This is a fascinating collection of articles on the vital question - should Britain enter the euro? Nine economists evaluate the economic and policy implications of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Three somewhat atypical representatives of business - Stephen Davies of the Institute of Directors, and the Lords Haskins and Simon - discuss its likely effect on British firms. Couldn't they find anybody from manufacturing industry?Unfortunately, the editors include only two trade unionists, both of whom support EMU. Why didn't they find someone to speak for the majority of trade union members who oppose it? Finally, four MPs discuss its effect upon national sovereignty.
The contribution by John Edmonds, the GMB's General Secretary, is most revealing. He argues for conditionally supporting EMU. Yet he admits, "The tendency in any negotiations is for conditions to be successively stripped away until all that remains is a stark position of support covered by a few words of threadbare rhetoric." Quite!
The editors write that entering EMU "is intended to be a one-way shift towards future economic integration." But that is not all that EMU means: Edmonds openly says that he wants to `achieve extensive political union'. That is why he supports our entry into the euro: the euro was, until recently, the key motor for driving us all into the single European state that the EU's leaders all want.
Blair has now had to accept that he cannot presently win a referendum on the euro. However, this does not mean that he will respect our wishes in future. The EU's leaders can advance on many different fronts and employ many different devices to form a single European state: the Euro-army, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, Corpus Juris, a single taxation policy, etc.
The majority of the British people do not want to enter the euro. Doesn't democracy have something to do with what people want?
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