John Major was going to reform Europe. Federalism has “reached its
zenith”, he said in 1995. There needed to be less centralism. Reform would see
powers “returning … to the nation state”. There would be less red tape and
interference.Then came the treaties of Amsterdam, Nice and Lisbon, which passed ever
more power into the hands of unelected and unaccountable Eurocrats.
Tony Blair also set out to reform Europe and make it more to our liking.
After much lobbying, he got his fellow leaders to sign up to the Lisbon Agenda
in 2000. These reforms would turn the EU into the “most competitive and dynamic
knowledge-based economy in the world” by 2010. There would be less red tape and
interference.Then came an economic crisis caused by the very integration and single
market overregulation that was supposed to be Europe’s salvation. Fourteen
years on, Europe is the least dynamic continent on the planet.
Now David Cameron says he wants to reform the Euro club too. Yup, heard it
ALL before!
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