The New Federalist, webzine of the Young European Federalist

• A short history of the Young European Federalists

  11 June 2013 14:33, by Valéry-Xavier Lentz

  Hello,

  Scans of this old article has been sent to me by its author Tobias Flessenkemper. I OCRed it and proposed it for publication with his agreement.

  Valéry-Xavier

• The UK’s identity crisis: a midlife crisis?

  2 June 2013  13:16, by Iwantout

  A few observations regarding your assertions.

  “US is interested in the UK as long as they remain within the EU.” This is for the interests of the US not the UK or the EU.

  “it is with the EU that the US negotiates a free-trade agreement, not individually with each member state.” Because EU legislation makes it totally illegal for EU states to negotiate on such a basis. This has nothing to do with the US. So for example the US has bilateral free trade deals with Jordan, Australia, Oman, South Korea etc. All smaller economies than the UK. Please also remember that the EU has previously rejected free trade deals with the US (1998 New Trans-Atlantic Market Place) and is already putting up barriers in the new negotiations. (French demands that all cultural elements be excluded i.e. films etc)

  I have never known an Empire, none of my friends or family have never known an Empire, my parents barely knew the Empire. It is as historically remote to us, it is something that we know existed but has no impact on our World view. (India obtained its independence in 1947, 66 years ago !!!!) Indeed the only people who talk about the Empire are europhiles trying to explain a supposed lack of UK self-esteem. The Commonwealth is a different matter, it exists as a group of independent sovereign nations and is a fast growing trade bloc which we are unable to negotiate with, see above paragraph.

  “The promise referendum on the independence of Scotland”. We believe in democracy and are grown up enough to have the debate. If the Scots wish to go their own way that is entirely up to them. Polls consistently show a 2 : 1 majority in favour of staying in the UK but we will know next autumn. I note no other EU states are prepared to let their own regions have any such vote despite the clear wishes of some of their regions – Spain, Belgium, France etc.

  ‘British jobs for British workers’ a quote from the pro EU Labour Party, indeed the Prime Minister of the time. Is he being accused of “extreme discourse”? Another quote for you from the Pro EU camp “‘We were wrong to allow so many eastern Europeans into Britain” (Ed Balls current Shadow Chancellor The Guardian, June 6th 2010.) As the country within the EU that has had the greatest influx of immigrants yes immigration is an issue. (Eurostat figs 2008- 11 UK 2.3m, Germany 1.9m, Italy 1.8m France 734 k French figures available for only 3 years) Recent Commission legal moves re UK residency welfare test have united all three main political parties against the EU and will doubtless boost UKIP etc. Austerity clearly leads to cuts, but please remembers we still pay more to the EU after the rebate than we have so far cut from our domestic budget.

  If your marriage is deeply unsatisfying, your partner has changed fundamentally from the one you originally married and shows every sign of continuing to change, at what point do you say enough, is it not better we split and become friends rather than fight constantly? Amicable divorce can be good for everyone, family and friends.

  The desperate need for one partner to cling to an unwilling one is not reassuring for anyone. If I may slightly amend your call “Is there any psycho-analyst for States in the room? We need one, we get worried for the EU!”

• Integration: Europe Succeeds, Africa Fails. But why?

  29 May 2013  19:15, by Jack

  It’s their culture - stop blaming imperialism. Great and powerful empires have entered, settled and left africa over the past two thousand years and none of the advancements, inventions or mind sets remained. Again, it’s the culture of Africa seasoned with a huge dollop of an age old vice - envy.

• Should the City move to Frankfurt?

  29 May 2013  02:49, by Osmi Anannya

  European governments have had rather controversial stances on a range of political and economic issues off late. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the former French President Nicholas Sarkozy, for example, hailed labour market reform proposals put forward by the former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, despite widespread public protests and opposition from labour unions in Italy. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that financial centres in the Caribbean are better regulated than London; perhaps acting as world leaders in areas of finance such as a hedge-fund domicile for the Cayman Islands, yes. It would be rather unwise for UK governments however, to undermine financial centres in the Caribbean when Europe contributes to a share of its private offshore wealth, which can only be beneficial for both parties involved.

