With EU in crisis, Britain may well disengage itself

IS Britain an integral part of Europe or just a set of offshore islands with more interests elsewhere? This is the question that is enlivening pub conversations up and down the land. The government has promised a once-and-for-all referendum will take place before the end of 2017 to decide whether Britain should disengage itself from the European Union (EU). The EU is debating British proposals to change its role and may make a decision this month. If it accedes to the demands, a referendum is likely this summer.

The EU evolved out of the European Economic Community (EEC), established in 1957. The driver was the need for closer ties between nations which had been at war with each other for centuries and then involved the rest of the world twice last century, slaughtering many millions. Britain did not join in 1957 and, when it did apply (twice) in the 1960s, it was vetoed by Charles de Gaulle, for nationalistic reasons. Britain finally succeeded in 1973, after a referendum which gained popular support for the idea. Cynics would argue that since this was at a time of economic turmoil, it was short-term thinking and damaged Britain's relations with the rest of the world, particularly the US and the Commonwealth.

Since then, the EEC has evolved into the EU and the objects of the union have changed dramatically, although each step has been relatively small. Changes in its name give the game away. From the European Economic Community (that is, loose relations) it became the European Economic Union, with a parliament. This imposed Europe-wide regulation on all sorts of economic things, from big stuff, such as who do you allow to set up in your country, to small things, such as what is the correct shape of a cucumber. Brussels got the parliament and Strasbourg got some courts to impose regulation. These courts also evolved and now we have the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights, both of which seek to supersede national laws.