European “Economic government” – time for the British people to vote in a referendum

Given that the leaders of France and Germany have now called for “economic government” by the European Union, whilst setting out proposals on how to protect Greece from default, political analyst, Jim McConalogue of the European Foundation says that now it is time for the current UK Government, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats to set out how they intend to deal with the prospect of the British economic policy being firmly directed by a European economic government – by responding to whether they will finally give the British people a referendum on this crucial issue, which ultimately decides how the British people are to be governed.

European “Economic government” – time for the British people to vote in a referendum

1. Given that the leaders of France and Germany have now called for “economic government" by the European Union, whilst setting out proposals on how to protect Greece from def au lt, it is time for the current UK Government, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats to set out how they intend to deal with the prospect of the British economic policy being firmly directed by a European economic government – by responding to whether they will finally give the British people a referendum on this crucial issue, in deciding how they are to be governed.

2. The proposal from the recent paper by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy that “the European Council (summits) should become the economic government of the European Union” – coupled with implied amendments or a new Treaty – is a dramatic development and one that needs decisive action. Britain must lead Europe out of this complex situation by re-affirming that the electorate is entitled to a referendum which had been previously denied on Lisbon.

3. The opportunity for a referendum will provide a proper basis for the long overdue renegotiation of Britain’s relationship with Europe.

4. A decisive ‘No’ vote from the British people would then lead to a new Europe based on an association of nation states.

5. The new development indicates that Britain has been out-manoeuvred and has been grossly sidelined under the developed Franco-German partnership, with the aid of recently acquired powers under the Lisbon Treaty.

6. Britain must be clearly opposed to economic government, which represents an obvious drive towards ever closer political union.

7. The EU acquired new powers through the provisions in the Lisbon Treaty in December 2009 and the Franco-German partnership has been keen to enforce a stronger and harmonised European economic policy, over which Britain has little or no control.

8. The paper by the leaders of France and Germany further states that "We commit to promote a strong coordination of economic policies in Europe" and "We propose to increase (EU summits’) role in economic surveillance," the prospect of which must be decided by the British people in a referendum.

9. Any future response stating that this development concerns only eurozone members would be false and misleading, since the paper’s intentions for European economic government are clearly bound up with Britain’s own political and economic government.

10. A large part of the paper details proposals for eurozone states and the International Monetary Fund on Greece emergency loans, and those also raise serious issues on which the Britain people must have their say. It would create a further crisis in public confidence if the British Government’s contributions towards a Greek economic bail-out came before its own obligations to resolve the troubled fate of its own taxpayers or act over the nation’s own failed industries during the economic recession.