“The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our life-time.” Sir Edward Grey, Foreign Secretary 1905 -1916
Sir Edward Grey’s prescient words on the eve of Europe’s ruling élites’ tragic and barbarous folly, the First World War, resonate again today. Even the leaders of the European Union (EU) recognise that something is amiss with their experiment to weld together an EU superstate from the people of diverse countries.
Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the EU Commission, declared “Europe is not in (a) good place” – an understatement if ever there was one. Cameron wants the UK to remain a member of this club of failures. He cannot succeed except through weight of deception, untruths and the real risks of remaining as well as the induced fears of illusory risks of “Brexit”. Does Cameron trust to the assertion “The mistakes that have been committed in foreign policy are not, as a rule, apparent to the public until a generation afterwards”? [Attributed to Otto von Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor who united the German states with Prussia into a united Germany by similar guile about Sovereignty, Power at the “top table”, Fear, Intimidation and Force].
The EU is breaking up as can be seen from:- The closing of EU borders, the abandonment of Schengen, the increased destruction of the economies of Southern Members by an overvalued Euro, the similar economic suffering other Euro members to the North to a lesser extent, and the implacable strict economic régime of the Commission. Only Germany seems to have thrived on the economic strategy of the EU as its economy grows and exports increase due to an undervalued Euro currency. This is all economically and politically disastrous for the UK.
But if disaster is again in the offing for the UK where exactly are we heading?
To foretell the future is guesswork; the unexpected happens. Yet much is predictable. Basic economics and ingrained habits are two guidelines which may offer us a fair idea of what lies ahead. For example: ruling élites and bureaucracies always tend to pursue their own interests often to the detriment of the people who have only that electoral power now valueless in the EU. Remove that people power, as in the EU, and the élite is free of all democratic restraint. We have seen that in the USSR and it does not work!
On the other hand, major demographic shifts and mass population movements are occurring, adding religious fears to economic and personal uncertainties. Yet today, whilst the aspirations in poor as well as rich countries are rising, the disappointments with the EU are deepening.
The EU is ill-equipped to cope with any changes that affect its pre-planned course of travel. It is hopelessly inept in this fast changing world.
As technological innovation accelerates, the EU doggedly pursues its pre-set direction. It maintains a definite order of precedence in its fixed direction of travel, mindset, policy making and actions, come what may! It is the Prussian way!
More important than anything else is the EU’s raison d’être – the creation of a centralised, homogenised, internal borderless, bureaucratic, non-democratic, ever expanding superstate with limitless territorial ambitions, which seeks to advance its own institutionalised interests even over powerful neighbours like Russia! There is also a secret and urgent imperative to expand Commission control over the member states and the individual lives of all EU “citizens”.
In furtherance of EU aims, any sense of democratic legitimacy, transparency and accountability must be ignored; laws must be manipulated whilst national cultures and heritages, including the Judaeo- Christian heritage, must be undermined or removed in the name of the great cause of furthering the EU project.
Deceptions are repeated by the Commission daily until its “achievements” are irreversible; corruption is always tolerated or even facilitated in the cause; whistle-blowers made to “disappear”; acquiescence in “mistakes” is concealed and their consequences unacknowledged and unrectified.
This deceitful policy is not an encouraging recipe for any stability, prosperity or general wellbeing in an increasingly competitive, technologically advancing and dangerous world in which the EU is already falling far behind.
How will the EU, its political/bureaucratic ruling élite and their privileged fellow travellers cope with the challenging future? Not well, based on their performance to date. The EU will dogmatically follow its existing agenda and will be slow to respond even when problems are obvious. The EU is likely to exacerbate even existing major problems and engender an ever-increasing range of new ones, which will impact adversely upon peace, security, well-being and quality of the lives of the citizens of the member states.
The biggest areas for concern within the EU include: increasing incompetence and a lack of ethical standards; poor economic management and prioritising the redistribution of existing wealth rather than facilitating urgent new per capita wealth creation. Taxes are high and the regulatory burden on businesses deters innovation (see the hidden costs of EU membership). The EU has either taken over, or plans so to do, many policy areas formerly under national control, including, economic policy, defence, security, health, safety, border control, migration, national infrastructure (such as roads, railways, air travel, energy), criminal law, and yet more agriculture and fishing, to name but a few.
Meanwhile, restrictions are placed on personal freedoms, democracy has been extinguished and any powerful vested interests gain more and more power. Things can only become worse, with crises of mass migration, terrorism and financial crashes which will add to the alienation from the whole EU project of all people across the member states.
So, being the problem, how can the EU be part of the solution? Any meaningful or substantial ‘reform’ of the sclerotic and obsolete EU is very unlikely even with the obvious existence of strong evidence that fundamental change is vital. Cosmetic change only is proposed. Cameron’s ‘reforms’ and ‘renegotiations’ then are a misleading chimera created out of a Sisyphean task; renegotiation could have a sting in the tail and any gain in “Cameron freedom” by adopting ‘Associate Membership’ of the EU (the so-called “British Model”) would be a short-lived illusion and descent into the abyss.
No interest and certainly no desire for any, let alone, radical change can be discerned among the EU’s ruling élite. Essential mechanisms for such change do not exist. Superficial change may occur, but it will neither be far reaching enough nor irreversible. It will not change the underlying culture, objectives or direction of travel of the EU.
Professor John W Hunt, in his studies of organisational behaviour in the EU and other international bodies, concluded that reform always gets pushed to the bottom of the pile. He noted: “International bodies rarely have a power base of their own….. To justify themselves, highly paid, often initially idealistic staff spend their time developing yet more ideas that can’t be implemented. The result is the worst of all worlds, there being nothing more cynical than a bunch of rich, demoralised ex-idealists.”
The only conclusion to be drawn is that “Brexit” is imperative – we must leave the EU as soon as possible.
Speaking the Truth unto the Nation
