I concur with StrateandLevel's very eloquent summary, and only suggest he should have added GA aircraft owners to his list of those afflicted by the EU's (i.e.EASA's) unaccountability and self serving appetite for over-regulation. The fiasco of the part M aircraft maintenance regulation would be laughable if it didn't have such serious financial consequences for all aircraft owners, for no safety benefit whatsoever.
And why do we pay the CAA to toe the EASA line to the nth degree as though they are an agency of an occupying power instead of what it once was, a world leading professional, effective and pragmatic air safety regulatory authority?
I have to say that I object to being classified as an "EU resident" and not as a British subject. Imagine the outcry if car owners residing in the UK suddenly had to buy new driving licences, have their existing drivers privileges Europeanised (which means restricted) and generally abide by a new set of road regulations dreamt up by a bunch of uncontrollable rule makers in Brussels. Maybe we would we have Annexe 2 cars that could be driven on the left and Euro cars that have to be driven on the right?
PPRune readers may understand why I shall change my lifelong political allegiances at our next Euro elections, and at the General Election. EASA has made me understand what all this EU stuff really means for us.