• Should the City move to Frankfurt?

  22 May 2013  04:15, by Professor Gilbert NMO Morris

  Interesting the lengths UK experts will go to, to preserve London; which in my view is good. But this they do, even whilst the UK government sets about undermining financial centres in the Caribbean, which are better regulated than London.

  Professor Gilbert NMO Morris

• Fog on the channel, continent cuts off

  16 May 2013  13:24, by Iwantout

  To join your debate, please could I offer a little balance and remind you that despite your concentration on the Murdoch and anti EU press throughout the article there are many papers in the UK which hold extremely pro EU views. The Mirror (a tabloid), The Guardian, The Independent all spring to mind. Then of course there are a number of popular news journals which also fall into the pro EU camp, The Economist is perhaps the best example.

  Whilst any review of the print media reveals a range of editorial views on the EU, the same cannot be said of the broadcast media. The BBC in particular has a long history of an unbalanced pro EU stance. This has been portrayed as a cultural and unintentional bias, not my words, but those of an internal BBC report. (apologies about the length but it may be of interest to you. http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust… ) The BBC has gone on record as recently as 2012 as accepting that it still shows such bias and has started a review under Stuart Prebble which is due to report its findings this Summer.

  Finally regarding the print press, please can I remind you of the academic research which suggests that the papers tend to follow public views rather than lead them. The papers after all are trying to sell copies, the research shows that they tend to push stories and editorial lines which their target market approve of, the point under this paradigm is not that the papers form the view, but that they reflect the attitude of their target readership in order to increase sales.

  You rightly comment on the distrust that has grown between politicians and the electorate. As well as the relationship between the media and politicians, you might have touched on the expenses scandal etc. However one of the biggest problems, certainly in relation to the EU is that every major party has in the last 6 years promised the people a referendum on the EU, and in each and every case they have failed to deliver.

  The Peoples’ Pledge (which has people such as John Cruddas Labour Party Head of Policy, Keith Vaz Labour Minister for Europe etc involved and therefore a range of pro and anti EU views) have held a series of local referendum around the country, all under the independent supervision off Electoral Reform Services. Each poll held has revealed a significant majority in favour of a referendum e.g. 89.9% in Thurrock. The ultimate aim is to put pressure on the political elite to hold a national referendum. Their claim that no one under 55 has ever had a say on UK membership of the EU is of course entirely accurate.

  I will happily accept your statistics on the rate of participation in the Erasmus Programme, however I would say in passing that many hundreds of thousands of people travel to the EU for work and/or pleasure, yet the antipathy towards the EU as distinct to Europe remains. We are not a member of Schengen, but I fail to see why showing your passport (a couple of minutes?) is such a big deal, certainly it has not stopped me visiting Europe twice so far this year with several more trips planned.

  With regards to exerting power on EU decisions and our ‘fear of Brussels’, please remember that from the 1st January 2014 the EZ will have the power to out vote all non-euro countries in any decision subject to QMV. Given the (understandable) need of the EZ to act in ways to protect itself regardless of the impact on the non EZ countries then “feelings of being powerless when facing an over-regulative EU” seem quite rational. I would agree entirely with your analysis regarding the “importance of the Parliament in the British representation of a proper democracy” and ask what is wrong with that ?

  The cultural issues you discuss are without doubt important indeed central. As you say we have many differences, although I never previously considered our coins awkward! We do look outside the EU, we have many firm links with what has been described as the Anglosphere and we have a longer historic continuity in terms of institutions and borders than almost all other EU states. In short we have never looked to the EU as a solution to our internal or external tensions.

  I can accept entirely that for many, perhaps even a majority on the mainland continent, an increasingly integrated EU is the way forward; but this is not the case in the UK. http://chathamhousesurvey.org/defau… gives the results of polls concerning the relationship people want the UK to have with the EU. 8% favour more integration, 16% matters to stay as they are, 31% free trade area only, 26% leave, 15% don’t know, this after 40 years of membership. Might it not just be time to accept the view of Jacques Delors “The British are solely concerned about their economic interests, nothing else. They could be offered a different form of partnership," 28/12/12 Handelsblatt.

