I had a meeting at Europe House earlier today. It’s the European Parliament Information Office in the United Kingdom. I picked up some of their propaganda — there’s no other word for it.
- Blosssom Lane — on the evil of cars.
- The Blue Island — on the importance of licensing and certification.
- Hope for the Kayakos — on runaway global warming and the joy of pre-industrial life.
- Opportunities and resources for young people in the EU — The Erasmus, Comenius, Leonardo and Grundtvig programmes. These are a higher education exchange programme, a schools exchange, professional and vocational placements and cooperation between adult education institutions — all with a “European” dimension. The EU Youth in Action programme offers six months to a year of all-expenses-paid voluntary service to develop skills in any field. Careers and internships are on offer.
If you believe governance and the nation state should be elevated to the continental scale, no doubt some of these things are attractive. If you think taxpayers’ money could be better spent by taxpayers or at least if decisions were taken more locally, good news: you only need 1,000,000 signatures in order to make a suggestion to the Commission. Apparently, “You can set the agenda!”
President Barroso’s recent speech calling for a new treaty and a Federal Europe may be good news. If it would not be caught by the European Union Act 2010, nothing will. Maybe there is yet hope for a referendum on our membership and the possibility of bringing political power in the UK back under democratic control.
There is nothing stopping European countries co-operating with each other in this way without the EU sticking it’s nose in and taking a generous cut of taxpayers money.
If you think that promoting Erasmus and other exchange programs are wrong, then you really need to get your priorities sorted.
Of course I don’t object to exchange programmes as such: people of all ages mixing across Europe is a great idea. I object to taxing people to propagandise a new nation without democratic legitimacy.