Is this dislike of the EU a peculiarly British thing? Why have Eastern European countries joined the EU if they so dislike it? If the EU's greatest achievement is to assist in the consolidation of peace and prosperity in Europe, what is so wrong with this even if the EU has failed to do a lot of other things?
Brits seem quick enough to buy holiday homes in "Europe", to adjust to the Euro, and to use their EU inspired health benefits abroad. So what is it precisely they resent about the EU?
Is it that they are lumped in as equals with other countries they defeated or otherwise consider beneath them? Is it that other countries do not recognise Britain's natural leadership role in Europe?
Do Brits think they would be greatly missed if they left the EU? Just what is it they are complaining about, and who do they think is to blame? notes from no w here
I don't understand British jingo-ism. But all of the Anglo countries, and some of the former Soviet countries, do seem to have some psychological characteristics in common - not least of which is an unwillingness to share or compromise.
It's a peculiar but very obvious insularity. The Brits simply don't see themselves as part of Europe, and consider the EU Project an attempt to undermine and destroy their precious sovereignty.
I think - so far as I can tell - that this is more of an English thing than a British one. Wales and Scotland would likely integrate with the EU smoothly.
Not so England, because England would rather be ruled by nodding donkeys in feudal ermine than 'anti-democratic bureacrats.'
Considering that their campaign clearly set out to make Lisbon synonymous with the EU and with 'anti-democratic Brussels bureaucrats' I'm not sure how they were pro-EU, exactly. Except perhaps in a very nominal and completely dishonest way.
Agreed - it was purely a re-branding exercise in Ireland because 70%+ of people think the EU is a very good thing.
ThatBritGuy:
Certainly not true for Ireland, and, as you suggest, probably not true for Scotland or Wales either. I'm not sure that eastern European euroscepticism is in any way comparable. There may be a lingering nostalgia for a strong authoritarianism which the EU hardly satisfies, allied to a resurgent nationalism and a desire to keep on the right side of the USA to guarantee Sovereignty against Russia.
But English Euroscepticism seems to me to be an almost entirely unique animal - rooted in a post imperial nostalgia that Britannia should be ruling the waves, even if it can't, and failing that to be a special partner of the US in so doing.
Even though it would be hugely against Ireland's national interest, there is a part of me which would like to call England's bluff and let them have their referendum and leave - if only to be rid of their belly-aching. I could see Scotland, Wales and even N. Ireland voting to remain within the EU and seeking to leave the UK under those circumstances.
Once England realises the USA hardly knows where England is any more, and that Britain without Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland really isn't that Great, I could see England seeking to rejoin and being met by a Gaullist "non".
Maybe it's just the Irish in me wanting to take the English down a peg or two, but I really don't think so. The English have something to work through - the loss of empire - that they really haven't quite worked through yet, and until they do so they will continue to be a real pain for everyone else. notes from no w here
Like the UN and the black helicopters? Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
Really.
I don't doubt that what you say is at least partly true - there are strange beliefs on the fringes of any political culture. What surprises me is that in England, those beliefs seem to go right up into the ruling class. Is it that they think the EU is actually too democratic for them and risks undermining their exclusive hold on power? notes from no w here
How is it possible to be paranoid about bodies - EU, UN - whilst at the same time holding the view that they are utterly ineffectual and incompetent and incapable of running a piss-up in a brewery?