• Stop blaming the 4th Reich for the Crisis

  16 May 2013  00:12, by Haris

  In order to say something to one comment, I would like to mention: A seperation of the north-european states and the south-european states would be disastrous. Firstly, France and Germany are two more and more cooperating countries. They are getting more and more together though there are differences in opinions. Secondly, a seperation would damage the single market of the big EU would be much smaller and thereby not productive. And, for concluding, Europe stands in front of the idea of peace. We had two World Wars which were very brutal. Even if we say today, that that could not happen any more, it can still happen. No one believed that there will be a war in the Balcan, and today we know that there was a war. That is something that we have to keep in mind: EU is not just bureaucracy but also peace.

• A tale of Europe in 2020

  7 May 2013  17:18, by Iwantout

  Regarding democracy, what you wrote was “the UK government decided to ignore the result of the referendum and called a general election.” Well actually that is ignoring popular votes. The idea that such a step could be taken and then be ignored by calling a general election is fundamentally undemocratic and would in any case result in the complete destruction of any party that did so. It is also impossible to then see how the result of such a general election covering a range of policies could be seen to nullify the people’s voice on a single issue, i.e. rejection of EU membership.

  I will leave others to decide whether the prospect of a national army ‘occupying’ one or more cities and then involved in mass disturbances leaving many dead to prevent other votes as sanctioned by legally elected representatives taking place is democratic or not. (By the way I never used the word crushed at all.)

  In terms of default, may I refer you to the debate we had on the 26th & 27th November 2012 (http://www.thenewfederalist.eu/EU-b…) in which I pointed out the draw backs of the current situation largely in relation to Ireland and the benefits of default which you now seem to be accepting within this article. I ask again, why if it is true for the whole EZ sometime in the future is it not true for Spain etc., now? Why do they have to continue to suffer 27% total unemployment and 55% for young people ?

  I appreciate that the original article was ‘A tale’, but I doubt Maria or many of her compatriots would be prepared to wait another five - seven years for the current situation to be resolved.

  Cheers

• A tale of Europe in 2020

  6 May 2013  23:36, by Artus Galiay

  Dear Iwantout,

  On democracy, I m not ignoring popular votes: the UK government calls a new general election after the referendum, and when it comes to this hypothetical future EU’s legitimacy, please refer to “new right- and left-wing pan-European parties had emerged through the crisis and crushed the populist parties”. “Crush” obviously refers to democratic elections, not some type of “dictatorship”.

  On sovereign default, the current economic debate is biased by the political will to force some countries to undergo deep structural reforms which they would never implement without the threat of default. In pure economic terms, a sovereign default would have short term disruptive effects but would certainly be beneficial over the long term, if well managed (ie not like Argentina).

  Artus

• A tale of Europe in 2020

  3 May 2013  14:33, by Iwantout

  A thought provoking fairy story. It is interesting how you require democracy to be ignored in both Spain and the UK while at the same time anticipating a military (as distinct from the police) crack down to suppress mass public disorder across many cities in order to get to your happy ending. Some people might suggest that this sounds a little like dictatorship.

  Do you propose to write a second version in which the public are consulted, their views listened to and the EU amends its ambitions accordingly and people grow wealth in trading independent sovereign democratic states ?

  One also wonders why the pan-European sovereign default is portrayed as the start of the recovery when any suggestion that Greece, Ireland et al should act in a similar fashion now is regarded as catastrophic.

• Should we fear the exit of a European Union Member State?

  22 April 2013  10:10, by David

  The main issue Europe needs to deal with is limiting taxation. A Proposition 13 is needed as was introduced in California to limit property tax there to 1%. The sales tax in California which is one of the highest in the US is only 7%, in some states such as Florida it is 0%, but they still are able to afford state fire, police, highways etc.

  Whereas on the contrary the sales taxes (VAT) especially in the EU are far too high - which is what keeps some members such as the UK from wanting further integration, (and not high enough for some members like Denmark). Limiting the VAT to a maximum of 10% for any member state is critical for achieving further economic success in the region.

