The frenzy about the phone-hacking scandal that has engulfed both Westminster and the media has resulted in remarkably little coverage of the continuing crisis in the European Union. As Greece moves ever closer towards defaulting on its massive debts and other economies including Ireland and Portugal look set to follow, the terrifying prospect of the Euro collasping becomes great. Make no mistake, just because we are not involved with the single currency does not mean that we are unaffected by its troubles. As our main trading partnerships exist within the EU, the collapse of its currency would have a very severe impact on our own economic recovery.
European Leaders met this week to thrash out a bailout package that they hope will save Greece's debt-drowning economy. My fear, however, is that such action merely provides a temporary solution and doesn't go far enough to deal with the intrinsic flaws with the Euro itself.
In the midst of this chaos, George Osborne has proposed transforming the EU into a 'two-tier' system. What this effectively boils down to is the more prosperous nations such as Britain should be set apart from the weaker ones to allow them to manage their economy and debts more effectively. Such a view is a rapid departure from the UK's long-standing convention regarding the EU. It will no doubt face huge oppostion from the Europhile Liberal Democrats and Labour who, for reasons best known to themselves, believe that Britain's best interests lie in handing more power and control to Brussels. By supporting such a system however, George Osborne and David Cameron not only have a chance to rescue the European Economy but to restore the Tories credibility regarding Europe.
One of the central reasons that I, along with nearly 11 million others voted Conservative at the last election was because the Tories promised to stand up to Europe and protect what was left of our sovereignty. Labour's acceptance of the Lisbon Treaty was in my opinion one of the greatest betrayals of any government in history. How dare they sign away the sovereignty we have held since the beginning of our democracy and which milllions have died to defend. The Conservatives have made some progress since coming into government but have failed to truly stand up to the ever-increasing grasp of the EU as expected. A two-tier union would provide an excellent opportunity by renegotiating our role in Europe and reclaiming some of our soverignty.
This is not to say that I favour a complete withdrawal from Europe as proposed by gropus such as UKIP. The trading partnerships within the EU are far too vital to our economy for us to withdraw completely. We must, however, stand up to the beast that the EU has become. That is why I urge David Cameron to stand up to any oppostion to a two-tier Europe and use it to fight for our right to make our own laws and manage our own economy.
