Sign This Treaty or the Treaty Gets It: Merkel Makes Demands
I’M not really all that sure that our EuroMasters have quite got this idea of blackmail quite right yet:
Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, has warned Mr Cameron that unless he accepts unconditional changes to the Lisbon Treaty a split will take place, leaving Britain isolated and in a voting minority within the EU.
“She explicitly told Cameron that if there was no treaty change at the level of the 27 EU members then others will peel off, which is not what she wants,” a senior EU diplomat told The Daily Telegraph.
So let’s try and run through that one, shall we?
We have two options here. The first is that Britain signs up to anything that everyone else wants. No regard to national interests, what we might want to get out of it, just sign here and we’ll tell you what you’ve signed later.
The second is that Britain doesn’t sign up and they go off and do what they want anyway: without Britain.
But here’s the kicker: in the first, Britain will end up paying for at least some of whatever it is they want to do (and oh yes, that will be in there somewhere) and in the second they all have to pay themselves for whatever it is they want to do, without any British contribution.
That is, the deal on offer is that we’re going to do whatever we want anyway, but if you sign you’ve got to pay for it, if you don’t sign you don’t.
That’s not exactly the most impressive piece of blackmail ever, is it? Sign and we’ll nick your money, don’t sign and we won’t?
Put that way the obvious answer is don’t sign: which is why they might need to learn a little more about this blackmail stuff.
Posted: 15th, November 2011 | In: Money Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
