J P Floru is a Westminster councillor and a Prospective European Parliamentary Candidate for the London region.
Those who want to ditch the UK for the EU should support Prospective Prime Minister Miliband, the most Europhile member of the Cabinet. We are going through seismic changes in Europe and if Miliband becomes Prime Minister it may all be over for the UK.
The next two years are crucial for our independence. The ratchet clause in the Lisbon Treaty will make it self-amending - Westminster’s approval will never again be needed for Europe to extend its powers. This, and the possibility of being outvoted in the EU on virtually every issue, signifies the end of our self-determination.
For the time being the Irish No stops the Lisbon Treaty from taking effect. Most of the other countries are ratifying it anyway and trying to bully the Irish into submission. The Conservatives will hold a referendum if the Treaty has not yet been adopted by all 27 countries when they win power – but the likely 2010 election may come after Ireland concedes and the Treaty becomes law. Prime Minister Miliband may be succeded by Governor Cameron.
Miliband’s utterances on Europe show that he has inherited Tony Blair’s cynicism. He rejects the European superstate but accepts the Lisbon Treaty which creates it. He was also the apologist-in-chief for Labour’s breach of its referendum promise.
In October 2007 Miliband wrote Global Europe, in which he set out the EU’s future strategy. The UK is rarely mentioned, and Miliband speaks as if he represents Europe. “We” means “We, Europeans”, not “We, Brits”. He muses that institutional reform is now behind us, so “We” can tackle new challenges.
Miliband’s love for the EU shows in the Europhile blindness of the document. He repeats the Europhile myths. There is the flogged-to-death horse of Europe Bringing Post War Peace (ignoring that many non EU nation states did not wage war on each other either). Without much evidence Mr. Miliband states that Europe is responsible for our prosperity over the last fifty years (when countries just outside it had higher growth). There is the assertion that Lisbon was needed to make Europe workable (whereas in the ten years prior to Lisbon the EU overregulated at the greatest speed ever).
Sometimes Mr. Miliband confuses his wishes with reality. He talks about “shared European values” such as free trade and open markets. He must be the only person who still thinks that a belief in free world trade and open markets is shared by, for example, France.
Miliband’s activist agenda shows Europe the way. Europe must get busier in trade and competition policy, development, economic growth, social policies, jobs, security, tackling organised crime, the environment, financial markets, climate change and energy security. In July he ditched Britain’s traditional resistance to a European army. He now claims that the European army is no army (as he claimed the constitution was no constitution).
Prime Minister Miliband’s government will bend over backwards to please our EU friends. His document bears the seeds of the U-turns to come. On the one hand he preaches a flexible labour market, on the other he pleads for security. He wants to make Europe more competitive but enthuses about Europe’s social values. He wants to liberalise world trade, but qualifies it by saying that it must be equitable and that “everybody” must show flexibility (so we can blame the US). He wants to reduce regulation but puts it under the heading “Better Regulation”.
David Miliband likes EU spending, too. He wants to increase the largely ineffective development aid. He wants to reform the Common Agricultural Policy and phase out direct subsidies to farmers and price support but does not say that the savings should go to reduce the EU budget. He wants to increase European funding for poor European regions which are failing through lack of reform. He wants more European spending on research and innovation - ignoring the recent study by Dr. Terence Kealey showing that state aid to R&D is largely ineffective.
In summary: If Miliband becomes PM, there is a greater chance that Lisbon will become law. This effectively ends our independence. In addition, he believes in extending Europe’s powers, as is shown by his activist agenda. Miliband is sound on free world trade, but his lover’s blindness prevents him from seeing that this is unlikely ever to command a majority in European negotiations.
But all’s not lost. Even in Labour there are people who do not want to get rid of the UK.
***
If you would like to write for Platform please click here.
