More Europe Hokey Cokey (Shake it all about)

I am going to cover a lot of old ground in the coming months, that is clear. Just in case you have alighted on this blog and not seen any of my previous output I think I would be termed a "Europhile". There you are, I have nailed my colours to the mast and now your own predispositions will assert themselves throughout whatever else you choose to read. If I were a little more canny in my delivery I would have sprung it on you toward the end having led you along my path of reasoned argument. So much so that you would have agreed with my individual points and had no reasonable quarrel to deny my conclusion. 

I am not that clever. 

As I said I will probably cover a lot of old ground up until June 23rd when we vote on the referendum in the UK about remaing in the EU. I have commented on the pro's and cons of leaving the EU before and the arguments have not changed significantly. 

It is not the first referendum of this nature to be held in this country and I remember the last one. I was 10. My parents did give me the documents for and against to read. I was very struck by the stay leaflet. As a 10 year old I had an opinion that we should not be in the EEC as it was called then. I don't remember why I had that opinion. In the post though came two pamphlets, not large, outlining the relative merits of each approach and I remember being very swayed by the pamphlet supporting the EU. I just can't remember why. 

As a young adult I used to scoff at the stories of the food surpluses the EEC used to produce. All this subsidy to produce basic food stuffs that no one would eat. Wine lakes and beef mountains were talked about. How we used to laugh! 

But the simple matter of fact is that we prospered, we enjoyed cheap sunshine, we drank good wine and we bought up large areas of Normandy and Tuscany (so much so it often gets called Chianti shire). Not much to go on but the free market within Europe meant we could all sell our stuff easily on the continent. 

As a small downside HP Sauce which used to advertise itself as a Great British sauce is now made in the Netherlands. 

I digress..

The basic point I am making is that life has been good within the EU. Times are hard now though. The European project has never had to deal with a financial climate as bad as this. In times of hardship people do tend to hold to themselves as much as they can, in every respect. I guess that is human nature. But sometimes we have to look at a larger picture. We must not give up just because the going got a bit tough. Sometimes you have to knuckle down and do the right thing.

There are problems to be solved. The Euro for instance. So countries like Greece, Spain, Ireland and Italy were allowed to follow fiscal programs that left them high and dry when 2008 came along. This sort of behaviour should of been allowed for or disallowed before the Euro was born. I am told that the legal loophole that allowed governments to build up the sort of debt level that got them into trouble was that Germany was in the middle of reuniting and needed that loophole with which to plug the gaps. However a country like Germany is good for it. But the fact is that the Germans created the loophole and now will have to face the consequences of the action of other governments. Suck it up Germany.

I have stated before that I believe Europe to be too diverse in cultures to ever be considered suitable for a federal government like the US for instance. It could work i suppose depending on what you considered federal business and what could be left to individual states. I think in cultural terms though it is still too soon. I cannot see a time when a French person would swear allegiance to a greater Europe above their native country. And that goes for all the nations currently within EU. 

I am starting to ramble I am afraid. When I started this article I was driven by a need to point out a frailty in the argument of the campaigners wanting to leave the EU. 

The argument is that the "stay" campaign are feeding on the fear of the unknown as they did in the Scottish Independence referendum. Now I could argue there was little scope for the pro union group because the Scottish National Party (SNP) had painted such a rosy picture of just what they would do with all that loverly oil revenue. The revenue that has or will disappear because the Saudi Government is deliberately trying to freeze out US shale suppliers by artificially lowering the price of a barrel of oil.  The Scottish needed reminding that currently their economy is a one trick pony. My opinion. 

So the leave campaigners are thus painting a rosy picture that we are better off with out European influence. That we will still trade with Europe (no argument there) but will be free from everyday interference from Brussels.

Not so is my argument. The example of Norway is often given by my old favourites the UKIP party. Norway is a part of the free trade region but enjoys no voting status within Europe. This greatly frustrates the Norwegian government. The populace thus far have not agreed and have refused to join. However their successive governments face task of ensuring their producers and suppliers are EU compliant. You cannot sell stuff in the EU without following EU rules and regulations on raw materials, working conditions, production methods, the list goes on. 

So the Norwegian government just has to tell their business folk to suck it up and comply if it wants to trade. However at present in the UK we do at least have a method for redress. We can make noises that get heard. We can influence negotiations in the first place. If we leave we will be even more hamstrung by Brussels because we will still have to comply with EU legislation we will just have no right to tell them they are being absurd


It just doesn't add up.