-Caveat Lector-
From
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-2-240057,00.html
}}}>Begin
March 18, 2002
Thatcher: Britain must start to quit EU
By Philip Webster, Political Editor
THE time has come for Britain to start pulling out of the European Union, according
to Baroness Thatcher. She damns the EU as �fundamentally unreformable�.
The former Prime Minister says in her new book, serialised in The Times, that most
of the problems the world has faced, including Nazism and Marxism, have come
from mainland Europe. Enoch Powell had been right when he gave warning in the
1970s that entry to the Common Market involved an unacceptable loss of
sovereignty.
Lady Thatcher calls for renegotiation of Britains terms of EU membership to enable it
to leave the common agricultural and fisheries policies, the common foreign and
security policy, and to reassert domestic control over trade policy. She also suggests
joining the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement, a decision that would be seen as
incompatible with EU membership.
Although she does not say it in so many words, such moves would mean that Britain
was no longer effectively in the EU. In any event the demands, which she urges an
incoming Tory government to make as a preliminary step, would be refused by the
rest of the EU, leaving Britain no alternative but to quit.
She writes in Statecraft: "It is frequently said to be unthinkable that Britain should
leave the European Union. But the avoidance of thought about this is a poor
substitute for judgment."
Lady Thatcher's views will embarrass Iain Duncan Smith after a period in which the
Tory leader has engineered a party truce on Europe and at a time when he is
preparing to modernise his party's appeal.
While he is poised today to attack Tony Blair over the outcome of the Barcelona
summit, the Prime Minister is certain to use the Commons exchanges to challenge
him to disavow Lady Thatcher. Her remarks will be a godsend to a Government
struggling to recover from accusations of sleaze and lack of delivery over public
service reform.
Mr Duncan Smith was always one of Lady Thatcher's strongest supporters, and
there are several members of the Shadow Cabinet, such as Bernard Jenkin, John
Whittingdale, John Bercow and Tim Collins, who would privately agree with much of
what she says. As many as 30 Tory MPs would probably privately support a
"withdrawalist" line.
Mr Duncan Smith has successfully urged his colleagues to speak less about Europe
and to concentrate on domestic issues. While making plain that the Tories would
campaign against the euro if there was a referendum, he has taken the sting out of
the debate by saying that MPs would be free to campaign in the opposite camp if
they wished.
Mr Duncan Smith's spokesman said of Lady Thatchers remarks last night: "Naturally
relations between Iain and Lady Thatcher are close and cordial and she has done us
the courtesy of sending an advance copy of the book. We will not comment directly
on the book but we will read it with interest.
"Iain's position on Europe was summed up in an article this weekend.
He said: "We must keep our currency. It is the only way we can be masters of our
own taxes, mortgage rates and spending on our schools and hospitals. I will never
allow EU membership to mean Britain loses control over its own destiny. While I lead
the Conservatives I will always fight to keep the pound."
Lady Thatcher stops short of calling for a total withdrawal from Europe, preferring to
retain some existing arrangements while opting out of "present and future
mechanisms which harm our interests or restrict our freedom of action".
This might not be as difficult as it sounds because the "blunt truth is that the rest
of
the European Union needs us more than we need them."
Britain had substantial advantages in any renegotiation because it was a substantial
net importer from the rest of the EU, a substantial contributor to the CAP, its fish
stocks were extremely important to other countries, and it remained a global power.
She goes on: "Against this background we should have every confidence that we can
achieve a sensible framework within which to defend and pursue our interest while
having co-operative relations with the European countries.
"The preliminary step, I believe, should be for an incoming Conservative government
to declare publicly that it seeks fundamental renegotiation of Britain's terms of EU
membership. The objectives would be a withdrawal from the CAP, an end to our
adherence to the common fisheries policy, withdrawal from all the entanglements of
a common foreign and security policy and a reassertion of control of our trade
policy."
Lady Thatcher's coolness towards Europe is legendary, but her book takes it to a
new intensity.
"During my lifetime most of the problems the world has faced have come, in one
fashion or another, from mainland Europe, and the solutions from outside it," she
writes.
"That generalisation is clearly true of the Second World War. Nazism was, after all, a
European ideology, the Third Reich an attempt at European domination.
End<{{{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe
simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not
believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do
not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not
believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men.
Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it
agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all.
Then accept it and live up to it."
The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled
one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller,
German Writer (1759-1805)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that
prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless
of frontiers."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will
teach you to keep your mouth shut."
--- Ernest Hemingway
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
