The problems Europe faces won't be solved by Britain turning its back on them
The referendum on whether or not Britain should remain in the European Union may still be two years away, but already the campaigns on both sides are gearing up.
We’ve heard a lot from the Eurosceptic and anti-immigrant right, the likes of UKIP who stand utterly opposed to the EU’s basic tenet of freedom of movement and who want to tear up what protections European law offers for British workers.
We’ve also heard from the business lobby and from the mainstream politicians who want to keep Britain in Europe purely because, for all its potential, the EU as it’s currently constituted is run in the interests of multinational corporations for whom it represents a lucrative market. They will lobby to make the EU an ever more friendly place for business, even if that comes at the expense of the rights of Europe’s people, as we have witnessed in the backroom deals being done over TTIP.
There has to be a better way. Not the way of the little Englanders or the big businessers.
We will soon be launching Another Europe is Possible, a cross-party campaign to vote to remain in the EU in the referendum, but also a platform to call for radical reform.
Initial signatories include Caroline Lucas MP, Zoe Williams, Michael Mansfield QC, Richard Murphy and Billy Hayes. Unlike the official remain campaign, we recognise that the EU as it stands today is deeply flawed. It is, at its heart an undemocratic, neoliberal institution. And we will campaign to change that. But we do not believe walking away is the answer.
To leave now, under the current government, would only make things worse for workers for whom progressive measures such as the Working Time Directive can provide protection from the most right-wing government Britain has ever had.
Some on the left oppose the EU on the grounds that it favours profit over people. But David Cameron’s government is among Europe’s leading proponents of neoliberal policies and a key advocate of TTIP. Leaving Europe would not save us from TTIP. We would get the same raw deal under a different name and any protections the EU did afford would be gone.
It was not Europe that imposed the bedroom tax on Britain. It is not Europe that is introducing punishing tax credit cuts. And because we are not in the euro, unlike in Greece, it is not Europe that is tying us into the straightjacket of austerity. As well as campaigning for a reformed Europe, we will be opposing any of Cameron’s attempts to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the EU that hurt workers’ rights and human rights.
A Brexit would also be at the cost of freedom of movement. The right to work, settle and live in any EU member state. The left has always stood up for migrants against the kind of scapegoating that stands at the heart of right-wing campaigns to leave so that fewer foreign people can come here.
The bringing down of borders between our diverse nations is one of the greatest achievements of a century that opened with the slaughter of millions on the fields of France and Belgium. And it is to our credit and benefit that people from all across the EU are welcome here.
Of course, it is right to criticise the EU for the barriers it has put up to migrants from outside its borders. It can and must do much more for Syrian refugees fleeing the horrors of war. But the answer to Fortress Europe is not to create Fortress Britain.
Finally, leaving would be a blow to efforts to fight climate change and environmental degradation. These are global problems we face. They cannot be tackled by one nation alone. Only through cross-border cooperation can we begin to meet the colossal challenges we face in the 21st century.
We need strict, common environmental policies of the sort only supranational bodies with the power of the EU can properly enforce. When the sea is rising, it won’t help to raise our drawbridge.
The EU is in desperate need of a democratic overhaul. It must be radically reformed to serve the interests of its citizens, not its biggest corporations. But the problems this continent faces will not be solved by Britain turning its back on them. Instead we want to work with progressive movements across the EU so that together we can realise a common dream: that another Europe is possible.
Salman Shaheen is editor-in-chief of The World Weekly. He is writing in a personal capacity.
15 Responses to “Comment: Another Europe is possible”
Mann T.
You do not say even one thing about how you would address the EU’s many anti-democratic problems. NOT ONE.
Burt you think free movement of labour is a ”basic tenet”. WHY? How does it benefit labour more than employers? Please do tell.
Polleetickle
Left-wing mindset: use other peoples money to fund entitlement and discourage wealthy from investing.
