'Progressive'. Interesting word, Fluc. Of course, it's one thing having the laws in place and altogether another one applying them, so let's consider how Amnesty International view a couple of important Human Rights issues across Europe.
For all its legislation, as of last December, only 12 European countries out of the 31 analysed by Amnesty International have laws that define rape as sex without consent: Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Sweden and the UK.
Have a look at the full article and then judge how progressive the EU is on this matter.
On a particularly topical note,
check out this report on the human rights violations in the enforcement of Covid measures across Europe. For sure, the UK has not got everything right during the pandemic but boy, some of our former fellow club members have been remiss to put it mildly.
My final observation is about the Roma community. I'm not a member myself but I have a great deal of sympathy for its members if they are unlucky enough to live in any of several EU member states, where their persecution is rife. Again, I recommend Amnesty International as a solid source for the detail if you need convincing.
Andrea Carlo also gave it some coverage in the Independent a while ago and things won't have improved since then.
So, Fluc, it's not all as rosy as it might seem within the club and while we definitely can improve on some matters in the UK, we aren't perhaps as bad at the HR stuff as sometimes is painted, possibly illustrated by the substantial number of displaced people who risk life and limb to reach our shores by any means possible.
Ever consider why they don't just settle in France, Spain or Italy? It can't be because of the weather, can it?