• Stop blaming the 4th Reich for the Crisis

  12 April 2013  02:24, by Greek

  First off i am a greek and i want to say some things that might move the eurocrisis debate forward in a constructive manner:

  . A younger greek generation that is still not in control of the country yet, it is infinitely more modern and thoughful and pro european. We want greece to be a normal country like denmark, not like a european Syria. Hopefully the big changes happening now may allow some of us to exert a bigger influence over a clientelistic political life that has been partly responsible for the ever rising debt and mismanagement.

  . The greeks that you see burning flags and accusing Merkel of being a nazi etc, are mostly misinformed and paranoid individuals with a big attachment to the church and some nationalistic dinosaurs. They are mostly pensioners, and like elsewhere they vote the most but they understand the least about the modern world they live in. Like in other places much of the anger is about the effects of globalisation rather than for germany. This is present in other countries too like the UKIP in UK, and neonazis in Austria.

  . We are grateful for attempts by Ms. Merkel and the Troika to try to root out some corrupt practices in the greek state. It is true that the current government is fighting these reforms tooth and nail. Please persist in demanding a cleaning up of party financing and corruption.

  . I am far less impressed with Ms. Merkel’s vision for the whole continent. She is very good at saying what she doesn’t like but it feels that she lets things get out of hand all the time and only intervenes in the last minute. That leads people to question the motives of the german government. If the german government came up with a positive agenda and showed commitment to the EU and the euro it would calm the jitters and people could resume investing and living their lives normally. Germany needs to get out of the role of the arbiter of what happens in europe asap, for that it needs to stop meddling in unimportant matters and europeanise its industrial policy.

  . The chicago economics/austrian liquidationist policies of the right have had poor results, it is time to try a new policy mix with people that get things done. A new smart protectionism at the eu level needs to work more like china’s aggressive and effective policies. The benefits of these policies need to flow to the whole of the EU not just Germany.

  . The euro has some design flaws that need to be corrected not only through austerity but also a practical program that will make all EU countries relevant in a globalised world where trade with Asia is main new development and will be for the next decade.

  . Some greeks tend to get very hysterical because in the country a protective coccoon of a national myth has been spun for a long time mainly by politicians trying to benefit from any development that happened since 1974. In this parallel universe globalisation had nothing to do with greece in practical terms, cushy state jobs can continue to be created etc.. Someone with authority needs to explain in practical terms that this was always funded by unsustainable loans and now it is over forever. This will convince northern european creditors that the country is abandoning the crazy ways of the past 20 years.

  . The press loves divisive photos that get a reaction. There is always some idiot burning flags and doing nazi salutes or being at the opposite extreme as a left wing fascist or nationalist. People like that are massively over-represented in the media. The silent majority just wants to fix things, however in europe we need to find a way this will be achieved that is realistic and not a bizarre set of policies that is pursued for ideological reasons. Now for 3 years right wing economists in germany and elsewhere promoted this idea that the markets will attack if austerity is not implemented everywhere. In reality this plan is not working very well and it is causing too much depreciation in the price of assets during the crisis, and will cause too much of a boom when things eventually get better.

  . Ms. Merkel seems to want to hold things together, but she needs to stop exploiting politically some stereotypes that have responsibly run economies like Spain and tar them as lazy when they had a public debt lower than that of germany at the start of the crisis.

  . Greece has been incredibly badly managed since 1980 and the current nightmare is the result of that only in part. Conservatives that argued for free consumer lending especially in the south of europe need to take the blame for such bad policies. Greece had state banks that did not give out stupid consumer loans that were used to buy german cars people could not afford. The reality is that bank lending needs to be directed to real-economy businesses by real banks that do not engage in financial engineering or investment banking. This will hurt but it is a necessary change. The economy throughout europe needs to be less about consumption and more about jobs and climate change. This will necessitate a plan like the marshall plan after the second world war and all need to chip in so we all have a better future nor for individualistic ends.

