What has the European Union ever done for us?

Below is a letter by Sid Phelps of the Forest of Dean Green party, which is such a splendid mix of wit and wisdom that I felt it needed sharing here.

 

Letter

Last week’s letter from the UK Independence Party reminded me of Monty Python’s Life of Brian sketch where Reg the Briton asks the prosaic question: What have the Romans ever done for us?

Well, what has EU membership ever done for us? Well if you discount peace between member states for the last fifty years then there’s legislation that protects our environment; landfill, wildlife, habitats, water-quality, air quality, reduction of climate change gases  etc; and there’s workers’ rights - ensuring paid holidays, health & Safety protection at work, equal treatment for part-time workers & women and protection when businesses are sold.

But don’t listen to the Greens or the Left. Even in a recent CBI survey, 8 out of 10 firms believe we have a better future within Europe than out of it.*

Admittedly, not everything about the EU is perfect – bureaucracy, inefficiency and accountability being major problems; but as we go into the campaign for the European elections next May, let’s think about whether or not we are, like Reg the Briton – glossing over the major achievements over the last 40 years of the EU just because a minority of us simply don’t like Europe.

* http://www.cbi.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/2013/09/8-out-of-10-firms-say-uk-must-stay-in-eu-cbi-yougov-survey/

 

 

 

If you want to see those positive aspects of the EU supported, Molly Scott Cato is the local Green candidate for European election in 2014.

Molly for Europe

 

The European elections aren’t until next year – 22nd May 2014, and while that may still feel like a very long way off, things are already happening. The Green Party in the Southwest has chosen its candidates and now the work begins to put Green policies in front of people.  The lead candidate for the South West is our own Molly Scott Cato and if Twitter is anything to go by, people of Stroud are already showing a lot of love for Molly.

Molly leads the Green Group on Stroud District Council. She is Professor of Strategy and Sustainability at Roehampton University, the Green Party’s national speaker on finance and an international expert on green economics. Molly represented the Green Party on the “No to the Euro” campaign and is a regular commentator on the Eurozone crisis via her personal blog, Gaian Economics (http://gaianeconomics.blogspot.co.uk/ ).

Molly says, “I am deeply concerned that the Eurozone crisis is creating tensions and threatening the peace project that lies at the heart of my vision of Europe. I believe I can communicate the vision that Europe needs: of peace, prosperity and happy settled lives within a healthy environment, rather than competition and the endless quest for more.

There is a significant risk that if we don’t get the politics right, the political pressure for a referendum on leaving the EU will build, and the Union that has provided us with security and protection throughout our lives will start to break up. Restoring public support relies on increasing the democratic accountability of the European institutions and, crucially, on switching the focus to stability and away from the corporate single market.

My knowledge of economics can offer something important to the Green Group in the European Parliament at this time. I would like to join the likes of Sven Giegold and Philippe Lamberts, working to constrain the power of the ‘banksters’ and share wealth more equally, whilst remembering that nature is the true source of all our wealth.”

Molly was brought up in Bath and has lived in the West Country for most of her life. She holds a degree in PPE from Oxford University and a PhD in Economics from Aberystwyth University. She has three children.

There are Green Members of the European Parliament from all over Europe, coming to the table with broadly similar aims and ideas around sustainable living and a fairer future. Molly would be a powerful voice in that mix. A European Parliament that delivers for the people of Europe has to be about far more than big business and keeping the bankers happy. A good quality of life, real peace and real security are what we all need. We can make that happen.