EU Referendum


EU politics: euroscepticism, but not as you know it


16/01/2014



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José Manuel Barroso has intervened directly in the debate on immigration, telling MEPs in Strasbourg that David Cameron's call for free movement rights to be restricted is "narrow, chauvinistic" and based on "scaremongering stereotypes".

This, as you might expect, is picked up by the Financial Times, which has had a busy time of late. It goes so far as to tell us that Barroso has "fired a shot across the bow" of Mr Cameron, saying that national governments have sufficient powers to curb the abuse of immigration without having to put into question the entire European project.

"Contrary to impressions created recently in national debates, [free movement] is not a freedom without rules", he added, then declaring that, "If there is an abuse of free movement the member states are not only entitled, they have the duty to act".

We are then advised that the commission is "increasingly frustrated" with Britain's attempt to scapegoat the EU for claims that immigration from within the bloc – in particular from poorer member states – to the UK has led to wide abuse of its social welfare system.

On the home front, the FT is telling us that Mr Cameron has shelved a government report on EU migration, after Theresa May has failed to provide evidence to support her case for imposing tighter curbs on immigrants.

Mrs May, whose department was responsible for drafting the report, said last month there was "abuse of free movement" rules and that some migrants were attracted by "access to benefits". As the narrative then went, she struggled to prove her contention that limiting EU migration would be good for Britain.

Now, we are told, Mr Cameron has ordered a delay in publication of the Home Office report until after the euro-elections. One anonymous official is cited, saying that, "They can't bring themselves to publish the report before the European elections because they would have to admit that freedom of movement is a good thing".

Meanwhile, dredging up an old argument, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg has told Mr Cameron that she would not recommend that Britain leaves the European Union and, like Norway, become a member of the European Economic Area (EEA).

"I don't believe that Great Britain, with its old empire mind-set should consider becoming a member of an organization which basically means that laws and rules which are made in other countries are implemented directly," she told NTB newswires. "I do not think that's a realistic thing right now".

This is an entirely predictable line from the Norwegian political elite, all to match another contribution from corporate business, with the Ford Motor Company also interfering in domestic politics, called for Britain to remain in the European Union, warning that it would reassess all its investment plans if Britain left.

Chief executive of the European operation, Steve Odell, mirrors Solberg's dissimulation, acknowledging that we would still be able to trade with the EU if we left, but asserting that this would be, "only if you comply [with EU regulations] without a voice into the process".

This is not the first time Odell has intervened and he has nothing new to say. It is probably not a coincidence, therefore, that he and Soberg have crawled out of their holes at the same time the Muppets were having their ludicrous seminar on EU reform, listening to the Osborne speech.

But, just so as you know, there are no shortcuts to reform. Says MuPpet George Freeman, "we should be ambitious for Europe and work to agree a reform package to make it more entrepreneurial and globally competitive".

"We may not succeed", he adds. "But not trying would be a major derogation of our duty, and a potentially huge missed opportunity to unleash the new cycle of global competitiveness, trade and investment in Europe we so badly need after the crash of 2008".

This, we are told, is "Euroscepticism, but not as you knew it. It's a progressive agenda for reforming the EU for an age of austerity and global competitiveness".

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