It seems to me that a
fundamental issue of the EU referendum has been barely touched upon
in all the sound and fury of debate.
I consider the economic
arguments pretty finely balanced and the immigration problem harder
to settle, even after Brexit, than is generally supposed.
But during the
so-called renegotiation conducted by the Prime Minister an issue far
more important than any of the trifles gained was conceded: this was
the UK's veto on further integration of the Eurozone.
If we remain in the EU
we shall no longer have the power to block measures that favour the
Eurozone, even if they are not in our interest. We may simply draw
attention to the problem, following which the in-built majority of
the Eurozone can press ahead regardless.
I have explained in
previous posts why the political project of a single currency was
always a pipe-dream in the absence of fiscal consolidation and the
sort of mechanism for transfers to poorer regions that cannot long
survive outside the borders of one country.
The inhabitants of the
Eurozone may or may not want it to become a single country. No-one
has asked them and the Brussels elite will try to avoid doing so.
However history shows
us that whenever a measure of further EU integration has been
rejected by referendum the country concerned has been required to
vote again and this time get the answer right.
To the disastrous
unemployment and indebtedness across the southern member states,
Brussels knows only one answer – More Europe. Never mind
that the single currency caused most of the problems; the single
currency is by definition good and all steps necessary to make it
work are therefore also good.
To the calls for
Britain to lead rather than leave the EU, I say - How can we lead
from the fringes? The single currency is at the core of the project
and we have vowed to have nothing to do with it. The Schengen
Agreement is the second biggest undertaking and we have vowed to have
nothing to do with that.
There is no choice
available between having the EU consider or not consider UK
interests. To me a vote to Remain is a vote to be permanently
outvoted and our interests ignored anyway. However, unlike after
Brexit, we should not be allowed to remedy the situation by
negotiating freely on our own account with the rest of the world.
Meanwhile we shall
be allowed to continue paying the bills.
And if you think the
only bills are financial, you might just ask our fishermen what the
EU has done for them.
