A personal perspective of being a member of the EU by Paul Burton:

I am sending this out as a respectful appeal as I feel it’s time to address and put out there a few of the main reasons why I believe we are stronger IN the EU. Why does my view matter? I’d say it matters simply because I am just one of the 64 million people resident on this island, based in the Ribble Valley near Blackburn in Lancashire, and as such, I wanted to present a personal angle based on my experiences through education, work and interests. Firstly, I’m a graduate of Modern Foreign Languages (French and Spanish). That’s to say, I spent four years at university studying and actively engaging in academic, cultural and linguistic exchange covering a variety of themes from contemporary media in France to the Far Right in Europe. The third year of my study was divided between university in Tours, France and Valladolid, Spain and this was fully funded under the Erasmus programme which enables EU students to study or work in any other EU country for up to a year. I have to say, this was the experience that has really defined my attitude towards the EU. There is no better way of getting full immersion in a language and culture than to be thrust into daily life at a young formative age and be forced to integrate in to it from the minute you arrive. I can still remember the excitement, the nerves and the anticipation of stepping out of the Metro in Paris and seeing the French streets with their quaint cafes and quintessential French charm. The same goes for Spain, I will never forget the bonds I made with people who I would never otherwise have come into contact with and the fact that I had a Spanish boyfriend within a month of arrival was the best thing for me in terms of my language practise. Consequently, having the opportunity to live abroad as a student is one of the greatest aspects of EU membership: Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Greek, and Lithuanian et al can all move around and be immersed in their country and language of choice without worrying about money flow issues. This grant is a lifeline for those wishing to undertake such a period of study and development. Between 2012-2014, I lived in Switzerland (non-EU but part of EEA) whilst working as a language assistant in a college there. In 2014, the Swiss voted in a referendum to place quotas on EU migrant workers, in violation of Switzerland’s agreement with Brussels, this lead to the Erasmus programme being disrupted there and in turn having a negative impact on both Swiss and EU students wishing to participate.

Secondly, following graduation, I immediately decided to pursue my third language of Italian which I had begun at university. I did this by applying to do European Voluntary Service (EVS) which again is a fully funded placement for any EU citizen aged between 17-30 working in any other EU state on a project of interest to them. In my case, I chose an environmental agency called Legambiente based in Tuscany, Italy for seven months. There I worked with one Spaniard and two Portuguese fellow volunteers and we coordinated all our activities together with the Italian staff. The range of duties was extensive and nothing less than a valuable period of my life. Thanks to this wonderful opportunity literally thousands of young people across the EU can participate and experience voluntary work in a variety of fields; everything from youth and migrant work to agriculture, conservation, and disabilities etc. Further info at https://europa.eu/youth/eu/article/45/67_en

This is the second great and unrivalled benefit of EU membership and it literally shapes people’s lives. I know this because I have friends I have met, both on my Erasmus year and EVS, who I continue to be in touch with and visit when possible. It has a lifelong impact.

Thirdly, the freedom of movement that all EU citizens are able to enjoy across borders to live, study and work in another EU country is a wonderful and life-changing positive side to the EU as well as being the envy of the world (no other bloc of countries has achieved this). The NHS needs workers coming in from other EU countries under the freedom of movement act. Without these essential members of staff, our NHS could simply not cope with the shortage of doctors and nurses currently facing the UK. Thanks to the EU, we can recruit from other EU states. This agreement not only ties into the Erasmus and EVS for young people but also into the working lives of anyone with the inclination or need to work overseas for short or longer periods of time. Thankfully, no time-consuming visas are required for our trips to Spain, France, Croatia, Greece etc making holidays, business trips, weekend city breaks, study visits, school trips, property purchases, and shopping trips to Calais all a doddle thanks to cheap flights with Ryanair and Easyjet etc, no roaming charges for using your mobile (the most recent benefit to be introduced) and the security of the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), which we all have. Remember that little card you used to get from the post-office but that’s now done mainly online? Yes, that agreement allows us to have reduced or free treatment to a whole range of health problems whilst in other EU countries (and Switzerland) as part of the European Economic Area (EEA). It is uncertain what will happen if Britain leaves the EU but if it seeks to limit immigration, which is one of the main points of the Leave campaign, then it will have to leave the EEA too in which case the EHIC will no longer be valid making health insurance much more expensive. See https://www.europeanhealthcard.org.uk/blog/brexit-impact-on-the-ehic/ for more details about the possible outcomes.

