In or out of the EU, how will it effect the boating community.

[Ian Streten]

With the upcoming in or out EU vote in June 2016 for UK residents & as a yachtsman who spends most of our Summers in Greece was wondering how it would effect our standing if as a Nation we vote to come out. Will it mean that we will be subjected to the same legislation as non EU yachtsman? Hope this does not sound to shallow but the thought of restrictive movement for us around Europe will certainly influence our decision whether to vote in or out.


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[athene]

As a UK resident with a sailing yacht in Croatia and a motor yacht in France I prefer not to think about it unless a real risk emerges that my fellow citizens might have less common sense than I credit them with (controversy alert: political statement!).

I suppose at worst we'd become a member of the EEA, like Norway - but not part of Schengen, which Norway currently is. So we'd be limited to three months in and three months out of the zone. More serious could be the potential impact on yacht ownership and use in our former fellow EU countries. I imagine most of us would have to either re-register our yachts or take them out of the EU to reset the clock periodically.

Meanwhile, one could be forgiven for thinking that our illustrious PM has put our future in the EU at risk for the sake of maintaining unity within his party. However, since that's a highly political thought I couldn't possibly comment.

GORDON KNIGHT

[hoppy]

I doubt there will be much of an impact. The UK would probably either join EFTA or negotiate something similar. There will also probably be some agreement on immigration that will allow UK citizens to work in the EU and visa-versa but with restrictions. I'd doubt that UK visitors will be subject to the 3 month Schengen or the 18 month boat restrictions.

The EU & UK will still need each other so it wont be a messy divorce in the long run. Maybe a bit of confusion at first.

Maybe an EU resident/citizen with a UK flagged vessel could have headache if the EU decides that could be a VAT dodge arrangement.

On the plus side, a UK yacht/crew visiting Belgium may no longer have their diesel checked.

[boatman61]

Schengen is 'Dead Man Walking'.. if the UK walks so will everyone else except France, Germany and Belgium.. because lets face it. realistically that is where the Power lies and most other countries are sick of it..
Fortunately I'm of an age.. and started early enough to remember sailing pre EU.. it was great.. the £ was strong and the only difference from today was we got our passports stamped.. 90days was no problem as the 180days rule did not exist.. boats were still kept abroad in places like Spain, Greece etc and we were welcomed for our foreign exchange which stayed in each country to benefit its infrastructure and people.. not siphoned off to pay the Brussels Sinkhole...
Nope.. I've no fears whatsoever..

[out42]

And I share Boatman61's approach. The only people who will have serious trouble if the UK leaves will be the politicians who will be diminished as a result. I don't see that as a negative myself.
As already said, just because we may be out of the EU does not mean that trade and life comes to a halt; it just means that some things will have to be reorientated and for sure, boating across borders will be part of that.
However I wouldn't say that it's all magic right now, as both local Greeks and Italians have some strange ideas about what the EU apparently doesn't mean to them. And if the EU can't harmonise gas bottle fittings after however many decades, then from the boating world that to me is a pretty good sign of a non-competent organisation.
And has the EC ever had a set of accounts audited and approved?
The EU was a good idea but it needs improving and that won't happen unless the UK leaves.

[Slainte1]

Never had a problem pre EU sailing to the continent so I think all will be well if we leave.

[TheThunderbird]

No organization can really reshape itself. Death is a necessity for new ideas to foster.

This is Not the Europe we imagined two generations ago

[roland stockham]

loosing access to the biggest market in the world is more likely to effect trade, jobs and income which will have an indirect impact on sailing by further reducing the UK economy. In the past the EU has funded a significant number of social projects in areas like the SW and wales which made them more pleasant to visit. This includes things like footpaths and cycle ways as well as marinas. Think there will be a number of other impacts over time. Likely to be the end of the 'special relationship' with the USA which was always based on easy access to European markets. High price to pay for political backing from the racist element in the conservative party but hey - it's why I left, no longer the country I grew up in!

[boatman61]

Sorry Roland.. the UK imports more from the EU than they take from us.. so no big loss there.
However we will be once again be able to reopen the UK market to NZ, OZ and the many other Commonwealth countries that we were compelled to stop dealing with as it undercut EU agricultural prices which are grossly inflated with the heavily subsidised French farmers and a few others..
Trading once again with former partners may go a long way to redress that imbalance in Trade.

[Ribbit]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Schengen is 'Dead Man Walking'.. if the UK walks so will everyone else except France, Germany and Belgium.. because lets face it. realistically that is where the Power lies and most other countries are sick of it..
Fortunately I'm of an age.. and started early enough to remember sailing pre EU.. it was great.. the £ was strong and the only difference from today was we got our passports stamped.. 90days was no problem as the 180days rule did not exist.. boats were still kept abroad in places like Spain, Greece etc and we were welcomed for our foreign exchange which stayed in each country to benefit its infrastructure and people.. not siphoned off to pay the Brussels Sinkhole...
Nope.. I've no fears whatsoever..

Same here.

All the EEC/EU has done, is drag down every member Nation (it's now even biting hard in Germany).

