The European Referendum

 

Now the negotiations with Europe are underway and the press is full of discussions of the referendum and the advantages and disadvantages of the UK remaining within the union.  I find it very surprising that no-one seems to mention that possibly the most important purpose of forming the European Union was to prevent another major European war.  Although it is not possible to say for certain that the EU was solely responsible, it is nevertheless true that Western Europe  has for the last seventy years  been at peace.  Sadly this does not extend to the Balkans, where there have been major conflicts, or to the rest of the world where war seems to be almost continuous.  It does, nevertheless, seem a very powerful reason for maintaining the European Union and for retaining the United Kingdom as one of its important members.   

It does seem highly plausible that not only the free trade area but the free movement of people between the countries of the Union does lead to increased mutual understanding and that this, as well as the attempts that the European Union makes to achieve some degree or integration, have contributed  to maintaining  the peace.  For this reason alone I will vote to stay in the Union – whatever the outcome of the “re-negotiations”

 

 However I am surprised that the criticisms of the Europe Union are nearly always aimed at the European Commission rather than at the European Parliament

The European Parliament was set up by those who wished to see much closer European integration and who envisaged the creation of a European Government and the formation of a United States of Europe rather resembling the United States of America.  In that case, there would indeed be an unarguable case for having a European Parliament to fill the same purposes that are served by the Congress of the United States.  However, we have no European Government even remotely in view but we do have a European Parliament.  This body seems to me to have a certain amount of power but  virtually no responsibility.  .  Its lack of responsibility is really very obvious.  I have had some involvement with the EU, largely through my association for many years with the Federation of European Academies of Medicine, I have carried out an informal survey not only of my British colleagues but of those from other European countries to discover how many people know even the name of their MEP.  The answer is almost none.  Members of the European Parliament do not seem to be responsible to their constituencies and indeed the way that they are elected from party lists means that the candidates have very little contact with their constituencies anyway.  Nevertheless, this unrepresentative body with no obvious function costs the community  large sums of money. In my view too many MEPs  tend to espouse extreme positions on many unreasonable causes, be it opposition to GMOs, and to various reproductive technologies; and enthusiastic support for alternative medicine.  

 

It would surely be an excellent idea to suspend the European Parliament until such time (if ever) as there is a European Government.  In the meantime, the two palaces that it occupies in Strasbourg and Brussels could be used for other purposes and perhaps bring in money rather than spend it; and the amount that is now spent on the MEPs could be used for socially much more useful purposes.   

It is remarkable that even those who reject the European Union , such as members of UKIP, nevertheless hold seats in the European Parliament and are  happy to take its money.

 Perhaps this is what Mr Cameron should be discussing with Mr Juncker and with his fellow heads of state.