Right-of-centre mindset: maximise opportunities for everyone and provide aid beyond British shores.
Europhile mindset: use other peoples money to drip-feed entitlement and exploit multiculturalism for votes.
Eurosceptic mindset: utilise skilled productive employees plus create robust trade deals for global exports.
steroflex
“But the problems this continent faces will not be solved by Britain turning its back on them. Instead we want to work with progressive movements across the EU so that together we can realise a common dream: that another Europe is possible.”
I totally agree with this statement. It is a noble aspiration. There are indeed other progressive movements and we ought to work with them.
As to all the rest I cannot agree.
Down here, when the lights go out and the news is full of nice hardworking men being sacked in all heavy industry because of lack f electricity production without coal, when the big businesses simply stamp out the EU workers’ rights, when the current Conservative government finally borrows too much (austerity! He has trebled the debt!) then I shall know that your article is dangerous rubbish.
steroflex
This morning I read a document by Andrew Duff saying almost exactly what you are saying. But he is an insider’s insider in the EU.
What he wants is for the Frankfurt Protocol to give the Eurozone one united government and for the other nine members of the EU to fit in with that. He wants more power to the (unelected) Commission, one taxation policy under a European Union Minister (unelected) and a parliament which is centrally picked by European parties. Which means that your MEP for the North East could easily by German or Cypriot.
You might like to reform the European Union: you are behind the curve.
Lamia
A Brexit would also be at the cost of freedom of movement. The right to work, settle and live in any EU member state. The left has always stood up for migrants against the kind of scapegoating that stands at the heart of right-wing campaigns to leave so that fewer foreign people can come here.
Many people who are from Britain like European countries a great deal, and like to holiday there. Only a very small proportion actually want to live there – about 1 in 35 people.
The inability of a tiny minority to settle in other European country is not likely to be a big concern of most people still living here. In most cases – and this applies to pretty much any nation you care to name, not just Britain – actually going to live and work in a foreign country is either not desirable or not feasible.
Most people in the world live fairly near where they were born, are attached to that place, and don’t much want to live anywhere else. It’s familiar, it’s comforting. It’s where their friends and family are. And one can characterise that as unimaginative, even narrow minded if you wish, but that is how most people are and have always been. In general, only a very small minority really want to go and live in another country.
This is something that relatively well-heeled and relatively free to
travel Europhile professionals don’t seem to grasp: most people are not like them.
In any case, it was possible to travel to Europe and even work there and settle there long before the EU came into existence. Leaving the EU would not mean a complete and utter end to that for many of those who want to do so.
But this comes back to a plea for Britain to remain in the EU for the benefit of those British citizens… who don’t want to live in Britain. To which the answer of many who live here and like living here will be: “So… why should we care?”
The British people actually living in Britain have to live with the downsides of other people using their freedom of movement and are not personally seeing the upsides. The same goes for the majority of people in any country.
Unless you forsee a situation where the majority of the entire population of Europe at any one time is itinerant, then it’s hard to see why you expect most people to feel they are losing out if they are not part of some open EU borders system.
The title of your article is quite telling:
The problems Europe faces won’t be solved by Britain turning its back on them
Guess what, Salman: ‘the problems Europe faces’ are not all the responsibility of Britain – indeed arguably a number of them have been brought about by the incompetence and naivety of people who ploughed ahead with the EU ‘project’ without thinking properly, and while denouncing those who advised caution and a slower place as unimaginative and even as bigoted (as you are predictably doing here).
So long as there are no signs of EU-philes admitting that they’ve got some things badly wrong, and showing a willingness to address this (and very quickly) then you can’t reasonably expect people to want to remain in the EU. And you can’t just browbeat them into line by calling them ‘racist’ for the thousandth time.
The EU is in desperate need of a
democratic overhaul. It must be radically reformed to serve the
interests of its citizens, not its biggest corporations.
Okay, so let’s see that reform. Quickly. Impress us.