Let's dare to have less Europe!

As leading UK politicians and commentators urge eurozone countries, above all Germany to take the plunge into a fully fledges fiscal and economic union (while firmly rejecting the UK’s participation), it seems they have failed to contend with quite how deep resistance to such a move might be. Indeed we are beginning to witness a bizarre spectacle in which the UK is arguing for more EU intervention while many on the continent are arguing for less, a complete turn-around from recent history.

For example, at the time of going to pixel, the homepage of Die Welt leads with a comment piece by Clemens Wergin entitled “Lets dare to have less Europe”. In the piece, he makes the sorts of arguments often made by the more nuanced EU-critical UK-based commentators, such as:

“The principle of collective responsibility should remain an exception. Therefore, we must return to a Europe in which the welfare of one nation does not depend on how others organise themselves.” 

“[The moves towards a fiscal and banking union] mean even larger intervention rights for the European institutions in national budgets. At the same time it would also mean that the inability of Italian and Greek officials to persuade their wealthy citizens to pay their taxes would be compensated by fees from the dutiful North. It would be the perfect recipe for Europe-wide organized irresponsibility.” 

“This type of deepening is not wanted by the citizens, it will not work and it drives a wedge of division into the continent. It is also further evidence of the implacability with which the political elites of the continent run in the same direction. When it comes to European issues, there is a form of ‘group-think’ that is far too rarely questioned. According to this creed, only he or she who calls for more integration can be considered to be a good European. Meanwhile, it has long been the opposite.” 

Surely these are the sort of sentiments that constructive UK EU-reformers ought to be embracing?

Max Hastings: "I was wrong" about the EU

In today's Daily Mail, Max Hastings makes a self-described recantation of his formerly "pro-European" stance:

"After much agonising and hesitation, I adopt the conclusion that many of you probably reached years ago: that the EU in its present form has become a disaster, which threatens the future of its major members, unless its terms and powers are drastically recast."

His argument for the change of heart is powerful - although we would argue that pointing out the failings of the EU doesn't mean that Hastings can no longer describe himself as "pro-European", just that he is now a "pro-European" of a different sort.

He cites a long list of burdensome EU regulations, such as the Temporary Agency Workers Directive and the Resale Rights Directive, which are holding back the UK and other EU members from competing with the world's emerging economies:

"At a time when we face a historic challenge from Asia, the EU makes it almost impossible to adopt measures essential to strengthening its members’ competitiveness, above all the relaxation of employment law. This has become, for practical purposes, unemployment law."He lists other failures too. The lack of a meaningful foreign policy, the corruption of the European Parliament and, of course, the failed Single Currency, whose perceived success, in Hasting's words, "was an illusion created by smoke, mirrors, prodigious subsidy and reckless borrowing."

For Hastings, "membership of the EU in its present form has become a blight, imposing unacceptable social, cultural, commercial and industrial burdens and constraints" but the option of outright withdrawal is rejected, which he suggests would quickly lead to "lonely isolation":

"I realise that quitting Europe would engage us in a crisis that would sap the entire energy and attentions of any British government for years.

But it has become essential to repatriate powers from Brussels. This is not in furtherance of isolationism, but of the economic imperative to strengthen our competitive position in the world and repair our social fabric."

It's well worth a read in full.