Sunday 17 November 2002

Europe's prospects

Bill Jamieson continues his critique of the EU. Writing about the situation in Germany, he says:
Faced with this appalling picture, Britain’s pro-EU establishment has just nothing to say. Its dwindling members have watched the economic decline of Germany and the deepening slowdown across the euro zone as if in a state of disbelief and denial that the economic model into which they wished to decant the British economy has spectacularly unravelled before their eyes. They are at a complete loss to advance any coherent analysis as to why this has happened, still less any policy for getting Europe out of this mess.
Futhermore:
The demise of the EU as a beneficial economic construct, or one in which its people had hope of better times and an end to the relentless slide of Europe on the global stage, is now at an advanced and highly critical stage.This is an extraordinary confession of the political bankruptcy of Europe, and a measure of how complete is the intellectual collapse of the remaining pro-Euroists in Britain.

When this busted flush gets round, there is every possibility of a ferocious policy reassessment, not just of Britain’s status as a "pre in" but of how long we can pretending we really want a place at the rotten heart of Europe. The collapse of idea in Europe may yet be the event that will snap Britain awake from a 30-year delusion.

The "political bankruptcy of Europe", the "intellectual collapse of the remaining pro-Euroists", "this busted flush" - I suspect that it won't be too long before some mainstream politicians see a gaping hole in the political marketplace. Yes, it's time to get out.