EU is an amorphous blob that has no accountability to [its] actions
Neither has the House Of Lords. Do your friends know of the existence of the EC Transparency Portal?
"As a European citizen, you have a right to know how the European institutions are preparing these decisions, who participates in preparing them, who receives funding from the EU budget, and what documents are held or produced to prepare and adopt the legal acts. You also have a right to access those documents, and make your views known, either directly, or indirectly, through intermediaries that represent you.
This webpage is designed to be your window on this world, giving you direct access to information that will help you to be better informed and better prepared to follow and participate in the EU decision-making process, to enjoy your rights and to play your role as a European citizen to the full."
There is no other supranational committee that has been able to harmonize so many different national laws. You can argue that its goals are undesirable, but not that there's a different entity that achieves the same goals on the same scope.
The VAT that is set by the EU is antithetical to good trade deals
VAT is not set by EU policy. The policy only sets minimum VAT percentages of 5 and 15 percent, and no maximum. The UK VAT rate is 20%, well above what the EU requires.
Sending any amount of money to an organization you do not support is out of the question
Taking that argument at face value, does that mean that citizens should not pay tax if the party they voted for does not win the election?
Undemocratic (Unelected officials draft the laws, people from other countries vote on things that directly effect you)
Most UK laws are also drafted by unelected officials, that's what ministerial departments are for. And you can't have it both ways: either it is undemocratic and people can't vote for it, or it is democratic and people do vote directly.
The EU is making a push to blur country boarders to the best of it's efforts
What push? Open borders was one of the founding principles of the union, so that is neither surprising nor a covert agenda.
The migrant crisis' effects on the UK are a byproduct of how the EU operates
The migrants themselves are a byproduct of failed (and failing) supranational intervention in the Middle East, Libya, Somalia, and other parts of the world. Why not blame the US, UK and UN for those?
I know, it's just extremely depressing that people were basing their vote on either misinformation (leave) or scaremongering (remain). There were good ideological arguments to be made on either side of the debate, I guess that's what makes the outcome for me so unsatisfying (I'm not from the UK either btw, just mainland Europe).
Neither has the House Of Lords. Do your friends know of the existence of the EC Transparency Portal?
"As a European citizen, you have a right to know how the European institutions are preparing these decisions, who participates in preparing them, who receives funding from the EU budget, and what documents are held or produced to prepare and adopt the legal acts. You also have a right to access those documents, and make your views known, either directly, or indirectly, through intermediaries that represent you.
This webpage is designed to be your window on this world, giving you direct access to information that will help you to be better informed and better prepared to follow and participate in the EU decision-making process, to enjoy your rights and to play your role as a European citizen to the full."
http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/index_en.htm
EU is redundant
There is no other supranational committee that has been able to harmonize so many different national laws. You can argue that its goals are undesirable, but not that there's a different entity that achieves the same goals on the same scope.
The VAT that is set by the EU is antithetical to good trade deals
VAT is not set by EU policy. The policy only sets minimum VAT percentages of 5 and 15 percent, and no maximum. The UK VAT rate is 20%, well above what the EU requires.
Sending any amount of money to an organization you do not support is out of the question
Taking that argument at face value, does that mean that citizens should not pay tax if the party they voted for does not win the election?
Undemocratic (Unelected officials draft the laws, people from other countries vote on things that directly effect you)
Most UK laws are also drafted by unelected officials, that's what ministerial departments are for. And you can't have it both ways: either it is undemocratic and people can't vote for it, or it is democratic and people do vote directly.
The EU is making a push to blur country boarders to the best of it's efforts
What push? Open borders was one of the founding principles of the union, so that is neither surprising nor a covert agenda.
The migrant crisis' effects on the UK are a byproduct of how the EU operates
The migrants themselves are a byproduct of failed (and failing) supranational intervention in the Middle East, Libya, Somalia, and other parts of the world. Why not blame the US, UK and UN for those?