Continental Shift: Westminster Finds Reverse Gear In The Eurozone

 
When is a Eurosceptic not a Eurosceptic? The answer, apparently, is when he occupies 10 Downing Street or runs the Foreign Office. 

In December David Cameron returned from Brussels a more popular Prime Minister, having vetoed treaty changes involving all EU states aimed at bringing about closer fiscal union within the eurozone.

But as Cameron heads back to Brussels today, he is prepared to give ground and allow the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to oversee new debt and deficit rules for the single currency.

As the Foreign Secretary William Hague made clear this morning, the UK will not now veto the use of EU-wide institutions like the ECJ by the 26 continental members of the new pact (despite Cameron’s previous insistence that those institutions were built for all 27 member states).

Whilst leading Lib Dems continue to insist that the government plays a more active, central role in European decision-making (Nick Clegg is sending one of his officials to accompany the PM this time), there are signs that the opposition is catching on to the unpopularity of the Brussels bureaucrats.

Jack Straw and several other Labour MPs have signed an open letter complaining about the unfairness of the EU’s structural funds. Straw has called on David Cameron to repatriate £4.2billion to ensure that the money is more directly targeted at deprived areas in the UK.

He and 17 other Labour MPs write: "The West Midlands have the lowest disposable income per capita in the UK yet pays the EU £3,55 for every £1 it receives back.”

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Could the Lib Dems be on to something when they talk of the dangers of insularity?

A new study suggests Britain’s lack of foreign language speakers costs our economy up to £17billion a year. According to the Education and Employers Taskforce for Collins Language, if the UK’s language standards were up to international standards, exports could increase by 8 per cent.

As George Orwell once wrote: “The insularity of the English, their refusal to take foreigners seriously, is a folly that has to be paid for very heavily from time to time.”