Peace or why I voted #Remain.

When serving my apprenticeship, I was the Young Liberal representative on the Keep Rugby in Europe campaign in 1975 for the first European referendum. We discussed every issue discussed in 2016 except for immigration, then seen as a Commonwealth issue. Although the formal vote was about trade, Peace was a significant part of the discussion. so was the end of the nation state. It is material to note that the generations that actually fought in the two World Wars helped to provide a 2:1 majority for Europe. They were largely gone in 2016. So, it is not true to claim that 1975 was about a trade deal. It is one of the many lies promoted by the UKIP Leavers in particular. The end of the nation state was discussed at serious length. Enoch Powell himself was gracious enough to acknowledge the point as the results came in. (Link at end). UKIP campaigners lied directly about the content of the 1975 referendum campaign saying that it was exclusively about the Common Market. For many voters I met, it was about Peace.

The EU has created Europe of Peace and Democracy where there was perpetual war both hot and cold and iron curtains of division. NATO existed as an army ready to fight in the perpetual war. The EU is not just about peace between France & Germany. The benefits of the EU kept the dictatorships of Portugal, Spain, Greece & Italy from reappearing. No NATO there. With the bait of EU membership on show, Turkey moved hugely towards democracy. Erdogan's efforts to roll back democracy show Turkey is not ready to join yet but he is swimming against the tide. Communism disappeared in France and Italy. That wasn't NATO.

In Eastern Europe, membership of the EU has stabilized Finland, the Baltics, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania as democracies with human rights, market economies and kept them out of Russian control. Look at Ukraine as the counter example. As soon as Ukraine showed signs of independence, Russia was able to destabilize it. NATO couldn't do a thing. The EU has done much to patch the wounds of war and empire. The Baltics and Poland are not so vulnerable to Russian pressure as Ukraine thanks to the EU.

The former Yugoslavia is a fourth case where the EU has brought peace . The wars have stopped in part because countries that have reformed can join the EU. There was an alternative to nationalism and fascism. Without that incentive they would have stayed fighting. Fascist minorities kept old hatred alive for a long time. The cost of indulging them now exceeds any emotional claim they exert.

The UK contributes to this by boosting the power and clout of the EU. Problems of peace and democracy between France and Germany, in the Mediterranean, in Eastern Europe and in Yugoslavia have cost the UK much blood and treasure. Our contribution to the EU heals those wounds and prevents new ones. NATO takes us into new "wars of choice"with dubious results.

World War One started in Bosnia; some like me, think that it is still not quite over while bullets fly in Russian borderlands just outside the EU. Not getting an immediate membership in the EU in 2004 seems to have offended Vladimir Putin enough to stop trying to join and set up in opposition to it. No country in Russia's EEU is as rich as Portugal and all are shrinking economically, certainly below their peaks. In 2007, the rising price of oil revealed problems of private debt in the USA and UK and public debt in the Eurozone. Leaver critics of the Greece's problems with the Eurozone and the wobbles of banks in Italy and Germany seem to overlook that under an independent sterling the entire British Banking system went broke. The Eurozone finances have been far more robust than the UK's.

The Chinese workforce peaked in 2011 and triggered the downturn in the usual 25 year raw materials cycle. The price of oil came down massively in 2014. It is the turn of oil importers, of which the EU is the biggest, to grow. All EU countries are now growing at the start of a 20 year boom by June 2017, the UK was 28th out of 28 and even in geographical Europe, 36th out of 39 for growth. The tiny British subsidy for the EU is a LOT less expensive than fighting wars, even small ones. (It is also tiny compared to our trade benefits). Nationalists create wars from Dublin to Moscow. The armed chaos on the EU's borders (Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan) reminds us of what the Europe was like and would be like without the EU. NATO member, Turkey is not immune to trouble. The pacification of Yugoslavia is a recent reminder of what the EU can do for peace. The rebuilding of Ukraine is an active example now.The UK needs to support peace. We have never been able to stay out of European wars.

Then, there is Northern Ireland. Common membership of the EU removed the border. That took a great deal of heat out of the conflict. The bullets and bombs have stopped.

Finally, Spain had to give up its claims to Gibraltar to become an EU member. These will now resume and leave Spain with a veto against the UK rejoining.

There are other arguments in favour of the EU too but the EU as an anchor for Peace and Democracy is enough by itself. The idea of national sovereignty for great powers gave us two world wars. The Nationalists of Brexit want to take us back to 1913.

Link to Powell.

https://yougov.co.uk/news/2015/06/15/eu-vote-enoch-powells-warning-beyond-grave/