OK so we have an EU that is committed to 'ever closer union' for its members. A direction of travel that is clear, publicly stated and set in stone as far as Germany and France are concerned. And if it's what Germany and France want then it is the direction in which the EU will be going in years to come. And no other members of this club will be able to change this even if they want to. It's clear and unambiguous. Whether they actually get there is another matter of course. Economically it's 'challenging' to say the least as we can see (in Greece for example) and politically it's difficult since it essentially requires every member of the club to meet Germany's high standards in terms of work, tax, pensions, retirement age and, ultimately total and utter subservience and dependence
Some countries are struggling with this. Actually everywhere that isn't Germany is struggling with this. Except the UK funnily enough.
But where the UK is struggling is in the area of logic.
Because we don't see the future of Europe in terms of 'ever closer union'. We see it as a place where free trade is king; where we can co-operate and work together on a Europe-wide scale where necessary; where we can consider international crime on a collective basis, where we can work together as geographically local nation states on the big issues like trading standards (which are now global in any case and nothing to do with the EU).
Our view as a nation is that we want to be part of a club that promotes the values and skills and prosperity of our region and that region just happens to be Europe. But in the age of globalisation we have to marry this aspiration with a global perspective. We were once 'little Englanders' fighting for our own economic success stories. That is no longer an issue. If you cannot compete on a global level you have a short life-span in terms of business success. And with its tariffs on trade with Africa for example, which effectively prevent that resource-rich continent from trading its way into the first world, we are all actually in danger of signing up to become 'little Europe-ers'.
So at a time when the world has gone 'global' we're contemplating voting to stay inside a trading bloc - the world's only shrinking/failing trading bloc - that is anti-global and 'protectionist'. That disallows us from making our own trading deals with the rest of the world unless we can secure agreement from countries like Poland, Bulgaria, Romania first. Or from France and Germany who don't want to see us prospering on our own behalf and when we do, use it as an excuse to send us an increased bill to contribute to failing EU countries on top of our (net) £28million-a-day contribution which is either the 2nd or 3rd* biggest contribution to the EU already.
How can any of this possibly be in the UK's economic interests?
So what reforms do we need to secure then Dave?
Control of our borders?
Well, we know, because the EU has made this very clear in recent times, that we will not be able to stop the EU's free movement of people policy - so we won't be able to control our borders.
Reform of the monstrously inefficient CAP (Common Agricultural Policy - 47% of the EU budget)?
The CAP effectively keeps the French economy and its subsistence farming culture viable. France would veto any reforms of the CAP so we have zero chance of achieving anything in this area.
This what the BBC (2 days ago) believes Dave's list to be:
An opt-out from ever closer union? So we don't agree with the direction of the 'club'. We can't make it change and really it is not our business to decide on this issue (we know it won't change anyway) so why do we still want to be a member and why do we want to continue to (help to) pay for it to go in a direction we don't agree with? That's just mad.
Sovereignty of national parliaments to be boosted? What at the same time as it is being reduced by the direction of 'ever closer union'? And so 'groups' can block legislation? Groups? Not 'us' but a group we'd have to find who support us? How's that been going for the last 20 years? The associated argument about our 'having a seat at the table', some influence if we're on the inside is absolute nonsense given the EU's voting system. We have a shrinking 8% influence in the EU and we're just (at best) ignored or more often sneered at by the European Parliament whenever we take a view.
Safeguard financial services - why on earth do we need to do this in a globalised world? And why on earth do we need approval from the unelected EU for this?
Cut immigration by cutting benefits? So not controlling our borders like any self-respecting nation state does, but just making it slightly less attractive? Will this deter criminal gangs or even economic migrants who, with no work in their own countries will continue to come and work for even less money, putting even more downward pressure on UK wages? And why do we need EU approval to set our own benefits laws?
Make the EU more streamlined and competitive?
What the fuck does that even mean? The EU is an economic basket case and we're it's biggest customer worldwide. The UK is already streamlined and competitive - it's why we are recovering economically whereas the Eurozone is not. Meaningless drivel - we might as well say we want to make Europe's grass just that bit greener.
Nothing on Dave's list adds up to anything remotely meaningful and nor will it make any difference to how the UK operates if we remain inside the EU.
Fundamentally the EU wants a 'national' anthem, flag, army, government, financial apparatus, tax and pensions system. It wants Europe to be one country.
Fundamentally we do not share this aspiration.
No amount of renegotiations or reforms will ever lead to the situation where we will get what we want. There is simply no possible chance of this ever happening while the EU exists. No amount of tinkering - and to call Dave's 'list' tinkering is probably investing it with too much gravitas - will achieve anything meaningful or be in our best interests.
And Dave knows this. He may be many things, but he's not a stupid man. If he comes back from the EU shouting about the success of his reforms and insisting that we should therefore vote to stay in, you can be sure of one thing: That he thinks we are stupid and that he can get away with this illogical bollocks.
Thanks for reading
*oh almost forgot! The public domain figures put France as the second biggest contributor to the EU after Germany with us third. These are 2012 figures but the proportion will not have changed much just the amounts no doubt. They have Germany paying (net) £19bn, France £18bn and the UK £13bn. There are some figures albeit from 'better off out' suggesting that the cost of our membership is actually more like £90bn here but my point is that I simply do not believe the 'net' figures for France. This is their national current account graph for the past eight years:
France is getting much more back from the EU than is being declared in my opinion. I'm working on digging up some evidence of this but as you might know it is well hidden. France is an economic basket case and will be the biggest loser if the EU does eventually fold. I hope it does and the news over the past few days from Greece will hopefully be a good start in this process.
-ends-
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