Everyone hates the EU

Well, not quite everyone. But as the EU leaders and their massed ranks of followers (well, some drug addled Berlin teenagers anyway) celebrate fifty years of developing a European superstate, and prepare the ground for further sell-outs, the public, despicable proles that they are, do not seem quite so enthusiastic.

Polling by the think tank Open Europe reveals that a majority of people in every single EU country want a referendum before any new powers are given to the EU, and that 41% of all Europeans, and 58% of Britons, think that the EU should have fewer powers than it does at present. Meanwhile, 49% of people whose countries have already started using the Euro want to go back to their old currencies, while 77% of Britons would vote 'No' in any referendum on the issue. The EU is seen as being unrepresentative of the people it rules over, especially in Briton.

So, it seems that people generally are not overly keen on the EU. Not really a great surprise. But will their opposition have any effect? No. Because all three main parties in Britain, and most politicians across Europe, are pro-EU. Well, it creates more cushy sinecures for politicians, so they're voting for it as enthusiastically as a turkey voting for vegetarian Christmas. And, ultimately, the EU is one of those issues on which the politicians feel free simply to ignore the public. Like capital punishment and mass immigration, this is a case where the public feel, and always have felt, one way, and the politicians of all three main parties feel and act another way, regardless of the public.

Postscript: One interesting aspect of the Open Europe website is the lengthy list of avowed supporters of the group, which espouses taking back powers from the EU. We are always being told that further EU integration is necessary in the interests of business, and yet the supporters list is chock full of major business leaders, and respected economists, who one might expect to know about these things. Another pro-EU lie put to rest?