If the EU does something good will anybody actually see it?

We hear it all the time in the tabloid press... the EU is bad, they want to take away our pints and miles, straighten all our bananas and want to make circus performers wear hard hats. With so many untruths being published on a daily basis it's easy to understand why there is a growing voice on the streets against EU membership. It is mostly uninformed though - or rather the result of brainwashing from the tabloid press and political parties such as the Conservatives and the UK Independence Party.

It's a real shame though that the EU does do a lot for the UK. People might believe we pay through the nose and get nothing, however thanks to negotiations in the `80s and `90s we as a nation do not fully pay our way in the EU. Ironically though, like all other EU nations, we qualify for funding when times are hard. Today I heard that the UK is getting £120 million in EU aid to help pay for rescue services and temporary accommodation.

However I can't see this action being used to boost the popularity of the EU. I can hear the Europhobes now muttering under their breaths "if we hadn't given the money to the EU in the first place we wouldn't have to ask for it back now". I'm fairly certain this wouldn't be the case though. If we weren't an EU member we would at the very least still be paying many of the costs involved in trading with what would still be considered foreign countries; cross border trade costs a lot of money, some of which we're still paying because of our refusal to join the Euro or fully metricate. It's also a foregone conclusion that much of the money would have been wasted on bolstering bureaucracy in Whitehall and the NHS or propping up more failing British industry as was the case back in the 1970's.

Ok, so a lot of the money we have paid into the EU has been spent on projects in countries such as Ireland, Spain and more recently Eastern Europe, but on the flip side those countries who we've helped are (or will) be paying more into EU coffers in years to come and it is true what they say that what goes around comes around. Our payments to the EU are now helping us in our time of need and I have no doubt will do so again in the future. It's a great insurance policy!

So, next time the Sun or the Daily Mail print some sensationalist headlines about somebody in Brussels plotting to take over Britain think about this... we do actually get a lot from Europe!