Thread by @ecJulie

2007 FT-Harris poll suggested signs #Brexit was always destined to happen more than 10 yrs ago. 2007 publication asked #Germans #French #British #Italian #Spanish people if they believed their life had got better in the #EU
/1

Survey results showed 📈
dissatisfaction among more than ○ 44% of citizens in #Germany, #France & #Italy, founder members of the #EEC (precursor to #EU, 50 yrs ago)
○ #UK, 52% of Britons claimed their lives had got worse since the country joined the EEC in 1973
/2

After its release, Brussels officials rejected the FT-Harris 2007 #poll.

European Commission spokesman claimed that the #British people, who believed life was better before the bloc, were simply “nostalgic & insecure” 👇
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Britain joined EEC in 1973 bcos it hoped to swap its economic performance for the sustained & rapid growth enjoyed by the EEC members ...
○ "EEC spent most of its meagre resources on #agriculture & #fisheries & had no policies at all for furthering economic growth"
/4 @profsked

○ "If Europe grew after 1945, growth was kick-started by Ludwig Erhard’s currency & supply-side 1948 reforms in West Germany, which revitalised the economies of the Low Countries

LSE @ProfSked noted European policy has & had never been beneficial to European growth rates
/5

If #Britain experienced a slow economic performance before the Thatcher revolution than #France, #Germany & #Italy, it was "not bcos UK was a late member of the #EEC but due to high overseas defence spending which led to continuous balance of payments crises"
/6 @profsked

○ “West Germany did not have any overseas defence commitments"
○ “Indeed, the money paid into the West German economy by the troops of the British Army of the Rhine actually increased the West German trade surplus and increased the UK trade deficit"
/7 @profsked

○ “Meanwhile, most of the costs of the French war in Vietnam were paid for by the #Americans, who thereafter subsidised French military spending through the #US Mutual #Defence Assistance Prog.
/8 @profsked

○ “This turned out to be as costly as the Marshall Plan (c. $ 11 billion over a decade)"
○ “EU membership did not impinge on any of this"

Thread: FT-Harris Poll proves #Britons wanted to leave EU yrs before the #referendum
/9 @profsked

@profsked @threadreaderapp #unroll