Subscribe Posted by Jason O on Nov 28, 2011 in European Union

1. Germany does not want to rule Europe. They don’t need to. Germany is such a major economic force that we want access to their markets, and so pander to them. Want to ignore the Germans? Fine. Don’t sell them stuff, buy their stuff, or ask for their money. They don’t do invasions anymore, other than with beachtowels.

2. The EU did not “depose” Berlusconi or Papandreou. The Italian and Greek parliaments have the absolute right to vote for whomever they wish, in the same way the bond markets have a right to refuse to give people they think are dodgy billions in pensioners savings as an unsecured loan. Would you lend Silvio money?

3. Your country is not the only country in Europe that holds free elections where leaders have to answer to the people. Just because people in your country want something, that does not mean that people in another country want the same thing. Nor does it mean that they are evil or wearing pointy hats or unusual facial hair.

4. If you don’t want money from the IMF, EU or ECB, they can’t do much to you.

5. There was a time when there was no EU, and national sovereignty did not assure control over your daily life. Just ask the Poles, Czechs, Dutch, Danes, Norwegians, Belgians and French.

6. Blaming the EU for austerity caused by reckless domestic policies is like blaming the Mountain Rescue Service for gravity.

7. All the really big decisions in the EU are not made by Eurocrats, but national politicians, elected in national elections or by national parliaments according to national rules. In other words, by you.

8. Don’t want to be in the EU? That’s fine. It’s your national political system that is keeping you in. Do something about that. It’s not like the EU has a massive military machine to stop you. We had to ask the Americans for help bombing a country whose navy was made up primarily of camels.

9. If you honestly can’t see the difference between the EU and the Soviet Union, don’t forget to ask a grown up to help you turn off this big fancy machine when you’re finished. And put your crayons away, too.

10. The one thing that seems to irritate Eurosceptics even more than the Democratic Disconnect in the EU is any attempt to fix it.