British Euroskepticism
Yes to the USA, no to the USE?
Introduction
British Euroscepticism includes a broad range of arguments, tones and ideologies. Its main arguments are the loss of sovereignty, the separation from the Atlantic Alliance and the rigidity of the Euro. However, at the political level, British Euroscepticism is in fact caused by an underlying aim to undermine the Franco-German alliance. Moreover, the purely economic arguments underestimate the importance of the political influences.
Flawed arguments
MP Cash labels the EU as undemocratic without giving a clear definition or an example of what he means by democracy. Nonetheless, many parliamentary and presidential democracies are not perfectly democratic either. One of the premises of democracy is the division of the three branches of power, which even major democracies do not fulfill. His argument of the loss of sovereignty does not hold completely either when he compares the EU with the US. He forgets to mention that the US in fact has a federal government above the different state governments which actually coerces the states to implement federal policies, resulting in a loss of sovereignty for the federal government (Kincaid 2008). The US was founded upon the ability of each state to govern itself guaranteed by the tenth amendment. Cash's argument of a ”threat to free trade” lacks coherence. On the one hand, we have the Common Agricultural Policy which subsidizes non-competitive agriculture, but on the other hand, his argument that the EU is a threat to free trade when it chooses to trade with Cuba contradicts itself.
One could ask why the UK would choose US paternalism over EU brotherhood. This path was chosen by PMs Churchill and Macmillan, both half Americans from their mother's side. Cash appeals repeatedly to the rather illusory special relationship with the US (Wheacroft 2010). Aware of it, De Gaulle repeatedly opposed the UK's membership (Wheatcroft 2010), as he saw the UK as the American Trojan Horse in
Introduction
British Euroscepticism includes a broad range of arguments, tones and ideologies. Its main arguments are the loss of sovereignty, the separation from the Atlantic Alliance and the rigidity of the Euro. However, at the political level, British Euroscepticism is in fact caused by an underlying aim to undermine the Franco-German alliance. Moreover, the purely economic arguments underestimate the importance of the political influences.
Flawed arguments
MP Cash labels the EU as undemocratic without giving a clear definition or an example of what he means by democracy. Nonetheless, many parliamentary and presidential democracies are not perfectly democratic either. One of the premises of democracy is the division of the three branches of power, which even major democracies do not fulfill. His argument of the loss of sovereignty does not hold completely either when he compares the EU with the US. He forgets to mention that the US in fact has a federal government above the different state governments which actually coerces the states to implement federal policies, resulting in a loss of sovereignty for the federal government (Kincaid 2008). The US was founded upon the ability of each state to govern itself guaranteed by the tenth amendment. Cash's argument of a ”threat to free trade” lacks coherence. On the one hand, we have the Common Agricultural Policy which subsidizes non-competitive agriculture, but on the other hand, his argument that the EU is a threat to free trade when it chooses to trade with Cuba contradicts itself.
One could ask why the UK would choose US paternalism over EU brotherhood. This path was chosen by PMs Churchill and Macmillan, both half Americans from their mother's side. Cash appeals repeatedly to the rather illusory special relationship with the US (Wheacroft 2010). Aware of it, De Gaulle repeatedly opposed the UK's membership (Wheatcroft 2010), as he saw the UK as the American Trojan Horse in