After much head scratching and soul searching here's my opinion for what it's worth:
Membership of the EU for Britain has brought some benefits; in science and medicine for instance. But the EU has many problems to solve; one of the biggest being the BGT - the Brussels Gravy Train. The EU's problems are well known and they are unjust, but they are not insolvable. Personally I think it needs more courage to remain and fight for change within the EU than to flee from the EU. When I say change, I mean serious changes. I mean for example that the Berlin-Brussels-Paris axis must be broken, and broken forever. I mean that the role of the European Central Bank must be reviewed and its power must be curtailed. I mean that the present immigrant chaos a-la-Merkel and the Euro Army project cannot be allowed to continue. And much else. I mean also that Euroland is not quite beyond redemption. Provided we act act with courage and provided we act now, we Britons with our traditional values, our sense of justice, and our bulldog spirit can drag the dislocated EU freight train back onto the rails and build it anew. No-one else will do it. That is certain - for no-one else ever has. It must be either a new model EU with Great Britain shouldering a leading role or a weak and diluted FEBU - a Federation of the European Blind and Unwilling.
I have no monkey in this schnapps party. I have lived on the EU mainland for more than 15 years, a fact which sadly disqualifies me from voting. And so I leave it to you, people of Great Britain. At the end of the day whatever you decide will be okay by me. I am not deaf. I am not blind. I shall hear you and as always I shall heed you!
May this referendum day go well.
Well posed, Gwilym_! _m
ReplyDeleteThank you Magyar. Only GB can bring direction into the Euromaze.
DeleteThis makes sense to me Gwil, but do you think Britain is willing to put the effort into reforming the EU?
ReplyDeleteIt's now too late for that. The people of Britain have made their decision. We must all respect it.
DeleteWould have wished your words were heard, Gwil, I see both sides. Normally I do not comment on politics. I hoped GB would stay - though many people in Germany are not happy with what happens here for some time past either.
ReplyDeleteAs an optimist I believe nothing is as bad as it looks (at this moment).
The thing that fearmongering politicians and commentators in the EU, the ones down flabbering all over the radio appear to have overlooked is that Britons do not appreciate being dictated to. They have learned little of the British idea of democracy over the last 43 years. This is sad as well as troubling, for if they can't understand that simple fact how on earth can they hope to hold together 27 countries other than by fear and loathing, and with carrots and sticks. Maybe this is the future role of the much touted Euro Army. Only time will tell. For the moment the 27 are supposedly standing shoulder to shoulder. This spirit of schadenfreude will soon evaporate at the next crisis as it always does. One small light on the EU horizon is that the word 'reforms' has been heard in some corners. Good luck to Britain. A true democracy. A land with courage. A land now looking to the wider world.
DeleteMaybe schadenfreude is the wrong word it's more a kind socialistische kammeradschaft - bit like watered down ussr, a coffee and wine federation of socialist-liberal republics rather than communism with tea and wodka.
DeleteSerious and sesible post Gwil. Well, the die is cast, we are a democratic country and we must live with the decision of the majority. As to what happens next - we shall have to wait and see.
ReplyDeleteThat's right. Democracy is a great thing. In Germany, the great EU role model, it's not allowed to hold a referendum. Their Grungesetz, constitution, forbids it. And furthermore they are fastened to the EU oligarchy with almost unbreakable chains, so even if their people wanted it they could hardly do it.
DeleteI cried when I heard the result - I fear for the future of a country run by people who cannot now be constrained by an EU authority - now I fear it may even be worse than I originally feared and maybe staying in wouldn't have averted my earlier fears anyway. The whole world seems to breaking apart in one way or another.
ReplyDeleteNorris McWhirter in a 45 mins video to be found on YouTube titled "The Real Face of the European Union" says the EU ". . . is the biggest scam in human history". If only half of what is said in this video is true then it is more than worrying that some politicians are trying feverishly to drag us back in. Whatever happens now we will have to leave sometimes because there is no way (at least I fervently hope there is no way) we would ever join the Eurozone or hand over control of our military to any foreign power i.e. the planned United Federal States of Europe, a German-French project concocted after Hitler's defeat. We joined a Common Market and now we find ourselves 3 more steps down the road to the great European State.
DeleteHow did it happen? Is it even constitutional? Some lawyers say it is not, if only because MP's swear allegiance to the Crown and cannot hand over power, although one MP said 80% of what through parliament comes from Brussels. That's very worrying too. On the whole I value my freedoms, my right of innocent till proven guilty and not the other way round, my right of a jury etc., and I fear that continued EU membership would erode these. Between a Rock and a Hard Place we are. But we've made our decision. And there can be no going back. We now need a bold and courageous leader with the ability to unite nation behind him or her.