British, European or Both?

To quote the New York Times, finding economists who say they believe that a Brexit will spur the British economy is like looking for a doctor who thinks forswearing vegetables is the key to a long life.

However, whilst I was  leafleting for Stronger In in Northbrook Street last Saturday, the passers-by favouring Brexit seemed more concerned about issues other than the economy.

 Again quoting the New York Times, it seems an argument over British identity is masquerading as an economic debate.  This is about much more than economic union to most people.  As the referendum approaches, the politics of identity are colliding with the economics of global trade.  People are concerned about our sovereignty. I struggled to understand what that word meant, no one talked about it before David Cameron decided to hold this referendum.   I consulted wikipedia.  I learnt that Sovereignty is understood in jurisprudence as 'the full right and power of a governing body to govern itself without any interference from outside sources or bodies'. 

 Time and again and again people said they did not like being told what to do by Brussels.  I wonder if their concerns are really justified.  Brussels does not control us.  The European Parliament is directly elected by us just like the Westminster Parliament.  In many ways the European Parliament is more democratic than Westminster.  It has better methods of ensuring that controversial legislation is not automatically agreed.  As a former Conservative UK minister once said. “It is very hard to find an EU regulation of significance that has been forced on an unwilling British minister who voted against it”. Nothing is passed unless all member countries have explicitly agreed by treaty to do so and even then, each piece of legislation must be agreed by national governments. For tax and foreign affairs, the requirement for this agreement is complete unanimity, and in other areas, there is a very high ‘qualified majority’ threshold.  People accuse the EU of bureaucracy yet The European Commission has fewer employees than a medium-sized city council in the UK. So we are not controlled by Brussels; we are equal participants in a union.  

The European Commission doesn’t make laws. It only makes proposals, which are then debated, amended and passed (or rejected) by elected national governments and directly-elected MEPs. Only 13.2% of laws affecting the UK have been agreed at European level in the past 20 years. 

EU legislation is an exercise in cutting red tape. We need common rules for the common market to protect workers, consumers and the environment.  Instead of 28 divergent sets of national rules we have a single set of pan-European rules.  

I hope this will reassure some readers that it is OK to be part of the EU, which is not a massive control freak organisation wishing to suffocate us, but a trading union of fellow Europeans.  And what can be wrong with being European?  When it boils down to it we are all descended form the Romans, French and Vikings with perhaps a hint of Spanish Armada here and there.  

Not since the fall of the Berlin Wall has Europe confronted such a profound question about it's future.   I really hope people realise we really are safer, better off and stronger in the European Union, which will surely destabilise if we leave. 

Photo