No, this is not another agonizing self-appraisal about the pros and cons of blogging but a rant about certain organizations. Earlier today I decided to go along to a discussion organized by Open Europe who no longer hide the fact that they think Britain should stay in the EU. The theme was: What is the Coalition's record on Europe so far? I ought to have known better when I saw the title. Really, what kind of a question is that.
So, we had Tobias Ellwood MP for Bournemouth East speaking for the Coalition or, at least the Conservative bit of it. He spent a good deal of time explaining how much this country gets out of the EU, how we always lead from the front (that's the army officer speaking) and why the problem is that most MPs do not like going there and that is why we have less influence than we would otherwise. Oh and he asked if anyone in the room knew about "the yellow card system" (that's the one where nine national parliaments can get together and send back a piece of EU legislation to be reconsidered and has been used successfully once so far). Sadly for him, quite a lot of people in the room knew about it and, I assume, knew what a ridiculous bit of nonsense it is. No, Mr Ellwood, it is not an adequate substitute for legislating for ourselves.
Then we had Chris Leslie, Labour MP for Nottingham East and Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury, who told us at slightly shorter length that the problem was that we did not have enough clout in "Europe" because the Conservatives are so against it and because of the "phantom veto". Mind you, no man who uses that expression can be all bad but did he do so at the time?
Finally, we had Baroness Falkner, Lead Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs in the House of Lords, who started her talk with a bad joke and continued by explaining that the two most important events in all our lives except the really aged members of the House of Lords (yes, that's what she said) have been the refusal to enter the eurozone and the refusal to have a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. How old is this woman, I wondered, that she cannot remember anything else of importance. Anyway, apparently, these two events affected our ability to do anything anywhere, let alone in Europe.
As they used to say in the less reputable Sunday newspapers, I made my excuses and left. Why did I even bother?
Why on earth wouldn't we want to stay in Europe? The alternative is too ghastly to contemplate. You really don't want those UKIP types gaining any traction now, do you? A dreadful bunch.
ReplyDeleteBTW - you didn't mention 'subsidiarity' in your blog. A fine word, subsidiarity. A shame UKIP can't get their heads around it mind.
Fine words, as has been noted often, butter no parsnips. The real shame - “shame”, very definitely, being the mot juste - is that the EU can't get their heads around the concept. Or won't. Oh, they talk about it a lot (and talk, and talk...) but somehow it never seems to happen.
DeleteI take it that is an example of your stand-up comedy, Dwayne Pipe. Hmmm. There are possibilities but you really need to sharpen up your act.
ReplyDeleteIt is a rule that when anyone mentions subsidiarity somebody must post a link to this video, http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4txw4_lipdub-europe-united-par-les-jeunes_music. I guess it just had to be me.
ReplyDeleteA hard job but someone has to do it. :-)
DeleteFrom quite early in our membership of the EEC I remember public figures exhorting us to love "Europe" more and really believe in it. Otherwise we would not get the advantages enjoyed by all the other countries who were rapturously enthusiastic - and doing so much better than us.
ReplyDeleteIt struck me then and strikes me now that the plot is rather like the part in Peter Pan where Tinkerbelle is dying and the audience is exhorted to repeat (with feeling) "We DO believe in fairies" and Tinkerbelle, of course, recovers.