European Union
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There’s been a bit of a mini crisis in Europe this week, as a referendum in Ireland rejected a new treaty between the EU member countries.
Naturally – in the way of all things that have ever been done by bureaucrats – the treaty that created the EU in the first place was a bit of a bodge-up and it doesn’t allow the European Union to progress from the point it’s at at the moment. Among other things, the current treaty limits the number of member countries to 27 – which has already been reached. That means countries like Croatia, which is hoping to become a member by 2011, wouldn’t be able to join.
Of course there’s been the usual whining and moaning and gnashing of teeth among the europhobes in Britain, too. But, fortunately, they haven’t been allowed to actually vote on the current treaty. I’m not generally an advocate of autocratic government power – although, let’s face it, that’s the case with everything else they do. But in this particular case, it seems clear that the British people are far too stupid to be given the opportunity to sabotage the European Union.
There’s a large and dominant minority of people in this country who are xenophobic and pig ignorant – and proud of it. The barons of the gutter press (which is practically all the press in Britain) manipulate these fools like puppets to further their own dodgy agendas.
United States interests have a massive influence over the media in this country – and if there’s anyone who’s got a vested interest in derailing the EU, it’s the Americans. This new, economically powerful Europe is a massive threat to US world domination. And the strength of the Euro is gradually pushing the US dollar into obscurity. I’m quite certain that US interests are behind a lot of the anti-EU propaganda in the UK – and no doubt the whole of Europe as well.
There are plenty of fools in this country who think Britain can stand alone against the rest of the world. But that’s not true and it’s never been true. This country had a vast empire for a couple of centuries, which gave it a significant position as a global power. Before that, it was just an insignificant little island off the coast of Europe, where most people lived in abject poverty.
But that empire has long gone and the UK doesn’t even produce enough food to feed itself any more. There’s virtually no manufacturing here, either. The entire economy is based on the bubble of the financial markets. And that bubble is in the process of bursting quite spectacularly.
If people think there’s a future for this country in continuing to be a client kingdom of the US empire, then they should start thinking a bit more clearly. The US is likely to be going down the gurgler itself before too long – and it will drag the UK with it.
Mostly, though, i don’t think the europhobes think about anything as remotely practical as either of those subjects. Their main objection seems to be that they don’t want to be ruled by the French and the Germans. But they fail to take into account that British people have been ruled by French and Germans for at least the last thousand years!
The Normans, who colonised this country in 1066 were a Germanic tribe that invaded part of France before they moved into Britain. To a very large extent we’re still ruled by the Normans today.
The silliest thing is that those Normans don’t really mind about the EU – because they’re part of a large pan-European ruling class anyway. It’s the fools at the bottom of the heap who think it’s important. If they think it’s going to be worse being ruled by people in Brussels who don’t give a damn about them than it is being ruled by people in London who don’t give a damn about them, then they’re seriously deluded.
Apart from anything else, mainland Europeans work a shorter week, get better pay, and have a higher standard of living than we do here. Petrol’s more expensive here – because of the London government’s high taxes. Public transport’s more expensive here – because of the London government’s appalling transport policies. All in all, this country’s a rundown dump that’s ruled by greedy and stupid people. Surely the EU can’t be any worse!
But the europhobes can’t see any of that – they’re too busy dancing to the tune of their American masters.
7 Responses to “European Union”
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Your father used to think that we should be the 51st state! Madman! You do hear horror stories about the EU demanding straight cucumbers (the very idea!), but that’s just Rupert Murdoch trying to scare us into making him president, I think.
Funny that, your father used to think that too! And he was completely wrong. He had an excuse though, having been subjected to intense propaganda during and after the second world war. The closest most of the europhobic fools come to that nowadays is the constant flood of war crap on the idiot box!
I think if Murdoch wanted to be president he would have by now. But i reckon he’s happier being in the background, pulling the president’s strings. I’d guess his main problem with the EU is that they won’t let him trample willy-nilly all over the European media.
Actually the only country that won’t let Murdoch trample willy-nilly is China!
No, I don’t think wartime propaganda accounts for the old codger’s pro-US bias. By and large the British population resented the Yanks being here and most people of that generation maintained (even if they didn’t genuinely believe) that we’d have got on just fine if the Yanks had stayed out of it. J A Kemp was an honourable exception to this national self-delusion, that’s all.
Winston Churchill, of course, was in favour of a ‘United States of Europe’, although I’m not sure whether he envisaged the UK being a part of it. He was probably smart enough to see it would be necessary for the UK to build a new alliance with Europe sooner or later, though.
The chief problem with the European project, and no doubt the one that will prevent the constitution/treaty being ratified by the general public, is the lack of transparency. EU bureaucrats are in the habit of obscuring and fudging what they’re doing in order to slip changes in under the wire because they know that if they brought it all into the open too many people would object. This has been compounded in the current case because they resorted to the childish tactic of pretending the new treaty was not just the old constitution dressed up differently.
They have clearly got up the noses of enough Irish voters to make them reject a fairly innocuous change like this – and considering the generally favourable attitude the Irish exhibit (with very good reason) towards the EU, there doesn’t seem any prospect of persuading people in other less Euro-enthusiastic countries to let it pass. And now that they’ve had this debacle they won’t be able to slip it past national electorates on the nod – there will be furious demands for referendums elsewhere, and the demands will have to be met. And there will be more no votes.
Ultimately the EU is going to have to change radically before any more structural changes can be imposed. It shouldn’t be surprised – it’s had a good run of implementing quite phenomenal change without much debate. The EU has bypassed democracy for decades, but it won’t be allowed to do it any more. It’s probably a good thing – but it does present a big problem for potential expansion and, as I say, I suspect there will have to be a major move in the direction of democracy before anything much else can happen. And when you have democracy, of course, ANYTHING can happen.
If only those rotten Yanks had let dear old Adolf get on with his programme for a united Europe, we wouldn’t be having all this trouble.
Just like all politicians, you mean? I’ve never come across a government that didn’t do that. Just as well the British people didn’t get a vote when our government was set up – there still wouldn’t be one and we’d be ruled by an autocratic queen. We probably wouldn’t notice much difference though!
I feel a bit sorry for the rest of Europe having to have Britain become a part of it (-:
HaHa to MsLucyBlue!!