Letters - 24 June 2016
From the EU referendum to membership
EU referendum
I am a Quaker, an Italian, a British resident by choice, a European at heart. I certainly don’t feel different from anyone else.
To those who advocate leaving the EU for its imperfections: please, dwell a little on our recent history. Some will say that we have learned from history and will not go to war again. They said that after the slaughter of the first world war.
Together we can have a more influential voice when dealing with the likes of the US, Russia, China and other powers. Small countries tend to be easily bullied. If Britain leaves the EU, it may encourage other sceptical EU nations to follow. The disintegration of this noble experiment will be likely.
I hear a lot about ‘sovereignty’; I fear this much used/misused word lacks credibility, and is a political device to serve the government of the day. I think sovereignty can easily convert to nationalism, and nationalism to militarism and, given the circumstances, to war.
Britain has already obtained special statuses, which give it more independence from many EU directives.
I understand the desire to feel special, which all nations share. We Europeans have much to be pleased about in our shared cultures and achievements.
My German wife and I will not be able to have a say in the coming referendum, so forgive me for venting my feelings in the only other way left to me.
Giampiero Zucchelli
The prime minister claims that it is better to stay in the EU, to be at the top table achieving more reforms. But the reforms, initially the basis of the referendum, following his discussions with twenty-seven other countries, were not significant. Consequently, during the referendum campaign these reforms have been ignored as the emphasis has been on the effects on the economy if there is a leave vote.
If the government is so keen to be at the top table in the European Union ‘Club’ why has action been taken by this and previous UK governments to seek exceptional treatment from so many of the EU rules, thus minimising our influence? On so many issues we do not want to work with the Club and yet we want to be in it!
While economic and financial matters have been given prominence by the ‘Remain’ side of the argument, ultimately it is politics rather than economics that takes precedence.
In 1975 I voted for a Common Market. The EU has now become a customs union, seeking ever closer union, with a vision of a ‘United States of Europe’. The EU institution, now consisting of twenty-eight countries, is fundamentally flawed because each country’s politics and economics are not congruent. Reform is vital but getting twenty-eight countries to agree is but a dream.
Tom Jackson
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