Former Liberal Democrat leader Lord (Paddy) Ashdown has a piece in today’s Times arguing that the European Union must reform if it is to regain public support and fulfil its original objectives.
Here are a couple of excerpts:
The reasons for European integration are not weaker today than they were when this all started; they are stronger. The EU’s founding fathers saw European integration as a means to avoid repeating our past and as the right response to postward turmoil. We should see it as the best means to assure our future and the right reaction to the global turmoil that we face.
And here’s Paddy’s formula for change:
I can agree that it would be better if the EU adopted the principle that in matters such as agriculture and fishing, it would set the targets and leave it more to member nations to decide how to achieve them. I agree, too, that it should accept more variation in social norms and intervene much less in those matters that touch on the services of citizens within their own countries. I do not take the view that the single market requires us to be as rigid on these matters as we currently are.
You can read Paddy’s piece in full over at The Times here (£).
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One Comment
“I agree, too, that it should accept more variation in social norms and intervene much less in those matters that touch on the services of citizens within their own countries. I do not take the view that the single market requires us to be as rigid on these matters as we currently are.”
Well Paddy, I think i’ll join in this general agreement too.
Solid chap!