Next, we come to trade. This is a big one as it’s bound up with the economy, jobs and people’s lives very directly. It influences the cost of goods, imports and exports, property on the continent, pensions and also immigration as people move around for work. I’m no economy expert let’s get that straight. However, I have looked at the list of people and organisations who endorse staying in the EU and those who want to leave and since they are the experts on the matter, I trust in their judgement to have a better idea of the impacts of EU membership than I do so here is the list and a link:

Here are a few that strongly believe the UK should remain a member of the EU:

• The Governor of the Bank of England
• International Monetary Fund
• Institute for Fiscal Studies
• Confederation of British Industry
• Leaders/heads of state of every single other member of the EU
• President of the United States of America
• Eight former US Treasury Secretaries
• President of China
• Prime Minister of India
• Prime Minister of Canada
• Prime Minister of Australia
• Prime Minister of Japan
• Prime Minister of New Zealand
• The chief executives of most of the top 100 companies in the UK including Marks and Spencer, BT, Asda, Vodafone, Virgin, IBM, BMW etc.
• Kofi Annan, the former Secretary General of the United Nations
• All living former Prime Ministers of the UK (from both parties)
• Virtually all reputable and recognised economists
• The Prime Minister of the UK
• The leader of the Labour Party
• The Leader of the Liberal Democrats
• The Leader of the Green Party
• The Leader of the Scottish National Party
• The leader of Plaid Cymru
• Leader of Sinn Fein
• Martin Lewis, that money saving dude off the telly
• The Secretary General of the TUC
• Unison
• National Union of Students
• National Union of Farmers
• Stephen Hawking
• Chief Executive of the NHS
• 300 of the most prominent international historians
• Director of Europol
• David Anderson QC, Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation
• Former Directors of GCHQ
• Secretary General of Nato
• Church of England
• Church in Scotland
• Church in Wales
• Friends of the Earth
• Greenpeace
• Director General of the World Trade Organisation
• WWF
• World Bank
• RSPB et al

Here are pretty much the only notable people who think we should leave the EU:

• Boris Johnson, who probably doesn’t really care either way, but knows he’ll become Prime Minister if the country votes to leave
• Michael Gove, The guy who was Education Secretary and every single teacher in the country hated with a furious passion for the damage he was doing to the education system
• Nigel Farage, Leader of UKIP
• BNP
• Britain First
• Donald Trump
• Keith Chegwin
• Vladamir Putin
• Katie Hopkins
• Rupert Murdoch
• The Daily Mail
• The Sun
• The Sunday Sport
• Marine Le Pen - Leader of the National Front in France et al

This link shows which members of parliament support Staying or Leaving the EU: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-35616946

We come to the EU impact on the environment. I don’t believe any of us are doing enough to curb climate change. That being said, what has been achieved by EU legislation has had positive and obvious results for much of our wildlife and habitats. The fact our seas and beaches are much cleaner since the EU forced us to stop pumping untreated sewage and chemicals out to sea has to be one of the most obvious factors (I remember Blackpool beach in the 90s with poop on the beach and dirty water) and the EU has banned two of the most harmful chemicals to bees as well as Genetically Modified crops, which are the norm in the USA, as well as a host of measures protecting agricultural animals and wildlife. I’m vegan so I believe a lot more could be done to improve the lot for animals but let’s stick to the middle ground for now. The RSPB, an organisation I credit in inspiring my love of birds and the natural world when I was a child, has jointly commissioned an impartial report with WWF and the Wildlife Trusts on the impact of the EU on the environment. It looks at the consequences for the UK of a departure from the European Union. : http://www.ieep.eu/assets/2000/IEEP_Brexit_2016.pdf

Friends of the Earth have also done a very good list of 7 of the main benefits of the EU on the environment: https://www.foe.co.uk/blog/7-things-eu-has-done-our-environment

Science; the scientific advances this country is currently engaged in and has been engaged in thanks to much needed EU funding for research are well supported by eminent and influential people such as Stephen Hawking. In the last decade alone, the EU has provided 41% of public funding for cancer research in the UK.

