EuroMythology

Ten myths about the European Union

1.The European Union brought peace to Europe.
No; that was NATO. Since the second world war American and British forces guaranteed peace in Europe, preventing Communist takeover. (Which would, let's admit, also have guaranteed peace!) Two major players in NATO were Turkey and Norway, exposed on the flanks of Europe, neither of them members of the EU.
Two minor players in NATO were Germany, forbidden to operate an army outside her borders, and France, going her own way and acting as if it was in charge of OTAN - sorry, NATO. Both strong in the EU.

2. The European Union is not and will never be a superstate.

The EU has a flag, an anthem, a currency, a bank, a parliament, a passport, policies on agriculture, economy, fisheries, industry, employment, air travel and Law. It has a foreign and security policy, judiciary, police force and is developing an army. It has an (unadopted) constitution, diplomatic representation, and wants representation on the UN Security Council. It is working towards jurisdiction over all other nations in Europe. The Socialist 'Founding Fathers' set it up to be supranational.
Which bit of 'superstate' have our politicians failed to understand?

3. Churchill was all for the European Union.

Er...no. Actually, he was all for an Anglo-Saxon union: An English-speaking union of Britain, the USA and the Commonwealth. The European union he wanted was of France and Germany, to prevent them from starting yet another war that Britain would be expected to stop.
Churchill said of Britain in Europe:
"We have our own dream and our own task. We are with Europe but not of it. We are linked but not combined. We are interested and associated but not absorbed."

4. There is no rule about straight bananas. It's a eurosceptic fairy story.

That would be rule 404/93.

There are others; cucumbers not being overly curved, not selling loose items under a certain weight, the 'rickety ladders' directive, health shops needing to animal test all their traditional remedies, fish quotas leading to six foot deep trails of dead fish... Not to mention the nasty habit our civil servants have of 'gold-plating' Brussels diktats, by sneaking in extra rules after Parliament has rubber-stamped them. The word is micromanagement.

5. Ah, but sixty percent of our trade is with Europe...

Well, yes, very true... but what 'they' fail to add is that this trade is coming OUR way. If we withdraw from the european project, it is the EU that loses out, and we switch our trade back to the Commonwealth and the world. Let us not forget, too, that much of the global shipping we are permitted is sent via Rotterdam, which is counted as trade with Europe, no matter where the cargo is actually destined.

Don't forget either, that we don't need to be in the EU to trade with it. Norway, Turkey, Switzerland, Mexico, Japan, U.S.A. ...none of those are EU members.

6. But we get huge amounts of funding from Europe.

A conservative (little c) estimate is that forty billion pounds per year is going from the UK to Brussels. If we subtract how much is spent on projects 'funded from Europe', experts calculate that for every £2.60 we send over, £1 comes back to us.
Not only that, but Brussels decides what we spend the returned money on. Then we have to match it... Doesn't it make more sense to KEEP our money and spend it on things WE want, like hospitals, pension investment, less tax, and education?

7. The european constitution is a harmless 'tidying-up exercise'.

This is not tweaking the treaties of Rome, Nice and Maastricht so that they work better. If the EU constitution is ever accepted, it will change a group of trading nations into a Socialist Federation operating under one law; a whole new ball-game. Guess who will make the rules?
One complication: Our Constitution (yes, we DO have one) makes the Queen Head of State; all our politicians swear an Oath of Loyalty to her. Anyone swearing that Oath who passes governance of our country to a foreign power is by definition a traitor.
The european constitution WILL run headlong into the British Constitution.

8. Britain will lose influence outside the EU.

Probably not, but it definitely will if we STAY in the EU. Britain is a member of the UN, NATO, G7/G8, OPEC, the Commonwealth and other world organisations. When the eurozone becomes a Federation - with common economic, foreign and defence policies - Britain will lose all control of these seats and its voice.

9. We'll have to join the single currency eventually. >

Why? The UK has -or had- the fifth largest economy on the planet. London is a major world financial centre - by far the biggest in Europe. The 'City' is reckoned to be stronger now than when the euro was launched- so of course Brussels wants a new exchange, run from Frankfurt...
The point to emphasise is that the euro was never an economic project but a political one. It always was. Continental politicians make no effort to conceal this. By joining the euro, we would signal that we are prepared to let this country be ruled by a corrupt politburo whose accounts have not been signed off in thirteen years.
Ask your MP: If we find the euro is not good for Britain's economy, will the EU or the Central Bank allow us to withdraw from it? Prepare to hear answers on the lines of 'Not on your Nellie'.

10. But think of all the benefits of joining...

The shortest answer is "Name three." Common Agricultural Policy? It has British farming on its knees, and puts £250 a year onto food bills. The countries that benefit - France and the 'Club Med' of Greece, Italy, and Spain outvote any proposals for serious reform.
Common Fisheries Policy? That resulted in the destruction of Britain's fishing fleet. The fishing policy creates an annual major environmental catastrophe by forcing the dumping of dead fish, yet we can do nothing except ban our own fishermen and allow in Spanish boats.
All those funds coming our way? We pay Brussels twice or thrice what we ever get out.
An estimated 70% of our laws are now created abroad by people we did not vote for, cannot vote out, and who are not accountable for their mistakes.
Our Parliament is a rubberstamping machine, where Brussels' Bills are passed on the nod.
The House of Lords is being dismantled peer by peer.
The judiciary is over-ruled by Brussels law, the police are about to be subsumed by europol. Already you can be arrested in this country - without proof to OUR courts- for an alleged crime committed in another country.
A constitution? We've got one. We've had it for going on 600 years. If we ever do need another, what's wrong with the US constitution? As the joke says; they're not using it...

Seriously, we are all BETTER OFF OUT.

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