Not keen on enlargement
We are not keen on enlargement!
Taken from FT (Thanks Steve)
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A perspective on the abolition of the countries of Europe and with it the rights and freedoms of a whole continent of people.
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Odd N Sods
10 comments:
According to the Figure from the FT, the people in the UK are more in favour of enlargement than those in the Netherlands, France or Germany.
That's difficult to believe. One would have to know precisely which questions were asked in which context and how they were interpreted. I suspect that the FT has ordered a public opinion poll with a somewhat positive result.
Colin,
You are missing one important thing. Many Brits see enlargement as a weapon against ever closer union. That increases the support for it.
Also many Brits have experience of Turkey's wonderful beaches, cuisine and weather, without seeing any of its problems.
Serf,
"Many Brits see enlargement as a weapon against ever closer union."
That's the official propaganda of the government. Since BBC is doing an excellent job, you are certainly right.
Colin, as Serf has correctly pointed out, the majority in the UK sees enlargement as a convenient way of diluting the EU's ambitions and degradings its federalist intent. And Brits know/care very little one way or the other about Turkey. The question of Turkish accession to the EU is simply a non-issue.
Serf & Instanbultory you are certainly right: "Brits know/care very little one way or the other". Unfortunately, ignorance carries a price tag.
Good to see 6 others of a similar mind.
Though I support enlargement in the meaning of extending European free trade, I have serious misgivings about the effects of immigration across Europe.
I see the logic behind enlargement denting the EU's federalist ambitions, though I personally don't think that fact has occured to most Britons, especially since the EU is always ranked fairly low in polls on the importance of political issues to the British public. When it comes to crunch-time, I'm sure the public will show themselves to as anti-federalist as any of us are here. At the moment, however, I just don't think many Britons see it as that relevent to their everyday lives.
We could always try to change that.
Sam Tarran,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.
After checking out your blog, I have to admit that I am very much impressed by your intellectual abilities and knowledge which are both rather untypical for your young age of 15.
Your article about the war in Iraq is interesting, too. Today, LewRockwell.com published a relevant article stating that
"imperialist wars by states in every epoch of history are not accidental." Instead, "They are the outcome of the powerful tendency to war-making that is inherent in the very nature of the state."
"Persistent war making by a nation's governing elite against allegedly threatening aggressors becomes "a perfect way to disguise the naked clash of interests between the taxpaying and tax-consuming classes."
With regard to the EU, you wrote I just don't think many Britons see it as that relevent to their everyday lives.
We could always try to change that.
Any suggestions how to change that?
Can we stop fooling ourselves that enlargement will preclude "ever closer union"? It does exactly the opposite. I really thought this argument was a shot fox but apparently not. The Constitution - another (attempted) power grab - was trotted out to "deal with enlargement". Every time there is a widening there is a deepening.
This is OT but surely not unwelcome. It could be another "Barroso moment" for Radio 4...
It's an email from Dan Hannan MEP:
Vote for an independent Britain!
The Today programme on radio 4 is running a listeners poll to find the most unpopular law in Britain. The Christmas Repeal invites you to nominate the piece of legislation you would most like to see scrapped. You can vote online at www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/vote/2006vote/
This is a huge step forward from two years ago, when Radio 4 wanted us to squeeze yet another law onto our already crammed statute book (in the event, listeners plumped for a Bill to allow householders to shoot intruders, but the Labour MP who had promised to propose the winning entry in Parliament backed out).
There are, of course, many otiose statutes: The Football Supporters Act, the Firearms Act, the Human Rights Act, the Hunting With Dogs Act and a goodly chunk of the illiberal legislation that has been brought in over the past five years under the guise of anti-terrorism legislation.
But there is surely one outstanding candidate for repeal: the 1972 European Communities Act. This is the piece of legislation that gives EU decisions automatic primacy over British Acts of Parliament. When it was passed, most people assumed that this precedence would be confined to cross-border questions, such as trade, competition and pollution. Thirty-four years on, we know better. Brussels is now the primary source of legislation in the United Kingdom, accounting for 80 per cent of our laws. This astonishing statistic, as regular readers of this bulletin will know, comes from the German Government; our own refuses to name a figure, claiming that it is too expensive to compile the data.
What is the point of voting when four out of every five legal acts in Britain are proposed, not just by people that we didn't vote for, but by unelected EU officials whom nobody voted for?
Scrap the 1972 European Communities Act, and we will automatically restore the supremacy our elected representatives. From that moment, EU directives and regulations would have force in this country only following a specific decision by Parliament to enact them; otherwise they would be treated as advisory.
I shall appear on the Today Programme on Thursday morning to argue the case for repealing the 1972 European Communities Act. If you share my belief in an independent, democratic Britain, please add your vote on the Today programme website. The address again: www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/vote/2006vote/
Can you think of a greater Christmas present?
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