I'm pro Europe - being anti EU is entirely compatible with that

I've simply had enough of this 'if you're pro Europe you must be pro the EU' bullshit. This could get a bit sweary (you have been warned)..

Europe is a geographical construct. It's where we happen to live. Unless we devise some way of controlling the tectonic plates, like we think (utterly madly) that we can control the climate, this is not going to change anytime soon. Are the British isles located close to Europe? Yes they are. Does this fact make them part of the geographical place we call 'Europe'? Because of our history. our trading status, our proximity, our to-and-fro immigration and contacts? Yes it does. Will our leaving or staying in the EU make any difference to that status? No. Not a single jot of difference.

So please stop conflating these two things. We are European, that's a fact. Personally I love Europe. I have worked in many parts of it, have friends and colleagues in many parts of it. I love the different cultures, food, music, history, lifestyles that Europe has to offer. I am pro Europe.

To. My. Core.

But my stance in wanting us to leave the EU makes me anti Europe? Off you jolly-well fuck with that idea.

My fight with the EU is not because I'm anti Europe, it's because I am pro Europe. Pro it's diversity, its distinctiveness, its sheer, priceless value as a place to explore and enjoy. It's differences are what makes life worthwhile.

You can, within Europe, go to Scandinavia and enjoy the (expensive) lifestyle and cuisine, gravadlax, pickled herring, clean air, cold seas, Fjords, Aquavit, wonderful scenery and really lovely people.

You can enjoy wonderful places in the Low Countries, Germany (the Rhine is spectacular), French cuisine and coastlines on the Atlantic and the Med, history and culture. Great wines and great food. You can go to Spain for the sunshine and great food and music too. Italy for history and wonderful food. You can ski in Switzerland and Austria or go hiking in the summer months.

You can go to Belgium. Just kidding. Bruges is a fantastic place to visit.

The point is (I've never been to Greece or Cyprus more fool me but they're great places too), that these wonderful places are wonderful because they have their own identities and culture, food etc.

I would, of course, include the UK in my list of wonderful European places, and my ancestral home of Ireland.

The EU wants to make all this 'one place'. With universal laws on taxes, employment, defense, quality standards, governance; and it wants to offer all of these standardized things to other countries which are not even close to sharing our values and laws.

It wants us to be like America. A place that I also love, but where I wouldn't want to live. Essentially it wants us to have the same road intersections as they do in America. With a fast food outlet, a nail shop, a self storage place, a fuel station and a local mall where one can buy 'Gap' clothing so that we can all look the same. No local great restaurants or crap restaurants, but all meeting the same homogenised standards of quality and health and safety.

I may be exaggerating a little here, it'll be more Germanic in Europe than it is in the States but would you really want Germany to be deciding on restaurant fayre? Instead of the French or Spanish or Italians? I think not.

What the EU has done and is doing, via the single currency, is handicapping every country that is not as strong in its manufacturing base as Germany. Everyone then. Including the UK. You see Germany is now using the Euro (yo-yo) which is a currency that is valued on international markets in a way which takes account of weaker states like Greece, Ireland, France - everyone else frankly - and is therefore enjoying massively better exchange rates than it would if it was just Germany and the Deutschmark. Germany is booming. Everyone else is suffering. Including the UK.

Unemployment levels in southern Europe are historically high. Youth unemployment levels are grotesque (50% plus in some areas). And this is not because of a global downturn, but directly because of the EU. Eurozone countries cannot devalue their currencies in order to balance their economies because they are part of the EU and the Euro. So their people suffer. Massively. Far right and far left groups are on the rise in these places. Riots and demonstrations are happening (in Belgium and Spain over the last two days) but are not being reported by the MSM including the BBC.

Far from making a European war untenable, the actions of the EU are making it more likely.     

So who is anti Europe?

Well obviously UKIP and by media-fuelled association, the far right. The BNP, Madam Le Penn, Mr Hitler, Thatcher?

And who is 'pro' Europe? Those measured, sane people Mr Clegg, Mandelson, Heseltine. Ken Clarke. If we leave the EU it will cost us 3.5 million jobs in the UK.

A figure that is rising by the day.

So that's clear then. If you love Europe, like I do, you should be clearly on the side of Mandelson, Clegg et al.*

There is just a small problem with this view. So small that I'm almost embarrassed to point it out. It's mainly a technical issue and not really relevant, but I feel that I must mention it for fairness.

You see the problem is that it is utter bollocks.

The fundamental question we have to answer is: is the EU good for Europe. That's it's raison d'etre. It's sole purpose. 

The EU is supposed to be 'good' for all of the people of Europe. Is that happening in Spain, Italy, Greece, Ireland? France maybe? Holland? The last two are teetering on the brink of collapse.

The people - especially young people - but this affects everyone, are suffering. Because of the global economic crisis. But also clearly and certainly because of the EU.

The people who 'love' the EU are certainly not the people who 'love' Europe.

It's time we woke up to this nonsense. A UK exit would almost certainly render the whole project null and void. They couldn't go on without the UK funding.

And then we'd get the Europe that we all love back. Think about that.

We'd also get control of our own country back, where the people we vote for (and vote out) would have our local and national interests at heart. Instead of being unelected law-makers who have never heard of the village, town or city in which you the voter lives.

It's a massive issue but we're being bored into not thinking it is. Wake up. This is our country and our Europe at stake.

Thanks for reading.