What’s our ‘Euro vision?’
This weekend the crème de la crème of Europe’s music scene (well…sort of) gather to represent their country with their talent (however questionable). Yes, that’s right it’s Eurovision.
(Image via)
But with UKIP constantly in the news and the up and coming European elections it’s been praying heavily on my mind:
How much do we really want to be a part of Europe?
And of course the conversation came up at my office with the inevitable answer:
‘Europe does nothing for us. We get no say in how it’s run and immigrants are coming here, stealing our jobs and living off our welfare’.
First things first I’m not going to talk about immigrants the whole dam article. My answer to that was made perfectly clear in my previous article. So let me get this straight: ‘these immigrants: coming in, taking our benefits’.
It just isn’t the reality: it’s a cheap and simple way of touching the hearts of people by making them think they’re getting conned by Europe.
The reality is that most ‘immigrants’, particularly from Europe, very rarely need to use our benefit system: they are young, have recently come out of education and are ready to work for next to nothing. If you want to see who’s taking advantage of our benefit system – then look no further than the residents of our beloved Albion.
But as I began to argue Europe’s case (aside from immigration) I realised I didn’t really know why we should stay in Europe. I mean sure I really enjoyed the German exchange I went on in year 8 but I needed more than that, I needed statistics, I needed cold hard facts.
So I started looking it up, but oh boy did I find it confusing.
It seemed to just be an argument of stats, but then someone else would argue with other contradictory stats. For someone like me who is a mere layman in terms of understanding how economics work, trying to find an argument pro Europe can be quite gruelling. Something about free trade and a single market-what?
Concentrate Beth. Concentrate. ‘The trouble with Europe is it’s bureaucratically focused within…’
Aww man this is like double Dutch.
I begin to think no wonder so many people can say that we need to leave Europe. It takes a lot longer to justify why we should stick it out.
Just like Eurovision it would be easier to just stand back, fold your arms and say ‘We’re never going to win, so why bother?’
And there is Nigel Farage and his spawn of candidates happy to help people in their ignorance. I hear the letterbox flap, the leaflet drop, the dog bark. I walk towards the door, the purple leaflet and a ruddy faced, bald man staring up at me “Go on,” he whispers ‘Hatred and obstinacy are the answers here…blame someone else’.
I’ve read so many articles and debates about the UK staying part of Europe today that my eyes started watering. Seriously, I’m spent. From what I can gather, things aren’t all gravy being part of the Europe but shutting ourselves off from it won’t help us much either. In terms of trade we’d be foolish to think that we could stand in our own against such large economies as China and US.
As Hugo Dixon states in The Independent:
‘Investment would fall as foreign companies that invested in the UK as a launch-pad for serving the entire EU market shifted some of their activities across the Channel’.
I mean let’s face it – we’re no longer the Great British Empire but a tiny island just North o’ France with not much industry left and even less land to live off – colonies when?
And trade aside what about the other benefits we gain from Europe?
There are tonnes of funding that is gained through Europe both for the arts as well as conservation. Not to mention study programmes such as Erasmus. And I like having the freedom to travel around Europe as I wish.
We do need to have a bigger say in European legislations, even the Lib Dems will admit to that. But will we get that by burying our heads in the sand? I think not.
Enjoy Eurovision – If we win I’ll eat my hat.
Tags: British Euro elections Europe Eurovision immigrants Joy
Categories: Beth Teverson Rant Wise up!
1 Comment
As a Eurosceptic, it frustrates me when I see the wrong argument being played out. You are correct to point out that immigration, welfare tourism and job stealing is a limited issue and in my view, a smokescreen for the true issues at hand. The actual problem with the EU is something much more complex and subtle. I wish the case for Br-exit was made with this said much more clearly as opposed to the rush for easy headlines.
Below are a collection of points I wish to make. Before I do though, I’d like to avow my love for Europe, a continent I utterly adore and have holidayed and visited through many times. I love it’s variety and diversity and the array of fascinating cultures & individual national histories. I have friends all over and want for nothing more than to see it rise again. I’m concerned though that this will not happen while the EU remains. You can love Europe, but you don’t have to love the EU. The two are not mutually bound.
Similarly, I’m in favour of co-operation and open trade. Again though, just because the EU exists and often deals with those two areas, doesn’t mean it is the best forum for it to happen through. It is just one representative organ, and there are many other ways in which the countries of Europe, and indeed the world, can co-operate and co-ordinate together.
So I begin:
— As a nation we receive less funding then what we actually pay out. So it’s a mistake to see that we’re in receipt of amazing funding when it’s actually our money in the first place. Surely it’s better that money just stays here in the first place rather then embark on some crazy circuitous back to us but in lesser amount once the EU has siphoned off large chunks here & there.
