UKIP and the EU: What now?

It is not just in Britain that an anti EU party has topped the poll. In France too, but all across the EU anti parties of right and left have gained ground. This will shake the project to its foundations and stop in its tracks any further advance towards federalism. Yet because of the unwieldy nature of the governance built up over many years, it is unlikely that real change will occur; nor can it, since a new treaty would be needed and in today’s polarized and divided Union it is unlikely that such a treaty would be unanimously ratified.

This Blog is a passionate supporter of the European idea. This has brought peace to a continent riven by war since the fall of the Roman Empire. The fact that all across Europe there is now an election to a single parliament is something which pays tribute to the sacrifice and suffering in all those wars of the past. Yet support of the idea is one thing, but support of the project is quite another. It is the project, not the idea, which is flawed.

This Blog has set out countless times how it is not possible to have a currency without a government, thus the Euro zone is in a mess. Equally it is not possible to have a parliament without a government, sharing an ambiguous authority with a Council and a Commission, both of which are beyond the comprehension of the vast majority of the population, over whom this unwieldy and ambiguous combination exercises a stealthy control of an extraordinary amount of daily life, asserting, all too often, superiority over the power of elected national governments.

What is needed in Europe is a Confederation, with free trade at its heart, with a parliament and government concerned with its working and implementation, required to gain approval from national parliaments for every single law and regulation it brings into effect. The European Union must become a Confederation of independent states bound together by free trade, pursued in the common interest. It must also invite Russia in.

The European Commission and the Council of Ministers should cease to have any authority whatever. The Commission should morph into an administrative trade based civil service and its Commissioners should be sent home, while the Council should become as any other meeting of like minded leaders; a forum, not an executive.

But to do this will require unanimous agreement among all the Member States. That will never happen. Back to square one.

www.malcolmblair-robinson.com

Comments are closed.