Reading some very depressing articles about the EU and whether it has a future has led me to wonder about the actual mechanics of dismantling the EU. Supposing the member states were forced by popular demand to do the deed? How would they do it? What would be the effect on day to day life? And would the public really welcome the abolition of everything to do with the EU? Let’s look at it piece-by-piece:
The Institutions: There’s no question, the abolition of the parliament, commission and council, and the ECJ would be popular. They are unloved, and that’s being polite.
CAP/CFP: The abolition of CAP would cause ructions in some countries, like Ireland and France. Suddenly, Ireland would be faced with a question that would drain the blood from the faces of our politicians. Do we try to fund an Irish style CAP, perhaps with a hefty Farmers Solidarity Tax on urban voters? Or do we finally let the free market into farming, wiping out small farms? The abolition of CFP will be popular with fishermen, but we will still need to police our own fishing stocks. By the way, as we have 15% of the EU’s waters, and the EU currently funds our Naval Service, we’ll have to increase defence spending quite substantially to keep other countries’ fishermen out. Continue reading