Gay Rights, as a gay person I strongly believe our presence in the EU has a strong and powerful message to those countries within the bloc which have not yet achieved the rights enshrined in law that we now enjoy in the UK. Our presence applies a pressure to those countries where LGBTQ people haven’t got the freedom to be who they are and who live in fear and are prejudiced against. They deserve our support. Withdrawing from the bloc will weaken that vital link.

Food; apart from the fact that our biggest trading partner is the EU and that much of our food is imported from the Mediterranean year round, we also enjoy the protection of the European Union Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), or Traditional Specialities Guaranteed (TSG) on many of our regional specialty products such as Stilton Cheese, Yorkshire Wensleydale, Cornish Clotted Cream, Jersey Royal Potatoes, Scottish Wild Salmon, Cornish Pasties, Scotch Whisky and Newcastle Brown Ale amongst others. They join the likes of French Cognac, Champagne and Camembert, Italian Parma Ham and Gorgonzola and cannot be reproduced elsewhere thanks to this protection. See the full list of UK products here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_Kingdom_food_and_drink_products_with_protected_status

The European Regional Development Fund; this fund has paid for and continues to go towards regional development projects such as Blackpool Promenade and the Liverpool Waterfront. In the Northwest of England alone, £755 million was spent between 2007 and 2013. If this sort of funding were unavailable due to an EU departure, the UK would have a lot less investment for its infrastructure and upkeep. This translates as fewer jobs in the industries required for such projects. The fact that the EU pledged £21.5 million to rebuild Manchester following the IRA bomb in 1996 compared with just £450,000 from the UK government is an instance in which local people have directly benefited from being an EU member.

We mustn’t forget the EU’s founding principle of PEACE. Following the wreckage and immense suffering and loss of life, the leaders of the European nations sought to prevent any such barbarity from ever resurfacing on the European continent. Our own close ancestors fought bravely alongside our European allies against hatred and intolerance. We must do everything in our power to uphold the principles of peace and understanding and actively disarm the tendencies towards fear and hatred that often underpin many of the arguments for leaving the EU by focusing on immigration. The Far-Right is never far away and we must never sympathise with its proponents, whether they be political party leaders who seek to divide or outright terrorists who are the manifestation of this hatred in action. The likes of Anders Breivik, the terrorist who brutally hunted down and murdered 69 people in Norway in 2011 or the murderer of MP Jo Cox in June 2016 calling out ‘put Britain First’ as he shot and stabbed the mother of two on the street as well as others who work to divide people from people. We should work for concord and unity not fear and separation.

Indeed, this referendum has allowed us to voice many points of view and be animated and passionate about our convictions…what a wonderful expression of a democratic process! It is within this framework that we are able to choose the outcome of this referendum and for that I am sincerely grateful.

So this a general list of the main reasons I see EU membership as a positive force for a better future and why I am convinced our continued membership and influence within the bloc is vital for a more stable world and a more united stance on all aspects of our interactions as both a British island nation and as European citizens. Our identities are complex and run deep but as the late MP Jo Cox rightly pointed out, “we have far more in common with each other than that which divides us” and on that note I encourage you to VOTE REMAIN for a better future and for PEACE. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Paul.

I have a final very balanced and learned article by farmer, author and well-respected archaeologist (of Time Team), Francis Pryor: https://pryorfrancis.wordpress.com/2016/05/31/britain-and-europe-the-long-view/ Full article below:

Britain and Europe: The Long View

Posted on May 31, 2016 by Francis Pryor

Followers of this blog will know that one of my pet hates is the obsession modern politicians have with short-termism. And hence the name of this blog: In the Long Run. Over the past few months my posts have mostly been about my new books, our farm and our garden, with the occasional foray into reviews and the like. Meanwhile, out there in the supposedly real world of British politics, the EU In/Out Debate has become more shrill, personal, unpleasant and BORING! It has got so bad that whenever I hear that predicable, manufactured word ‘Brexit’, I turn the radio off. So why has it all gone so horribly wrong?

The Debate has lost its way quite simply because the journalists and politicians who populate the Westminster Bubble are only concerned with five-year parliaments and anything more distant than the next, or indeed the last election, is irrelevant. But surely, the EU Referendum is about the long-term? It has been in existence for over half a century and, with luck, should continue for at least that time, or longer. Even politicians have said that In/Out is the decision of a lifetime, or a generation. And yet they behave like it’s a change in customs rates, or taxes – and nothing else. Can’t they understand, any of them, that it’s far more important than that? The existence of the EU has links to everything, from farming, to academia, from terrorism, to geo-politics and Russian ambition, to the migrant crisis and world trade. Quite simply, the EU is about the way we govern ourselves and government is what distinguishes human beings from other animals. So we should take it seriously.

