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Lets have a think about our export markets. Back at the time of the referendum on joining the Common Market, Germany and France were amongst the strongest world economies, and having a chance to sell into those markets without let or hindrance seemed a good idea. And to a degree it worked.
But things have changed. The EEC has become more bureaucratic, whereas the UK has become less so in my view - perhaps mainly thanks to Maggie Thatcher.
As a corollary, France and Germany are not the strongly growing economies that they were. Look instead to the Pacific rim, the USA, and perhaps Southern Africa eventually. So what is the point in a special relationship with Europe?
GATT means that trade barriers between the UK and Europe should not be a problem - we should not have to be part of the United States of Europe in order to trade.
Europe is moving towards a political union. One reason is to avoid future wars - a sort of Pax Germanicus I imagine. It might be thought that being part of this club would help trade because we were all friends. The way the German Government has reacted to the British beef BSE scare disproves that theory.
Then there is a fundamental problem of the relationship between the citizen and the law. In the UK we can basically do anything we want, so long as it does not break the law. In much of Europe, it seems you can only do what is allowed by the law.
Time to rethink the Europe thing?
My opinions are not necessarily those of the rest of the Millennium Team - JS
