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It is high time that pro-Europeans made a stronger and more forceful case for Britain’s membership of the EU, for, as matters now stand, Britain is sleepwalking towards exit. The blame for this situation, in my view rests fairly and squarely on the shoulders of our prime minister. I have come to the sad conclusion that our membership of the European Union is no longer safe in David Cameron's hands.
I admired his Bloomberg speech of January 2013. It presented a well-argued case for reform of the European Union that had wide resonance on the continent. While I thought that the commitment to an ‘in or out’ referendum was a mistake, it seemed then that Cameron was committed to a positive result:
‘And when the referendum comes let me say now that if we can negotiate such an arrangement, I will campaign for it with all my heart and soul. Because I believe something very deeply: that Britain’s national interest is best served in a flexible, adaptable and open European Union and that such a European Union is best with Britain in it. Over the coming weeks, months and years, I will not rest until this debate is won’
Yet, since the summer, the government's European policy has hardened beyond recognition. In a ‘Today’ programme interview in September, Mr Cameron proclaimed that he would care ‘a thousand times more strongly’ about the break-up of the UK, had the Scots voted yes, than about Britain's membership of the EU. I can give him five times, or maybe 10 times, but a thousand times? There is not much room left there for ‘heart and soul’ commitment.
Full article on Policy Network