Now this is just funny (from the Herald): "France overwhelmingly rejected the European Union's constitution in a referendum today, plunging the EU into crisis." The Times reports here that the UK will not even bother to vote if France's 'Non!' vote is confirmed.
The European super-bureaucracy might be temporarily derailed and Chirac humiliated, but have no fear several hundred-thousand bureacurats won't be off the rails for long.
We can at least laugh while they are.
2 comments:
On the other hand, some of the greatest proponents of the EU constitution were businesses, who realise that a single European free-market economy is in their best interests. De-regulating cross border competition laws, removing barriers to entry to other 'foreign' firms have produced benefits for the European economy as a whole - take the European insurance sector for example (AXA, anyone?).
I agree with you Lewis to the extent that there has always been a tension between the intent of the EU and the actuality -- free trade for instance doesn't need a large bureaucracy and a library full of regulations, it just needs people to be left free trade with each other.
I suspect a large part of the 'Non!' vote reflects great diappointment with the actuality, but not necessarily the intent.
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