Britain in Europe – Where Now?

As a result of David Cameron’s veto at the Brussels summit, Britain’s future in the European Union is now being seriously questioned. Public disillusionment with the European Project is now at an all time high. So where do we go from here?

It should be remembered that the desire for ever closer union is ideologically driven, and that the political, trade, financial and monetary consequences of EU membership are subordinate to the main objective which is the abolition of European nation states. The motivation for the creation of a United Europe was the reaction by liberals to the atrocities carried out by the Nazis. These were deemed to have been caused by “nationalism”, the chosen remedy being the abolition of nation states. So for the past sixty years there has been a gradual erosion of the powers exercised by nation states, which have been transferred “little by little, bit by bit” to the institutions of the European Union. At times this has been done by stealth, but it is now more or less out in the open for all to see.

Any individual or political party opposed to this project was branded an extremist, nationalist (considered to be a term of abuse), “Little Englander” or similar pejorative expressions. For decades unwavering support for the European Union agenda was the hallmark of all self respecting “progressive” forward looking politicians. The Conservative Party was proud to call itself the “Party of Europe”. The turning point for the Right on this outlook came with Margaret Thatcher’s Bruges speech in which she raised some slight doubts over the loss of sovereignty that would arise if the quest for ever closer union continued to be pursued. Since then the Tories have become mildly Eurosceptic although official policy has always been to strongly support EU membership.

The European Project for ever closer union was always ultimately doomed to failure since it involved the eventual replacement of democratically elected governments with EU sponsored puppet regimes controlled by technocrats such as those that have recently taken power in Italy and Greece. If the latest proposals for fiscal union were ever carried out each member state would become a puppet of the European Union, and democracy in any meaningful sense would be extinguished. Fortunately this will not happen. Since the symptoms and not the causes are the focus of current attention, it cannot be long before the Euro collapses, and when it does the European Union will not long survive the fall out. We can thank our lucky stars that Britain is outside the Eurozone, but the pain for us will nevertheless still be severe.