Rule breakers.

[Nick]

Schengen is different, you have to control your external borders to allow the free movement inside Schengen.

Some EU countries aren't members, such as Cyprus because of the island border issue. Ireland because of the GFA and others that haven't been allowed to join. But the UK didn't want the restrictions of complying to controlling its borders. FOM as an EU member only applies to EU residents. Schengen applies to everyone in your country, including visitors.

And it means once you've breached the exterior which is happening on an hourly basis they are in. Also I don't think Merkel allowing 2 million unknowns in is classified as maintaining your borders. 

[GerryT]

Not really.  For a start not all EU countries are in Schengen and some non EU countries are.  They're really complementary agreements. 

Schengen is different, you have to control your external borders to allow the free movement inside Schengen. 

Some EU countries aren't members, such as Cyprus because of the island border issue. Ireland because of the GFA and others that haven't been allowed to join. But the UK didn't want the restrictions of complying to controlling its borders. FOM as an EU member only applies to EU residents. Schengen applies to everyone in your country, including visitors.

[Unlucky4Sum]

As far as Schengen goes we didnt join  but then conceeded to freedom of movement which was basically the same thing .

Not really.  For a start not all EU countries are in Schengen and some non EU countries are.  They're really complementary agreements.  

[Streetwalker]

As far as Schengen goes we didnt join  but then conceeded to freedom of movement which was basically the same thing . 

[GerryT]

We didn't opt out of Schengen, we refused to join, same as the Euro.
I haven't checked but I'm guessing we refused all of the above.
What the U.K. did opt out of was giving the people a vote on whether to actually join the EU, we were just railroaded into it.

When other EU countries agreed this was the way forward the UK "opted out" or "refused" these rules. These were agreed to by other member states. The UK didn't refuse in the sense that the UK didn't have a choice. Without agreement by the other members it would have been a case of take it or leave.
The big issue for the UK was these opt outs had repercussions, decisions on inter community travel post schengen saw the UK (and Ireland) being left out of meetings and decisions. The same goes for fiscal policies around the Euro, the UK was been excluded in meetings and decision making in that area.  

The more a country diverges from EU rules the more it becomes isolated with less involvement and decision ability.  The above are a list of UK exceptions, their not the only country with exceptions but the UK was the one with the longest list.

So how's your list of French rule breaking that you say this topic is about ?

[Unlucky4Sum]

We didn't opt out of Schengen, we refused to join, same as the Euro.
I haven't checked but I'm guessing we refused all of the above.
What the U.K. did opt out of was giving the people a vote on whether to actually join the EU, we were just railroaded into it.

Rubbish ^

You had a GE in 1970 that gave authority to join the EEC
You had a referendum in 1975 to OK stating n on renegotiated terms
You had a GE in 1992 that voted in a party openly committed to join the EU 

[Nick]

First is Schengen
Second is the Euro
Third is parts of the Lisbon treaty dealing with justice & policing plus home affairs, where the UK could opt out of any new rules in these areas. Particularly the oversight of the ECJ, Funny how this was a big brexit issue.
Next the UK was allowed a higher budget deficit of 3% of gdp.
5 the UK had a opt out on the charter on human rights, employment law.
6 an opt out on freedom security and justice, protocol 36 allows the UK to opt out of individual legislation.
7 an opt out in maastricht with workers pay and H&S.

Other countries have opt outs but none as much as the UK did.

So what EU rules are France blatantly breaking. For example the UK broke VAT rules on Chinese shoe imports, the UK paid £ 2.3b fine. Is it that sort of thing you're talking about ?

We didn't opt out of Schengen, we refused to join, same as the Euro. 
I haven't checked but I'm guessing we refused all of the above. 
What the U.K. did opt out of was giving the people a vote on whether to actually join the EU, we were just railroaded into it. 

[GerryT]

What are these many opt outs? Anything that actually meant anything?
BYW, we are talking about blatant rule breaking by mainly the French.

First is Schengen
Second is the Euro
Third is parts of the Lisbon treaty dealing with justice & policing plus home affairs, where the UK could opt out of any new rules in these areas. Particularly the oversight of the ECJ, Funny how this was a big brexit issue.
Next the UK was allowed a higher budget deficit of 3% of gdp.
5 the UK had a opt out on the charter on human rights, employment law.
6 an opt out on freedom security and justice, protocol 36 allows the UK to opt out of individual legislation.
7 an opt out in maastricht with workers pay and H&S.

Other countries have opt outs but none as much as the UK did.

So what EU rules are France blatantly breaking. For example the UK broke VAT rules on Chinese shoe imports, the UK paid £ 2.3b fine. Is it that sort of thing you're talking about ?

[Nick]

You did just that. The UK had many many opt outs, but as the UK economy took hits your rag press and politicians prefered to blame the EU for your failings. That's why the EU was hated. But now you can address the issue of your local rag press and poor politicians.

What are these many opt outs? Anything that actually meant anything?
BYW, we are talking about blatant rule breaking by mainly the French. 

[GerryT]

In general yes if the UK had acted in its best interest rather following every dictat without question  and  said no to various treaty changes we would probably still be within the EEC .

You did just that. The UK had many many opt outs, but as the UK economy took hits your rag press and politicians prefered to blame the EU for your failings. That's why the EU was hated. But now you can address the issue of your local rag press and poor politicians.

[Streetwalker]

In general yes if the UK had acted in its best interest rather following every dictat without question  and  said no to various treaty changes we would probably still be within the EEC . 

[Unlucky4Sum]

No it wasn't passed last year, it was over 20 years ago, maybe even 30.

It doesn't really matter does it.  This March 2022 ruling is what I looked at
 
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32022D0406&from=EN 

[Nick]

Well that EU rule (for safety after accidents) was only passed last year so maybe there is an implementation deadline that hasn't passed yet.

And if not is it really objective to judge the whole EU on one pump in one filling station in one country?

I bet you could find hundreds of times companies in the UK broke EU rules - EG driving time regulations for trucks

No it wasn't passed last year, it was over 20 years ago, maybe even 30. 

[Unlucky4Sum]

The UK had many exemptions from EU "rules" and none as trivial as the pump thing.  But I thought brexit was all about Sovereignty now.
Or was taking back control all about refitting the pump widget thing.

Nick's post was another case of what I've seen described as 'if a man farts in Lille it is all the EU's fault and such never happens here post Brexit. syndrome.  Total delusion of course.

[GerryT]

The UK had many exemptions from EU "rules" and none as trivial as the pump thing.  But I thought brexit was all about Sovereignty now.
Or was taking back control all about refitting the pump widget thing.