I think we have all heard Out campaigners declare that the EU is like the Roman Empire. One or two slightly more informed pundits have compared it to Charlemagne or the Holy Roman Empire and I’ve even heard Napoleon’s name bandied about. Of course all of these are wide-of-the-mark. The empires of the past came about by conquest or dynastic take-over. None of them was even remotely democratic – although in the later Roman Empire some provinces did manage to acquire a degree of autonomy. Are the United States a closer parallel? Yes, they are, but they began with three unifying factors: a wish to leave the British Empire, the English language and Christianity. They were also blessed with some extraordinary leaders and thinkers such as Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine, both of whom took the Long View, of history and the future.

In perhaps over-simplified historical terms, the EU arose out of the ashes of not one, but two, closely-linked, World Wars. At the heart of both conflicts was the age-old rivalry of France and Germany – albeit rather reluctantly aided and abetted by Britain. When the fighting stopped, the people of the original nations of what was to become the EU, had had enough of conflict that resolved nothing and merely fuelled old resentments. Their politicians realised this and some of them had the intelligence and foresight to appreciate that something altogether different was now needed. And they also had the good sense to start slowly, with a customs union; then the rest followed from that. By the time Britain joined, in 1973, the institutions of the EEC were well-developed. And they’ve continued to grow since then. Of course many regard the modern EU as far too bureaucratic – which it undoubtedly is. But we can address this problem through the ballot box. We do not need to destroy the entire system.

Taking a long view, it seems to me that the EU is a completely new form of governance. True, it is still far from perfect, but its presence on the world’s stage is enough to frighten the likes of Putin. On the other hand its constitution is sufficiently flexible to accommodate countries as diverse as Italy, Romania, Germany and Britain. More to the point, it works. Moreover, we shouldn’t forget that it was Britain who played a big part in laying out the European Convention on Human Rights. Such concerns were not a major feature of the empires I mentioned earlier. The point I’m trying to make is that the modern world is complex; people are better educated and they are aware they have rights. It seems to me that the EU is a form of governance that has its roots in the modern world. It respects national and individual interests, while providing the other services (education, infrastructure, defence and security) that we all expect of government. In other words, the EU is about far, far more than trade and commerce alone. Yes, such things are, and have been, central to its creation, but they no longer dominate. Today the EU is becoming more rounded and balanced as an organisation. And that brings me back to where I began: namely, the Debate and what it says about British politics.

Frankly, sensible debate has stopped and has been replaced by a slanging match, mostly centred around a very right-wing agenda which is almost entirely based on xenophobia. Immigrants and migration are the only two issues that the Brexit camp seem to care about. Indeed, talking to friends and colleagues I get the impression that they, too, are now heartily fed-up with the trivial way this highly important Referendum is being discussed. There is also a strong feeling that the debate has been taken over by loud-mouthed men in suits, and I haven’t met anyone who hasn’t felt patronised by those ghastly battle-busses – the creations of highly-paid PR consultants. I’m not a member of the Green Party myself, and I find some of their ideas impossibly naïve, but their MP Caroline Lucas was absolutely right when back in January she pointed out that the voices of women and younger people simply weren’t being heard in a Referendum that is supposedly about everyone’s future. If anything, the situation since then has got even worse.

Sadly, I don’t suppose for one moment that the loud-mouthed Westminster MPs (plus hangers-on, like Farage) will suddenly start to focus on the long-term implications of the Referendum. They are too deeply rooted in what is essentially a Victorian party-political and Parliamentary system, which is itself in far more urgent need of reform than any EU institution. So my appeal is to younger voters, who in my experience often share the views I have expressed here. And my message is simple:

Please, please VOTE!

That is all that matters. And tell your friends, too. I firmly believe that if we in Britain are ever to change our creaking, non-representative political system, it will be from within, not outside, Europe. Despite what some would have us believe, Brexit wouldn’t mark a return to a glorious past, so much as a dismal future, where our principal legacy would be the destruction of a truly innovative system of multi-national government.