At Last The Observer Talks About The EU And It's Bollocks

Rafael Behr | Britain must grow up and stop believing Europhobe nonsense | Comment is free | The Observer

After years of printing virtually nothing about the EU and its operations (including its catastrophic effect on the postal system) The Observer suddenly prints an article by Rafael Behr, attacking Europhobes. Must be something to do with events, dear boy.

The article is stuffed with inaccuracies and shot through with political naivete.

Please read it for yourself; I can't bring myself to read it again. The comments by supporters of the EU are as sadly misinformed and incorrect as Behr's, who writes:

A second Irish referendum has approved the Lisbon treaty, removing one of the last obstacles to its taking effect. This document, remember, is a European constitution in disguise, smuggled through Britain's parliament under the noses of somnolent MPs. It means that Albion's ancient powers can be whisked away at last to a dark Belgian corridor.

There is another interpretation [other than that Europhobe 'conspiracy' one]: that there is no conspiracy; that the EU is an alliance of sovereign nations in which British prime ministers have collaborated because it serves the country's interests; that the Lisbon Treaty is just one in a parade of flawed but worthwhile compromises required to make a multinational alliance work. Dull, but true.

What planet is this oaf living on?

The Lisbon Treaty is a constitution; the architects of the original European Constitution have said so; Lisbon was the EU's means of getting what they wanted after the rejection of the Constitution by French and Dutch voters.

The EU will no longer be an alliance of sovereign nations once the Lisbon Treaty is implemented - in fact, it is barely that, even now. This is the 'pooled sovereignty' bluff the EU's supporters like to deploy, ignoring the fact that sovereignty cannot be pooled, only drowned. It ignores the obvious fact that successive British governments have either connived in passing EU laws that are inimical to our sovereignty, trade and other interests or have not fought hard enough against them. And not told us what they were doing while they were at it.

Behr has clearly not read the treaty document or understood the implications of it: Lisbon makes the EU a state, with us as its citizens. It cements the primacy of the unelected Commission and the Councils over national governments (the Parliament remains nothing but a glorified rubber stamp); it establishes the total dominance of EU law and legislation over that of its 'member states'; and it allocates to itself the right to change, amend and extend its own powers, with no democratic checks or accountability. The treaty also lays out the intention to set up a Euro police force, an EU army/armed services and an EU Diplomatic Service.

These and other facts are either not known by EU supporters or are simply disregarded, as if they'll just go away, like a bad dream.

The few benefits of membership of the EU are completely outweighed by the disadvantages. Those benefits could just as easily be secured through traditional international agreements.

The British media since 1997 have assiduously avoided talking about the EU with the deliberate intention of keeping us uninformed. The undemocratically-enforced second Irish referendum and the blather about the prospect of Blair as 'President' has meant they've had to acknowledge the existence of the Union, and in the Guardian and Observer's case, declare themselves in support.

We know who our enemies are.