Youthful optimism is an oft-used phrase but

unfortunately – though I may be youthful – optimism is

something I most certainly don’t possess with regards to

the European Union. However that’s not to say I’m

pessimistic – I would prefer to think of myself as a

realist, being only a year older than the Maastricht Treaty,

I cannot remember not being a part of supra-national

European behemoth and as I’ve grown, Britain’s and

indeed most member nation’s sovereignty has shrank and

shrivelled until it resembles only a shadow of what it

once was.

The simplistic explanation I was given when I

first asked what the EU was, was “it’s a group of

European nations working together to help each other

and share ideas” and now rather than simplistic I think it’s

safe to say that it’s more idealistic. Maybe once it started

off as such a commendable ideal but now it’s a burden

that links successful nations to failing and irresponsible

ones and means that nations like the UK are suffering

because of poorly thought out policies and dare I say

blatant lies.

To link our future with growing nations is a beautiful,

charitable and benevolent idea but the core responsibility

of elected officials is to serve, represent and protect their

people – and allowing our fortunes to be linked with

states that are dragging us down is certainly not what

they’re mandated to do. Idealism and charity has its place

in prosperous times when we can afford to, but in the

current case of a global economic ice age it’s time to

accept that every man (or nation) for itself might be the

most responsible policy even if it isn’t the most

charitable.

From as far back as I can see the European Union (in

whatever incarnation it was in) has been based upon

idealism and survived on luck alone. The original

principle of preventing further wars was admirable of

course, and the ECSC member states did have geography

on their side having being ruined by WWII, however the

EU in its current form is unrecognisable and is more like

a mutated cousin than a successor of the ECSC. As a

prospective member the UK should have realised that so

many differences in economy, culture, law and society

would cause issues with integration, not to mention the

stretch of water that has separated us from the rest of

Europe. Indeed I would say it’s nearly as ridiculous to

expect Britain to profit from such a continental-centred

organisation as it is to expect Turkey to integrate well,

and possibly for some of the same reasons. This stretch

of water protected us from Dutch, Spanish, French and

German invasions for many centuries, so to suddenly

ignore its existence and enter into a complex and

restricting union with these nations and then ignore even

the simple geographical implications of its existence is

borderline delusional behaviour.

Yet I wouldn’t go so far as to advocate us withdrawing

wholesale from Europe but the European Union in its

current form is not a friendly or advantageous clique for

us to be associated with (I wouldn’t say we were in the

clique as we never seem to benefit from it). The fact that

we as a nation are a Union in the form of a United

Kingdom with its members on unequal terms, allowing

students from other EU member states to study for free

in Scotland when students from the UK that aren’t

Scottish have to pay, suggests that there may be problems

closer to home that need resolving, rather than

considering bailing out EU states that used deception to

gain access to support and aid, and are now needing

more aid to get themselves out the mess that their

deception caused.

I see Europe as a dark storm cloud constantly looming

over our heads and that without reform this storm cloud

may unload a rain of problems over Britain – the EU

may only look like it’s on a temporary downturn at the

moment but this potentially could end up a lot worse and

do we really want to get dragged down? The obvious

alternative in my opinion is to aim for an EFTA style

agreement, which of course we once were part of before

we left it for further integration. In my opinion cultural

and educational programmes like ERASMUS are

excellent but are the ridiculous ideas such as the CAP

worth them really (the bizarre nature of CAP was

recently explained to me by a farmer who was given

subsidies to grow Linseed, as long as it germinated he

was paid, regardless of whether he harvested it).

I see it as my generation’s duty to steer the nation away

from further unrealistic and ultimately idealistic Treaties

and to do our utmost to: encourage trade links with

Europe without issues of governance and law being

dictated to us, propagate trade links with developing

nations in a form that would benefit both partners and to

further strengthen ties with Commonwealth of Nations

members who we already have a number of things in

common with. This in my opinion is our only hope of

having a successful 21st Century and also the only way

there will be a Britain worth passing onto my children’s

generation.

This article was originally published in the October 2011 edition of the European Journal