The Prime Minister today made a spirited defence of the Government’s position following the European Council meeting, in the face of ridiculous pantomime behaviour by Labour. I was glad to be called to ask a question, in which I brought to the Prime Minister’s attention the Initiative for a Free and Prospering Europe, launched yesterday:
The Initiative for a Free and Prospering Europe (IFPE) is an informal and non-political group of European think tanks and other non-governmental organizations, personalities from economic and other sectors, and citizens, whose main aims are reflected below:
1.to raise awareness about the real threats and negative consequences of a deepening political and economic centralization in the European Union (EU), at the expense of individual liberty and responsibility, and the prosperity of people;
2.to call on main political leaders of the EU member states, representatives of the European Commission, ECB, and other key players to stop trying to solve all European economic problems through centralization, including of the creation of a European fiscal union and a European economic government;
3.to propose alternative solutions to the European debt crisis that include the elimination of the causes (not just symptoms) of the debt crisis, based on sources of freedom, responsibility and prosperity (e.g. free markets, property rights, competition, hard backed honest money, and small and responsible administrative governments);
4.to initiate a discussion about alternative solutions to the European debt crisis and the political and economic conditions necessary to transform the EU in a community of free citizens living in prosperous countries.
The IFPE works to draw attention to the risks and devastating consequences of the current and scheduled attempts to solve the debt crisis by increasing the political and economic centralization of the Europe’s decision-making processes in Brussels: the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the purchase of government bonds by the ECB, the attempts to introduce common European bonds or taxes, and other centralizing experiments. Among the consequences of such interventions are a deepening of the debt crisis without it being solved in any way, a decline in the purchasing power of the euro (an inflationary euro), a growing financial burden on the citizens of the European member states, concentration of power, and finally the limitation of liberty and prosperity for the people of Europe.
The Initiative urges responsible actors to put an end to such counterproductive measures and to stop the inexorable march towards the political and economic centralization of Europe. It is in this context that the Initiative proposes alternative solutions for the debt crisis. They are reflected in the proposal for the financing of sovereign debts through massive programmes of privatization and an administered process of state bankruptcy for those countries with the most severe financial problems. As part of a set of alternative debt crisis solutions, public finances should be reformed for the purpose of maintaining balanced budgets or budgets in surplus (without increasing taxes). There should also be monetary and banking reform (in order to have free and sound money), marked by the introduction of a commodity-backed currency.
The representatives of the IFPE believe in starting a constructive debate about such practicable debt crisis solutions. For they are convinced that a more open debate will help to create the conditions in which a positive agenda for European freedom and prosperity will thrive.
I’m a signatory to the Initiative, which originated in Eastern Europe where they remember only too well the dangers of political and economic centralisation. As I said in the Commons today, I hope Europe’s leaders abandon their outdated ideology and follow the path of our PM.