• Stop blaming the 4th Reich for the Crisis

  9 April 2013  20:21, by Niklas

  Yes of course: It has to be the Deutsche Bundesbank. It is also not Greece, but Italy, who is in the list of private average and median amount of assets higher. Sorry for the mistake: Cyprus is by the way in terms of private income 2nd highest in private net assets. Greece is 14th and Germany on 10th position. See also for German speaking http://www.handelsblatt.com/politik…. For English Speaking go the ECB https://www.ecb.int/pub/pdf/other/t…

• Stop blaming the 4th Reich for the Crisis

  7 April 2013  11:38, by Charles_M

  I think the patience and tolerance of the Germans is exemplary. If the Germans’s sense of self preservation outweighed their sense of responsibility it would be THEY who dumped the Euro and possibly even the EU. They could easily do without southern europe, the French included. A smaller group of Noth Europeans would be the ideal solution for them.

• Stop blaming the 4th Reich for the Crisis

  6 April 2013  18:29, by ?

  A very well written article, with some great points. One new aspect raised which I haven’t read before in other articles and strongly agree with is: “European leaders like Barroso, van Rompuy, but also finally Hollande should take a position against this one-sighted blame games.” We need more leadership and a stronger stance and involvement from the European elite. We currently have only national.elites with national interests, exactly because van Rompuy and Barroso are not showing leadership.

• Stop blaming the 4th Reich for the Crisis

  6 April 2013  09:09, by Protesilaos Stavrou

  Very well said. Coincidentally, on April 5, I also published an article of a similar spirit arguing that “Europe did not cause the crisis in Cyprus”: http://www.protesilaos.com/2013/04/…

  Just one minor correction to your article: On the part where you refer to the Target2 payment system, you mention “the Deutsche Bank”, when I believe you wished to write the Deutsche *Bundes*bank, i.e. the Central Bank of Germany and not the private bank by the name “Deutsche” (see official website http://www.bundesbank.de/Navigation…).

  Thanks!

• Should we fear the exit of a European Union Member State?

  3 April 2013  19:22, by Alexander Peters

  Dear Mr./ Mrs. Iwantout,

  actually my expectation about the outcome of a UK referendum may not be so diffrent from yours. I think a “No” may quite likely be the outcome. This would be sad - but much better than Europe being in its present paralysed state indefinitely. Actually I lived in Britain at the time of the Maastricht ratification by the House of Commons and followed Major´s mutilation by Cash, Gorman and the Murdoch press closely. Since then I am convinced that this kind of nationalism ought to be determinedly confronted by Pro-Europeans - this kind of people cannot be appeased; making concessions to them only means to provide an implacable adversary with ammunition and to create incentives for anti-Europeanism elsewhere ("Look what Downing Street got; we should be more agressive ourselves next time!").

  As to your EU arguments.

  1) That Europe is less adventurous militarily than the US is quite fine with me. 39,4 percent of the US defence budget, the largest in the world, I assume, should therefore be quite enough in order to pursue the more limited and defensive security aims of Europe. These should be, for example:
   To be able to resolve something as the Bosnia and Kosovo crises of the 1990ies without having to call outside - US - assistance.
   To be able to deter on its own a Russian neo-imperialism in the Baltic area, Moldova or Ukraine, if it should emerge.
  The 39,4 percent should be sufficient for this, PROVIDED they are spent on one common military and not as now on 27 splinter armies. Britain is a perfect example: Only watch the agony defence planners had over the next geneation of aircraft carriers. Having a common type of European vessel to be built 4 or 5 times would be both cheaper and more effective in military terms than the current competition between Europe´s big countries to maintain each just one creakingly old and badly equipped prestige specimen fo decades.

  2) The Middle East IS a concern of ours, which we would be very foolish to ignore. In the absence of powerful European diplomacy the US will determine events. However, the dangers for Europe are much greater: After all, the nuclear fall-out and the refugees from that region, once things have really gone wrong, will end up in Central Europe and not in Idaho.

  3) That Europe must become more efficient, goes without saying. However, bureaucracy and inability to act are the result of the bad compromise between real Federalism and nationalist opt-out-separatism now in operation. Europe could achieve much more if the workings of the commission were closer to that of classical paliamentary government - if the head of the commission were resposible to the European parliament as a British PM is to the Commons and if the interference of the council/ national governments were reduced. Especially Britain, with its long tradition of parliamentary politics and debate, would have much to contribute to such a structure of government. - Unfortunately, as we both know, it will never do so.

• Should we fear the exit of a European Union Member State?