While we had the 'boiled frog' approach done to us in the UK (all that price levelling with EEC Countries, which we called 'inflation' in the 70's, 80's, and 90's)was done to Spain and Portugal and others at that time of joining, over several years, and by the time it got to the likes of Eastern Europe and Bulgaria, they had those price increases over 6 months, while still on pre-EU membership wages (average around 29 euros a week to try and live on in Bulgaria for example).

As far as I am concerned, the EU died in the financial crisis of 2008, had its Coup d'Grace in February 2009 (that's when they started concealing just how much bailout money they were shovelling around, after it hit 1 trillion euros, and since then, the true value of the euro has been that of recycled toilet paper - and that is going to sink in to the bone at some point)

The EU is an insane monster in its death throes, but unfortunately the message can't find a brain to deliver itself to in Brussels or Strasburg.

There will be no recovery for member Nations until they leave, and every member Nation needs to leave yesterday if not sooner.

I absolutely despise what this lawless State called the EU has done to the People of Europe.

[Ribbit]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Sorry Roland.. the UK imports more from the EU than they take from us.. so no big loss there.
However we will be once again be able to reopen the UK market to NZ, OZ and the many other Commonwealth countries that we were compelled to stop dealing with as it undercut EU agricultural prices which are grossly inflated with the heavily subsidised French farmers and a few others..
Trading once again with former partners may go a long way to redress that imbalance in Trade.

Britain is the biggest and most profitable market that the EU has.

They pi$$ us off at their peril, and if they are stupid enough to do it, we will have to make all the stuff they refuse to sell us, and that will be loads of new industries to replace the ones destroyed by the EEC/EU, and masses of new jobs as a result. Heck we might even be able to make an aircraft carrier worthy of the name once again, instead of those ridiculous and chronically overpriced things assembled by the French.

PS People forget about things like European Coal and Steel 'rationalisation', and who the only Country was that 'rationalised'. People are all too keen to blame Maggie for it, but all she was doing was implementing EU Policy.

I had no time for Maggie by the way, she was a useless leader, and sucked at delegation (the sign of a good leader). How she never immediately sacked the Home Secretary (the pratt with the ice cream cone haircut, whatever his name was) when he said on live television that the Police would no longer investigate cases of fraud under £10 million, revealed the true nature of the criminality that was going on under her watch.

[Ribbit]

Originally Posted by TheThunderbird

No organization can really reshape itself. Death is a necessity for new ideas to foster.

This is Not the Europe we imagined two generations ago

Lawless States do not reform. By every definition, the EU is a lawless State, which is the assumption of the proven lie and despotic tyranny of "Divine Right" where "The Law is what 'we' say it is". Even the EU Judiciary inadvertently admitted this reality, when they said that they "make it up as they go along" and even admitted that they think they "make Law".

This is no different to the self proclaimed Satanist Aleister Crowley's "Do what thou wilt be the whole of the law", and it is equally disastrous.

A lawless State inevitably fails, that failure is usually catastrophic, and usually accompanied by great bloodshed.

The damage this insane monster can do on its way down is indescribable, and as it is so late in the day to avoid it all, the best any member Nation can do is leave, and try and put as much searoom as possible between it and the EU, to minimise to the best of their abilities any damage done when it implodes.

If it needs encapsulating in something simple and easy to digest; to have a situation where EU bodies are immune from prosecution, and individual members are above the Law (a Law unto themselves even), is well beyond intolerable. That's the sort of thing that ends up with pitchforks, torches, necktie parties at lamp posts, and guillotines.

[David B]

Originally Posted by Ian Streten

With the upcoming in or out EU vote in June 2016 for UK residents & as a yachtsman who spends most of our Summers in Greece was wondering how it would effect our standing if as a Nation we vote to come out. Will it mean that we will be subjected to the same legislation as non EU yachtsman? Hope this does not sound to shallow but the thought of restrictive movement for us around Europe will certainly influence our decision whether to vote in or out.


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

Interesting thread, but getting back on track, at the worst, you would be in the same position as we are. We have to either clear out of the EU every 18 months, or else have our yacht 'immobilised' for the period we are not there, effectively extending our stay in the EU by another season, before we again have to clear out for a few days to re-set the VAT clock.

As to the three month Shengen rule, so far this has not affected us, but when we do have the luxury of being able to stay in the Med longer than that, the plan is to disappear during the peak season, and return in late August for another month or so of sailing. There are still enough (just) non-EU countries in the Med, and who knows, there may be more in future years.

[valhalla360]

Other than some tit for a tat stuff right at the begining, I expect you won't see a big difference in the longer term as no one wins.

The bigger issue is once a country leaves and doesn't immediately fall to 3rd world status, get out of the way as there will be a stamped for the door. They seem to be keeping it together mostly with threats but I find it hard to believe they will follow thru on them.

[boatman61]

It'll save Portugal for sure if they can return to the Escudo.. control of their own economy again would allow them to de-value and re-frame their wage and tax structures.. as a result tourism will boom once again.. hotels would be open year round not just 4-6mths a year as is the case with many.
Full time employment will return and hopefully the husbands and wives will not have to hold down 2 or 3 jobs each just to get by.

Ribbit.. I assume your in favour of the Brexit.. am I right..??