The 10 myths of Europe | Progress | News and debate from the ...

As Olympic gold fever dies down, normal political life will be resumed. One of the big debates in the next period will be whether Britain should adopt the prejudices of the Daily Mail, Sun and Daily Telegraph and move to the exit door of the EU. David Cameron?s repatriation and referendum politics is certainly seen as heading in that direction. Rightwing commentators insist that Britain should look to the world and away from Europe. In Tory MP Douglas Carswell?s words, ?Britain is shackled to a corpse (Europe)? and should cut itself adrift. As Progress members and readers fan out for summer holidays to many different corners of Europe, from Galway to Greece, they can judge for themselves whether the dominant line of the British press, BBC and Sky is right ? namely, that Europe is in total meltdown and Britain is so lucky to have the pound sterling and its independent fiscal and monetary policies which are working so well.

There is much in the EU that needs change. Labour should be arguing for reform and rebalancing of the EU to promote growth and increase democratic transparent control. This is an alternative R&R policy to Cameron?s repatriation and referendum proposals. But first Labour and progressives need to clear away the cobwebs in our own thinking. Here are 10 current myths about the EU which the isolationists and Europhobes spread and which are widely believed. One can and should be in favour of a different EU but thinking about what needs to be done will lead nowhere simply caused if these myths are believed.

Myth 1) The euro causes mass unemployment So how come unemployment is much lower in Germany, or the Netherlands than in Britain? Spanish unemployment was around 25 per cent well into the 1990s. In fact, the only time unemployment in Spain came below 10 per cent was when the euro replaced the peseta. It is government policy that determines economic success not the EU or the single currency per se.

Myth 2) Youth unemployment has surged under the euro Can anyone in Britain, with one in four 16-24-year-olds without work, make this claim with a straight face? Corrupt, clientalist politics in Spain and Greece have refused reform of the youth labour market to give young people a job but if the euro is responsible should we blame the pound for Britain?s lost generation of school and university leavers?

Myth 3) The EU makes all our laws Sorry, but the House of Commons researches this every year and can never find more than about seven per cent of UK primary legislation which stems from Brussels. Just think of the rows over legislation in the Commons since 2010 ? student fees, tax cuts for millionaires, NHS ?reform?. Gove?s free schools, attacks on disabled people, five-year parliaments, cuts in local government provision ? all these are made-in-Britain laws and have nothing to do with Europe.

Myth 4) The euro was? badly designed and Greece should not have entered Agreed. But if Greece is forced out there will be a massive run on banks. It is not the single currency that allowed such lax regulation of banking in recent years. That began in America with Robert Rubin and Alan Greenspan who removed all the rules in place since the 1930s to make banks behave responsibly. Britain (I would rather not mention which government) awarded an honorary knighthood to ?Sir? Alan Greenspan and his bust still stands in the Treasury. If we worship false gods of greed first we should not be surprised when they destroy us. The dollar is no more responsible for the Greenspan-Rubin tragedy of errrors than the euro is for bad policy in the EU.

Myth 5) Devaluation is the way forward So how come the British economy has been belly-up since the major devaluation of the pound four years ago. The pound lost about 25 per cent of its value against the euro. Did this lead to an export boom? UK balance of trade has never been worse. Belgium exports more to India than Britain. One day perhaps China will allow British exports to get a foothold ? maybe when the Chinese have stopped killing British businessmen like Neil Heywood ? but all the Commonwealth countries have various forms of protectionism in place ? just ask anyone who tries to trade with India.

Myth 6) The EU is run by technocrats with no democratic oversight Actually all the decisions taken in Europe are approved by democratically elected ministers responsible and accountable to their parliaments and public opinions. Decisions are slow and tortuous and are often so late in becoming policy they may be no longer relevant. The number of EU commissioners should come down from 27 to 10 but will the UK give up having a commissioner? Ask Nick Clegg.

Myth 7) The euro has caused riots and the rise of extremist parties That?s for Nick Griffin and the other BNP MEP to answer. Europe has always had extremist politics hovering at its fringe. The French communist party was xenophobic and supported one of the world?s great tyrannies for decades. Long before the euro existed there were ultra-nationalist and racist politicians elected under PR systems to different national and regional parliaments. Jean-Marie Le Pen?s glory days were when France used the franc. The biggest riots in Europe since the world capitalist crisis began in 2008 happened in London last year. Unlike the riots of Athens which were largely confined to its main square, the London riots spreads across the nation, turned into mass arson and looting with five deaths and huge damage caused. Last time anyone checked, Britain was not using the euro so is the pound to blame for the August 2011 riots? No and it is just as silly to blame the euro for social unrest and extremist political parties.

Myth 8)The EU imposes terrible burdens on British business This whine from the right has been a constant ever since the concept of social Europe was promoted. Tory MPs want to repatriate all rules from Europe that give some modest protection to workers and unions. For the left to act as bag carriers for this attack on social justice is bizarre. In fact, if you look at the nations that are best surviving the current crisis from Finland to Austria they are all based on EU social partnership systems which are anathema to Conservatives. And they all use the euro.

Myth 9) Housing bubbles were caused by the euro Again, it is national governments (including Labour) which did not put in clear rules insisting on minimum deposits and have a solid programme of social housebuilding. Labour allowed 500,000 social housing units to be sold under Thatcher?s right-to-buy legislation. Ireland, Spain and Greece allowed unlimited credit well beyond the repayment capabilities for borrowers. That has nothing to do with the single currency but with bad government policy.

Myth 10) The euro is creating a European super-state Please. Ten years ago the EU budget was roughly 1.2 per cent of Europe?s collection GDP. It is now down to one per cent. Of that one per cent, 85 per cent is returned to governments to pay for agricultural subsidies and regional investment. A BAP (British Agricultural Policy and payments system) would be more costly than the CAP. The EU gets many things wrong just as all governments do. But with an income of just one per cent of Europe?s total annual income the idea this is a new super-state is just silly propaganda.

British politics has been here before. Labour was the Eurosceptic party in the 1980s, calling for withdrawal in the 1983 election manifesto. The press is much more hostile today and it is all but impossible to make a case for Europe on a BBC that is love with Nigel Farage and in a political-media class that has made up its mind that the euro must go. But Labour cannot UKIPise itself and nor should it seek to. The progressive case for international engagement and against Tory isolationism needs to be made.

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Denis MacShane is Labour MP for Rotherham. Follow on @denismacshane and www.denismacshane.com

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Photo: Alexander Kirk

Conservatives, David Cameron, Denis MacShane, EU, euro, Europe, euroscepticism, Jean-Marie Le Pen, Labour, Nick Clegg, Nick Griffin

Source: http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2012/08/13/the-10-myths-of-europe/

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