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The announcement is talking about EEA rather than EU though, which smells a bit weird. I'm not sure what regulation they're trying to resolve the conflict with
by capableweb 3y ago
The announcement is talking about EEA rather than EU though, which smells a bit weird. I'm not sure what regulation they're trying to resolve the conflict with that is not EU wide but rather EEA and targets the usage of default browsers.
- pavlov 3y agoThe EEA is practically “EU + a handful of countries that apply EU rules but don’t get to participate in decision making for historical reasons”. That’s why Britain didn’t even consider joining the EEA after they left the Union. From their point of view, it would still be the regulatory burden of EU membership without most of the benefits they enjoyed as a full member. When they’d decided to take the economic impact of leaving the free trade area, it wouldn’t really make sense to stay on worse terms than they already had.
- nicbou 3y agoEEA countries get freedom of movement with the EU, among other things. An EEA citizen can work in an EU country without any other requirements.
- aqme28 3y agoThere are some benefits. The article that we're commenting about, for example.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- beardyw 3y agoYes, getting Microsoft's disrespect was worth it.
- TazeTSchnitzel 3y agoNo, they get the benefit of tariff-free and non-tariff-barrier-free trade in goods and services with EU members. That's a huge deal.
- pavlov 3y agoI phrased my previous comment wrong (and should edit it). There’s of course a benefit to adopting the regulations and following the rules — you get to participate in the free trade area. But without a say in how those regulations and rules are formed.
- barrkel 3y agoThing is, now the UK doesn't get to participate in the free trade area, but is a rule taker anyway: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/01/uk-eu-safety-mark-brexit-climbdown https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/01/uk-eu-safet... - UK to retain EU safety mark in latest Brexit climbdown https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66394235 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66394235 - Post-Brexit import checks on food delayed again
- tankenmate 3y agoBut tariff free trade for goods benefits the EU more as the UK service sector is bigger than their goods sector. UK services companies (especially regulated services like finance, law, etc) are at a disadvantage to EU companies because the UK companies don't have equivalency (i.e. the either need extra checks (costs) to operate in the EU, or need to open a corporate office in the EU). And, the UK recently decided to forgo their UKCA mark to replace the CE mark as it would cost UK businesses too much to support both. And lastly the UK has yet to impose sanitary and phyto-sanitary rules on imports into the UK because it would cost consumers in the UK too much (UK food inflation is still higher than just about all EU countries even without the checks). But the EU does impose sanitary and phyto-sanitary checks on food imports to the EU from the UK. So, in net the EU benefits from this as well. So in balance the UK doesn't benefit. And it's a huge deal.
- kuschku 3y ago> UK food inflation is still higher than just about all EU countries even without the checks Have you considered that UK food inflation is higher precisely because they're not in the single market?
- Broken_Hippo 3y agoIt’s strictly the regulatory burden of EU membership without any of the benefits of the club. That's not really true if you are living in one of those countries (I live in one of those countries). In general, we get the protections that the EU gives its people and I get free travel within the zone. Lots of little things like my phone working without outrageous charges when I travel to most places here, too.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago>like my phone working without outrageous charges when I travel to most places here Just don't get anywhere near Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Andorra, Monaco with your roaming enabled :)
- Symbiote 3y agoLiechtenstein, Norway and Iceland are EEA members, and roaming is fine for those. Switzerland has its own arrangement, and the roaming deal doesn't apply. Andorra, Monaco, the United Kingdom, the Faroe Islands, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Belarus, Russia, North Macedonia, Ukraine and Moldova are not in the EU or EEA.
- horsawlarway 3y agoWell, you could plausibly argue right this moment that those strict regulatory burdens are a benefit of the club - since in this case they're benefiting from those regulations curbing abuse from international companies Something which almost certainly wouldn't happen if they passed these laws by themselves, rather than as part of a much larger economic area. But otherwise... I mostly agree with you. Lots of laws, not much representation.
- kalleboo 3y agoSure they get benefits, just they get no influence on what those benefits are.
- pjc50 3y agoThe regulatory "burden" is also a benefit, in general, which a lot of people fail to understand and is also the reason Brexit Britain hasn't significantly diverged from EU rules.
- jemmyw 3y agoYes, it's hard to explain to people just how much of a saving being in the EU makes on regulations. It outweighs having the odd regulation that you don't agree with. If the UK does move away from EU regulations then they'll have to duplicate a lot of effort.
- zirgs 3y agoNorthern Ireland is still de-facto part of the EU. So unless the UK rejoins the EU or recognises United Ireland - they are stuck in this limbo.
- robertlagrant 3y agoIt's because people also think of directives, which are the EU thing of "do this, but write all your own slightly different laws." All the EU stuff in total is not as useful as you're making it sound. It's getting better now, but it's taking a long time.
- barrkel 3y agoAnd the UK follows EU regulations anyway, by not controlling imports (latest climbdown, delayed food checks until 2024, 5th time of delaying) and indefinitely accepting CE certification mark (meant to be superseded in the UK by UKCA).
- tankenmate 3y agoTrue, but in this case I suspect that since the UK isn't n the EEA then MS Windows won't honour the user browser settings in the UK (even if the UK voluntarily follows some EEA / EU laws).
- zirgs 3y agoNorthern Ireland is still de-facto part of the EU.
- tankenmate 3y agoOnly for goods, not services.