Does Cameron want to turn Britain into Belarus?
Britain is feeling rather alone at the moment since the other 26 member states, including Hungary, are now proceeding to a new treaty on the Euro. If the Conservatives want exit from the European Union, they should spell out what status Britain would have. Norway and Switzerland are often mentioned. They are outside the EU, they have access to the single market, but they have to observe the principles of free movement of people and workers as well as to enact EU norms in governance of the single market. Among other things this means allowing EU citizens free access to the labour markets of their countries. To benefit from the market without tariffs, Norway and Switzerland have to obey EU law on which they have no vote.
Perhaps the Conservatives want to have a weaker relationship with the EU than that which Norway and Switzerland enjoy. At this point, the model for Britain is Belarus, an impotent European country sandwiched between its powerful neighbours and which benefits from all the advantages that national sovereignty provides: low regulation, vast poverty, authoritarian control of a pliant workforce, and the death penalty.
Dr Giacomo Benedetto
4 Comments
Reader Comments (4)
I hear the Guardian are looking for journalists.
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To Arthur P: this particular blog post was intended to be humourous. I don't genuinely believe that the Conservative Party view on the EU is so far fetched that their preferred model for Britain's future status is that of Belarus. However, it is time that the Eurosceptics who favour exit specify how they would see the British relationship with the EU in ideal terms.
Apologies if I missed the point.
Apart from the usual suspects we see on the television (Bone, Jenkins, Carswell etc.) I don't believe there are a considerable amount of Conservative MPs that would agree with full-scale withdrawal; significant treaty renegotiation, yes, but not the nuclear option that certain Members prescribe to.
However, I do believe that the euro crisis has forced a tipping point upon both the Parliamentary party and wider the Conservative grass-roots support. Come the 2015 general election we cannot rule out UKIP gaining a significantly greater percentage of total turnout, preceded by several of their MPs crossing the floor to UKIP if the PM does not make considerable concessions nearer the time. This will spell electoral defeat for Cameron, not his handling of the nation's finances.