— While we may be able to accomplish some reform of the EU, we only have 8% of the voting rights – not exactly a majority. This in time will further decline as more countries join the Union, and demographics change the balance of power.
— It’s difficult to form a consensus when a lot of the nations have vastly different attitudes to areas like justice, environment and the economy to us. European sentiment is quite different in outlook and temperament to that of the average British person. So why be beholden to it?
Each population should be free to govern and organise itself as it sees fit. The EU prevents this from happening and this naturally results in a great deal of avoidable resentment and discontent. In this sense, the EU actively fosters disharmony and disunity. The opposite of it’s stated intentions.
— I believe that power is best exercised closest to those it affects. This is the principle of accountability. The EU runs in absolute counter to this, hoovering up power but with none of the accountability that is needed to keep it in check. The Euro elections do nothing to rectify this. If you don’t believe me, just analyse what the Euro parliament actually does. It’s little more than a chamber for rubber stamping. It is not a parliament in how we in the UK understand it.
What is more, the EU actively undermines and distorts the democratic process. 3 times it sent the people of Holland back the polls to vote on the European constitution (before it was conveniently re-named the Lisbon treaty) until they voted ‘the right way’. Similar things happened in France & Ireland. It’s sphere of influence also extends to countries near it’s border. The spectacularly bad way it has handled the situation in Ukraine is indicative of this. And even within it’s power, check out the jolly old time Greece has had over the last few years.
— Don’t be bought by the sabre rattling coming from corporations. The reason they love the EU so much is that it stamps out competition from smaller companies. They can afford to hire compliance teams and have the economy of scale to ensure the regulations don’t affect their operations, in a way that smaller firms cannot. In fact, corporations have lobbyists work for them to help shape and form those regulations in their favour. Big government and big business love one another. Not only is the EU anti-democratic, it’s also anti-competition.
— It’s untrue that we’d lose out if we seceded. Right now we’re the single largest export market within the single market. In essence, we make an awful lot of money for a lot of people across Europe. Do you really therefore suppose we’d not secure handsome trade terms in the event of independence?
I wonder how Australia or Canada or Japan or Korea or Singapore or New Zealand or Chile or Malaysia all cope without being part of the EU? The answer is they cope wonderfully well and they have each secured access to the single market. Why on earth, us in Britain, should we not be able to secure even greater ability given that in a stroke we’d be the biggest buyer of Mercedes Benz, Danish bacon and French wine outside of the EU itself? It’s total nonsense that we’d lose out. If we lost out, then everybody would lose out! And that just wouldn’t happen.
If Switzerland and 8 million people has single market access and can strike mutually beneficial free trade deals across the world with whoever they like, then I think us at 63 million and one of the most powerful countries in the world (top 5 economy, top 4 in defence; not just some small island off of France…) will do even better – isn’t that reasonable to believe? The bonus is, we’d be free of it’s harmful and democratically subversive political structure and would be able to make free trade agreements with countries like India, Indonesia, Brazil, USA, South Africa, Canada and China which we’re currently barred from doing (which is crazy in my view!).
— Did you know that if you look at the history of China and Europe, you’ll notice a pattern in terms of their respective development and growth. China once flourished when it was free from oversight and bureaucracy. It invented the printing press during this period for one and was one of the most forward thinking and innovative places on earth. However, once it became centralised and entombed within large governmental apparatus it slowly became strangled and lost it’s edge. Ultimately it became condemned to centuries of hardship and toil while over in Europe, the continent forged ahead.
Why? Because rather than homogenised China the individual nations of Europe challenged and competed with each other. That diversity and spirit of competition enabled some of the greatest advancements in human history. Yes, there were a lot of wars (and I’m certainly not advocating that) but overall, you need that variation and difference in government and trade for invention and ideas to proliferate and spread.
Right now, the EU is acting like the China of 400 years ago just when China is beginning to act like Europe of the same time; freeing up controls, liberalising the economy, relaxing the regulatory burden etc. So Europe has begun to suffer while China is beginning to take off. I know where I’d prefer to place my money in 2014.
— What the EU highlights is that it is impossible and a dangerous deluded folly to believe that human life and society can be organised through grand design. Britain is a land which became great through our organic, free form structure. The EU is inimical to this; wanting to control everything and leave no stone unturned. It is an asphyxiate and not the solution to our ills – in fact, it is the cause of many. We don’t need the EU, it is the EU that needs us.
— We seriously need to free us from the shackles and become an independent, self-governing nation once more. It is truly the best and most fairest route and one I support through the means of a referendum.