Am I British or European?
Originally published in 1995 in The Christian Science Monitor
with the title: Britain Is at the Crossroads on Europe
by David Frost
Christian Science has absolutely nothing to do with Scientology. It's a religion with its “Mother Church” in Boston, Massachusetts, where the newspaper is published. I am not a Christian Scientist.
I,
a native-born Englishman, need a passport to be admitted to my own
country after a two-and-a-half hour flight from Spain. But I can
enter France or Portugal across an unguarded border without
identification. This is just one symptom of Britain's slide into
isolationism.
While
most European Union countries have abolished border controls, Britain
stubbornly treats the rest of Western Europe as a foreign land,
maintaining checks on “domestic” European flights and Channel
crossings.
The
once-great Conservative Party which led Britain into Europe now
threatens to take it out again. This policy, seriously proposed by
the right wing of the party, could conceivably be a vote-winner,
giving the Tories a slim victory over the moderate “New Labour
Party”.
If
this happens I will have to decide where my loyalties lie. Do I want
to be a citizen of an isolated, declining offshore island, still
clinging to delusions of being a world power? Or do I want European
citizenship, with the right to live and work almost anywhere in
Western Europe?
As
a resident of Spain, soon to be married to a Spanish citizen, the
choice isn't difficult. I will have to declare my loyalty to the
country where I live by applying for Spanish nationality, thus
regaining the full European citizenship which most Britons seem
anxious to throw away.
Conservatives,
stunned by the defection to Labour of their former government
minister and research boss Alan Howarth, criticize him for not
staying inside the party and fighting for change from within. Then
they threaten to leave the European Union, because they don't like
majority decisions arrived at by its senior representatives.
“The
defense policies of this country will not be dictated to us by a
council of ministers,” ranted defense secretary Michael Portillo at
the annual Tory conference. British soldiers were willing to give
their lives “for Britain, not for Brussels,” said Portillo
jingoistically. Major didn't feel secure enough not to lead the
conference in applauding his speech.
Supposedly
intelligent politicians fantasize about a trans-Atlantic free trade
area as an alternative to EU membership. They choose to forget that
France and Britain are now physically linked by the “Chunnel”,
with Paris only a few hours away by direct train. (Yet the British
still talk about going “to Europe.”)
The
choice facing Britain is very clear. She can fight from within to
change the undemocratic EU structure, or choose isolation.
In
Brussels, a sprawling, pan-European bureaucracy shuffles paper to
over-regulate everything from approved brands of potatoes to
specified sizes for condoms. Meanwhile, the real problems – how to
create work, and avoid further damage to the environment – remain
untackled.
To
be listened to seriously, Britain must be seen to be wholeheartedly
in favor of inevitable moves towards a federal “United States of
Europe”. British members of the toothless European Parliament
should seek allies from other countries across traditional party
lines to take control of policy and budgets. As a directly-elected
body, parliament has the moral right to be more than a talking shop
giving advice to non-elected Commissioners.
A
single country needs a single currency, and Europe will have one with
or without Britain. If a European central bank with its own currency
does not become reality soon, the German Bundesbank and the Deutsche
Mark will take over these roles by default.
Britons
traditionally blame “foreigners” for all their ills. Some of
these so-called “foreigners” are in fact third generation
immigrants from the West Indies and Asia. Right-wing Conservatives
who now want to expel them ignore the fact that it was a Tory
government which invited their grandparents to Britain to do the
dirty jobs no native English person was prepared to do.
Then
there is the racist saying: “Wogs begin at Calais.” This is said
as a joke, but in fact the snail and frog-eating French are seen as a
typical example of foreigners who have treacherously got the better
of the British, despite being basically inferior.
The
British cling to the belief that anyone wanting to do business with
them, should learn English. They ignore what every salesperson
elsewhere in Europe knows: you speak the language of the customer.
This
is sad, because language teaching in Britain is certainly more
communication-based than, for example, Spain. Here it is possible to
obtain a university degree in English after five years of study, and
still not be able to speak the language.
Britain
is a country rich in history and tradition, with a basically
well-educated and skilled workforce. What it lacks is the will for
change which exists from necessity in countries like Taiwan and
Korea, and the realization that if you live in a country with few
natural resources you have to get out and sell the services you're
good at providing.
Outside
Europe Britain could conceivably survive by marketing itself as an
increasingly quaint and old-fashioned tourist destination, and
offering offshore financial services, like a giant Gibraltar or
Cayman Islands.
Inside,
it could be a moderately prosperous state within one of the most
powerful federations in the world, with a key influence in decisions.
However,
Europe will have come of age only when we stop thinking in
nationalistic terms, and people seek like-minded political allies or
business partners wherever they happen to live: Sicily, Edinburgh or
Stockholm.