The EU represents 7% of the world’s population, approximtely 23% of global GDP and 50% of global public spending. Even without Britain almost all the nations of the EU have the highest life expectancy at birth, the best access to education and the highest GDP per capita. The crude capitalism that is typical of China and the United States is made more gentle and people-orientated by the very rules and directives that critics constantly beef about, but which ensure equal treatment in courts of law, time off for women having babies, reasonable holidays, sick pay, safety at work, safe cars, food that doesn’t make you sick, intelligent healthcare, clean air, an improving environment and a host other safeguards for human rights.
No one (except some Brits) wants to leave the EU, they only want to enter. To those of us who lived through the Second World War, the EU is the means whereby we stand together with our (more or less) common values against the illiberal, anti-democratic forces in full throttle : China, Russia, Turkey, Egypt, the list goes on and on. To be in a small country by itself (and 60 million people is now a small country) is a perilous proposition looking forward, and those who say otherwise have little vision. The Rome declaration adopted on the EU’s 60th anniversary said, I quote, “Taken individually, we would be sidelined by global dynamics. Standing together is our best chance to influence them”.
The EU was (is) an Epicurean venture, offering more peace of mind to more people than ever before in history. It needs reforms, yes; leaving? No!
(I owe some of the above to an article in the Guardian Weekly by Natalie Nougayrede, 7th April, 2017)
An excellent post! Unfortunately there’s no very much that can be done. Both Labour and the Conservative Party want to take Britain out of the Single Market entirely, in order to impose the immigration controls they believe most Britons voted for when they voted Leave. The only hope for the country is that it improves in other areas. But with an ageing population, low productivity, high housing costs and vast regional disparities, Britain was already in an economically vulnerable place before voting Leave. Brexit may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
One of the lies of the Leave campaign was to suggest that Britain is an exceptional country. But economically at least, it isn’t. GDP per capita slightly exceeds the EU average. But most parts of the UK are poorer than the EU- West Wales and Cornwall are so poor, they qualify for the EU’s direct aid. It’s just that Inner London, the Thames Valley, East Cheshire and Aberdeenshire are so rich, they pull an otherwise lethargic country back into respectable territory. The cruellest irony is that the already-rich areas largely voted Remain, and their global connections will probably insulate them from any severe hardship. It’s the rest of Britain- the Britain that depends far more on trade with the EU- that will suffer the most.