Green councillors have been asked to join the new nationwide campaign, Speakout. Speakout are claiming widespread support and are clearly very well funded. They have written to all local council leaders and are saying if we don't sign up then we "can be assured of one thing" we will not get the votes of their supporters.Photo: view across Ruscombe fields
They do indeed raise some very important points and in a way reminiscent of Thatcher selling us her policies: simple messages that seem to make sense. And indeed new research suggests there are now over 120 miles of red tape - 170,000 pages - more than double the number of pages that is normally claimed by the EU Commission and other commentators. The Common Agriculture and Fishing policies are a disaster, there is much misuse of money, many of it's practices are undemocratic and it's economic policies of globalisation are going in the wrong direction.
However Speakout come to the wrong conclusions. The European Union is urgently in need of radical reform, but to leave does not make sense. The EU has pioneered some impressive social and environmental legislation and European co-operation has worked well on many issues.
Greens oppose the introduction of the European Single Currency on both political and economic grounds. Its primary aim is to facilitate the European Single Market, largely for the benefit of transnational corporations. This will increase unsustainable trade patterns and thus further undermine small businesses and local economies. It is a threat to Britain remaining a self-governing nation. Greens have also clearly opposed moves towards an EU superstate, opposed a business-dominated federal Europe, and opposed the moves to less economic powers for national governments, but, whether we like it or not in today's world, certain issues are best considered transnationally. These include safeguarding basic standards of human, civil and animal rights, regulating multinational companies and resolving disputes between member states.
It is also important to counter the right wing isolationism of the US. Bush and co have ridden roughshod over international legislation and opposed international treaties to limit climate change, criminality, tax avoidance and the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Despite recent noises by Bush on climate change it is clear that Washington is still singlemindedly pursuing its own interests - Iran is just the latest example where disarmament is the excuse for regime change.
We urgently need to work for an EU that is more accountable and more democratic with issues like trade and economic policy left for member states. It is a pity the Speakout campaign has not highlighted those MEPs who are trying to work for change. At the last Euro elections you would think all parties would sign a pledge to tackle EU wastefulness and inefficiency, but not so. More Greens signed the pledge than members of all the other UK parties put together.
We cannot turn our backs on Europe: the EU has the potential to be an amazingly tool for progress. We need to change it from within.
2 comments:
I agree with much of what you say. The only problem is, that the treaties already signed, do not allow an either or approach. We are a full federal nation or nothing. It's too late to negotiate the powers have been surrendered.
Indeed Treaties already signed but not as prescriptive as suggested - the fear is they might be - hence Green opposition to the previous proposed constitution - what the European Union needs is a new Big Idea at its heart in order to reconnect with its half a billion citizens – and meet the real security threats of the 21st Century.
The EU celebrates its 50th birthday next week, and the occasion will be marked with the publication of an official declaration of the EU’s values and aspirations to be signed by the leaders of all 27 EU countries at a ‘birthday summit’ in Berlin on March 25th.
In an ‘Alternative Berlin Declaration’ to be published on the same day, Dr Caroline Lucas, Green MEP, is calling for radical reform of the EU, replacing its aim of ever-more free trade and competition with the objective of sustainability, and making its work more democratic and accountable to voters.
She said: “The EU is remote from Europe’s citizens, who are rightly mistrustful of its lack of democracy, links with big business and obsession with enhancing free trade and competitiveness.”
This Alternative Berlin Declaration looks at the record of the first 50 years of the European Union, and sets out why it is impossible for the EU to genuinely promote greater social justice and environmental sustainability whilst simultaneously prioritising international competitiveness and maximum economic growth. It then explores why a new direction for Europe needs to be based on a new goal of maximising self-reliance through strengthening democratic structures at all levels, and through a process of economic localisation. Finally it illustrates how the Treaty of Rome could be rewritten to further such an approach.
The EU has enormous potential to spread peace, freedom and security in and around Europe, and to promote and protect democracy and human rights at home and throughout the world. It has the potential to be a pioneer in the transition to low carbon economies, and in living more lightly on the planet.
Dr Lucas said: “But to fully achieve this potential, it has to change direction, and to put democracy and sustainability - rather than trade liberalisation and the single market - at the heart of its objectives. We need a strong EU – but one that is democratically accountable and focused on tackling the challenges that Europe’s citizens care about most: climate change, social injustice, conflict, resource depletion and fractured local communities.”
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