idiots, all.

pjc50 5y ago

> EDF being allowed to go on spending sprees in other countres - including my own, Britain Ssh, the only way we can get Hinkley Point C built at anything like reasonable cost is if the French government bails it out! :) The British counterpart didn't fare so well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Nuclear_Fuels_Ltd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Nuclear_Fuels_Ltd

detritus 5y ago
I'd rather we threw whatever guaranteeing stake the UK government owes into supporting Hinkcley instead to the likes of Rolls Royce and modular small-scale nuclear, which seems to me a better use of fission nuclear in the [hopeful] interim between now and fusion hopefully becoming A Thing in a decade (or five). Heck, given how much money the current administration's spunked, we could just add some more zeroes to the deficit and double up... . But yes, you're not wrong :) - ed - the loss of the British Nuclear industry's one of the last generation's stupidest mess-ups.

Rexxar 5y ago

> Mmm, I have much the same misgivings about the likes of EDF being allowed to go on spending sprees in other countres - including my own, Britain - when they are mostly owned by the French state. This was a UK political choice, this could have been manage differently by UK government. > Perhaps if we'd as a country had a bit more spine and a bit less hesitance to occasionally mangle EU rules to our favour UK is the country that has mangle EU rules the most.

pigscantfly 5y ago
> UK is the country that has mangle EU rules the most. Can you explain what you mean by this? To me, it's always seemed that Germany and France benefit most from EU integration at the expense of the southern nations which have less industrialized export economies. I'm American, but my two cofounders are British and Swiss, so European politics is a pretty common topic of discussion.
- zwaps 5y ago
  What you say is true, but I think the point was that the UK has consistently cherry picked rules and developments coming from the EU, while also benefiting from the EU integration. Germany and France differ somewhat in that the EU structurally benefits them. However, they also participate in all mechanisms and, as a consequence, pay a lot of money toward other member states. The UK, by contrast, has tried to minimize obligations while trying to keep some benefits intact. Anyway, thing of the past.