  2 April 2013  21:41, by julio

  For the EU, the issue is not whether the UK will exit or whether a 2 speeds EU will work, both whether the people of Europe still have sufficient belief in the EU project to drive their national politicians to press for the profound changes that would be necessary to transfer real power, democratic accountability and identity from national to European level. My reading is that the impasse of the Euro, stuck halfway between national currency and full economic union, and the unending friction this causes, makes the transformation of the EU unfeasible politically. Look at the trend in the Eurobarometer over the past 10 years, the decline in support goes on and on, there are no anti Euro movements of significance not just in Greece but in Italy and Germany. It is just not conceivable that the people will now go all out of full economic and political union. And if that cant be done, you are stuck, forever, in mid stride. Cant end well - but it can drag on and on…

• Should we fear the exit of a European Union Member State?

  2 April 2013  14:51, by Iwantout

  Alexander Peters

  If you look at my posting elsewhere on this site you will see that I (and others) have repeatedly said that UK politicians have consistently mislead the people about the nature of the EEC / EC / EU. You are right that this is an internal British issue, but it helps explain why the British public are now so actively hostile to the EU and simply do not accept reassurances from UK politicians any more when it concerns the EU. It also explains why the UK referendum lock is so serious for the EU, it is difficult to think of any circumstance any UK politician could ‘sell’ anything pro EU to the public regardless of offered safeguards because of this complete lack of faith. This obviously has consequences for the EU. Be reassured, the Europhobes based in the UK overwhelmingly blame UK politicians not the EU. In my view EU politicians have been relatively honest about their aims “Please understand for us Europe is much more than a currency or a single market… It is a political union we want." Guido Westerwelle on the BBC 19/12/11, you can’t be much more explicit than that !

  Having accepted entirely the point regarding the fundamental ‘mis-selling’ of the nature of the EU in the first place you then understand why the UK seeks opt outs; the political elite have an inherent problem of engaging in a fundamental way with the course of travel of the EU because of public hostility. As I pointed out in the first posting this site has gone from disputing a UK referendum on continued EU membership in September to what is the impact of the UK leaving in barely six months. It is difficult to understand why so many pro EU correspondents have only realised so recently quite how toxic the EU brand is in the UK? In his speech on 23rd January in David Cameron said that a new settlement will be necessary in order to keep the UK in the EU, but I fully expect that your view would be that no such new settlement should be offered and the UK should finally decide whether it is in or out under the existing regime. Never forget in the UK Cameron is seen as being very much pro EU however hard that might be for you to believe, yet even he does not think the current situation is sustainable.

  Regarding hostility to euro membership please can I remind you Sweden voted no in 2003 when the euro was being regarded as a success. They voted no despite the political parties, industry and unions saying they should vote yes. So their hostility long predates the current issues and is something deeper than passing political views. Denmark also has a hostility that dates back to the launch of the euro. The current problems clearly do impact on people’s attitudes but I would suggest to you that in some countries there is just not the necessary cultural acceptance for a centralised European state to be accepted.

  I would agree with your view of the Maastricht opt out. From an EU perspective it was a poor move and perhaps the UK should have been told there and then to become fully engaged or leave. But I suspect that the EU leaders knew that this would undoubtedly have resulted in the UK leaving and for their own reasons they wanted to avoid this. As it was, even with the opt outs the treaty essentially destroyed the Major Government and further reinforced the anti EU feeling in the country.

  The idea of a US of E (as good a name as any other) having more power depends on a whole range of factors, but this is now talking mainly about economics and development rather than political integration. Let’s not forget that the UK has a relatively liberal economic model, other states much less so, even in this area we have major differences. I would suggest that the drag factors caused by EU attempts at constant standardisation, unnecessary bureaucracy, corruption, etc cause more costs than benefits. I can (and I am sure you could) produce many statistics, quotes etc to support our respective stances, but a single example to show how I would claim the EU is actively reducing our economic potential. Over 20 different agricultural crops are still awaiting EU approval after 10 years because they are genetically modified. These crops have undergone regulatory tests in the most litigious country in the World (USA) and are in wide spread use across the entire planet apart from the EU. The EU is making itself a backwater in this area deliberately!

