Pretty good stuff from Mr Brown

Gordon Brown called on the European Union last night to end its integrationist ambitions and make the radical economic reforms needed to turn it from a trade bloc into a force able to compete in the world. The Chancellor urged a “pro-European realism” whereby the Union rose to international challenges while accepting that identities remained rooted in the nation-state. Mr Brown outlined in his annual Mansion House speech how he and the Prime Minister would make economic reform the centrepiece of Britain’s six-month presidency of the EU.

Mr Brown went on the offensive over the European budget and called for sheltered markets to be opened up, “starting with agriculture”. Tony Blair will repeat that message when he addresses the European Parliament today, seeking to dispel the “caricature” advanced at the recent EU summit of Britain being a Dickensian economy.

Britain’s campaign for cuts in farm subsidies in return for cuts in the rebate was backed by José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission. Senhor Barroso supported plans by Mr Blair to reach a budget deal for 2007 to 2013 by agreeing to review the entire budget, including the Common Agricultural Policy, in 2008.

Mr Brown said that the postwar authors of integration had assumed that cultural and political integration would follow economic integration; in their wish to secure a Europe at peace they came to believe that a European identity could supersede national identities. Referring to the recent “no” votes in France and the Netherlands, Mr Brown said that voters were making plain that globalisation had made them feel economically insecure. Identities remained rooted in the nation-state. “The economic reality is no longer as it was in the 1980s — how this or that trade bloc develops on its own — but how each continent is part of and benefits from globalisation on its own,” he said. He added: “ The political reality remains people’s attachment, for example on issues of what is taxed and by whom, to their national values. We need a pro-European realism that starts from the founding case for the European Union, the benefits of co-operation among nation-states for peace and prosperity, but strengthened by the insistence that Europe looks outwards as a global Europe and is driven forward by the need for reform.”

Mr Brown set out a plan for reform, starting with a political commitment to completing the Single Market and reducing and then eliminating aid to member-states. The budget should be spent on science and training instead of, as at present, 55 per cent of it being devoted to agriculture or subsidies for the richer countries.There should be a “modern social dimension” to meet the objectives of a full-employment Europe. He would continue to resist attempts to make the Working Time Directive apply to Britain. There should be labour market flexiblity to help the unemployed find jobs.

There should be a commitment to regulatory reform and an outward-looking relationship between Europe and the rest of the world, with an economic forum between European and American ministers to break down trade barriers. “Our task . . . is to move Europe from the old trade-bloc Europe to the new global Europe,” Mr Brown said. “We do so under the banner of pro-European realism where Europe looks outward to the world, where Europe sees the US as partners not rivals, where Europe becomes more competitive, more enterprising.”

(From The Times)

Posted by jonjayray on Thursday, June 23, 2005 at 01:15 AM in European Union
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Comments:

Posted by Fred Scrooby on June 23, 2005, 04:44 PM | #

The crucial, non-negotiable part of what Gordon Brown said was this:

“Gordon Brown called on the European Union last night to end its integrationist ambitions [...]. The Chancellor urged a ‘pro-European realism’ whereby the Union rose to international challenges while accepting that identities remained rooted in the nation-state. [...] Mr Brown said that the postwar authors of integration had assumed that cultural and political integration would follow economic integration; in their wish to secure a Europe at peace they came to believe that a European identity could supersede national identities. Referring to the recent ‘no’ votes in France and the Netherlands, Mr Brown said that [...i]dentities remained rooted in the nation-state. [...] He added: ‘The political reality remains people’s attachment [...] to their national values. [...].’ “

By all means, Europe should become more powerful, economically and in every other way it wants—should become as powerful as it can. But there are ways to do that without extinguishing the nation-state—without killing what Pat Buchanan poetically called the Ancient Nations of Europe.

Posted by stari_momak on June 23, 2005, 09:08 PM | #

But there are ways to do that without extinguishing the nation-state—without killing what Pat Buchanan poetically called the Ancient Nations of

Yes, but there are also ways of doing this without succumbing to neoliberal orthodoxy, which is what Mr. Brown is pushing. Let’s remember, he is part of a government who has been busy extinguishing traditional English identity, with knockon effects for the other nations of Britain.

If the French consider a thriving agricultural sector as part of their national identity (and they do) , and they must resort to market intervention to maintain the agricultural sector, then by all means they should pursue ‘protectionist’ policies, European Union or no.

Posted by Guessedworker on June 27, 2005, 08:23 AM | #

Anybody who thinks there is anything - anything whatsoever - commendable about the stealth Chancellor should read the Telegraph today. The man is a liar - he will not admit his spending overshoot. He is a deceiver: he hides his theft with extraordinary cunning. He is a hater. The business class, and the middle class in general, is only a cash-cow which he is fully prepared to slaughter for the sake of his socialism.

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