  You talk about becoming irrelevant on the World Stage, in climate change, the Middle East etc. The EU already is, even when it acts as a single bloc. We have no means of influencing the Middle East (even if you accept we should and I do not) or other parts of the World, because other than France and the UK, the EU refuses to spend the necessary money on the military or engage in combat in a meaningful scale. As the EU is so fond of pointing out, it currently has the biggest economy in the World, yet it spends only 39.4% as much as the US on defence (2012 figs), soft power only takes you so far. The rest of the World already ignores the EU over climate change, there was not a single European present in room when on the 18th December 2009 the US, China, South Africa, and India came to their agreement in the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit, despite a more or less solid EU front on this subject. To believe a US of E with declining economic power and outright refusal to spend heavily on the military would somehow be more impactive than a collection of dynamic smaller states taking a joint position when it suited is I believe dubious in the extreme.

  In conclusion, you and I actually differ about very little with regards to the UK relationship with the EU. We both want the UK to make a decision, we just happen to think that such a vote will provide very different results.

  Cheers

• Should we fear the exit of a European Union Member State?

  1 April 2013  20:27, by Alexander Peters

  Dear Mr./ Mrs. Iwantout,

  thank you for your reply!

  As to the British perception of the EU as only a “trading association”:

  It seems to me, that you admit my main argument. You point to the “official literature” at the time - from the BRITISH government for the British public, I presume - and to the “reassurances” from the BRITISH Prime Minister. Even if ordinary Britons had no internet then to access EU treaties and were unaware of their content, as you claim, their government, responsible for the apparently misleading literature/ assurances, certainly was not. Thus, the deception of the British public - if such occurred - is an internal British problem; and no reason for the kind of “You-betrayed-us”-accusations British Europhobes have become accustomed to hurl at the rest of the EU.

  As to the Euro/ opt-out question:

   Without the British opt-out probably no serious rift between Euro-Zone and greater EU would ever have emerged. If Britain were either part of the Euro or outside the EU altogether such small countries like Denmark or Sweden would not regard staying away from the common currency as a viable, let alone desirable, course of action. Only because Britain, one of the “Big Four” of the EU, is at the core of the Non-Euro-Zone of separate national currencies, this zone is politically a comfortable place to be in.

   I do not think that “the number of countries” not fulfilling “treaty obligations” will nedessarily represent the fundamental problem, as which you describe them. That in the middle of a full-blown crisis of the Euro potential candidates are reluctant to join it, is quite understandable. Who would, after all, sign the contract for a flat in a house at a moment when the fire brigade is at work there? Once the Euro-Zone has resolved the crisis satisfactorily, however, many of the current “outs” will again consider the advantages of being part of a major world currency and of having no exchange rate risk in trading with their partners. It remains to be seen whether many - or any - of these countries will then stay out. The real challenge, I think, are not these countries but is Britain: As Britain´s hostility to the common currency has nothing to do with the current crisis (as it predated it), this hostility is also unlikely to disappear with that crisis.

  The historical lesson clearly is: Something like the opt-out Britain got at Maastricht should never have been allowed. Pro-Europeans should already there and then have insisted on London making a choice between being fully in or fully out. This is what they will get anyway in the end, only under much more inconvenient circumstances for them. For the future, Pro-Europeans should just concentrate on simplifying the EU and making it work. A successful EU will advertise itself - maybe in a far future even again to Britain (as the EEC once did in the 60ies).

  Making European unity work, actually also is also the only promising thing for European nations to do. For states of their size, dreams of independent success are an illusion. The Pacific economic explosion will make them all small fry before long. As separate entitities none of them will in 20 or 30 years be among the 5 or 8 strongest countries qualifying for a Security Council veto or for G8 membership. In the long run the views of single European nations on climate change, banking regulation or Middle Eastern conflict will become as irrelevant as now that of Ecuador is. For Europeans the option of shaping their destiny separately in London, Berlin or Madrid simply does not exist: The question is only, whether Europeans will govern themselves at Brussels, or succumb as petty statelets - as Britons, Germans, Spaniards - to the then overwhelming power of global markets, Washington and Beijing.

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