Trust in the European Union has been in steep decline since the eurocrisis, and the 2014 European Parliament elections saw many MEPs sent to Brussels to represent parties opposed to the federalist agenda, and in some cases to the EU itself. Euroscepticism has gone from being a political position that was treated with contempt by both the media and the political establishments to being a vital topic for debate. Critics of Brussels expansionism, from different points on the political compass, have asked whether the political and economic benefits that Britain derives from membership of the EU are sufficient to outweigh the costs. The Conservative Party is committed to an in/out referendum in 2017, should they win the general election in 2015. Opinion polls show fluctuating levels of support for Brexit, but, as David Conway argues in With Friends Like These - , it is scarcely reasonable to expect people to make up their minds on this important issue without setting before them the alternatives to EU membership. Other European nations that are not members of the EU, as well as developed nations outside Europe, have found ways to trade profitably with EU countries.
Britain should aim to replicate the trading status of these nations, in what Conway describes as the Norway, Swiss, Turkey and World Trade Organisation options. A fifth possible option has been canvassed by MEP David Campbell Bannerman under the name of 'EEA Lite'. Conway favours this and argues that EEA Lite's terms can be achieved by making its acceptance a condition of Britain's agreement to a new treaty that he predicts the EU will soon be forced to seek in order to resolve the eurocrisis.
- ISBN10 1906837635
- ISBN13 9781906837631
- Publish Date 13 August 2014
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 23 June 2016
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Civitas
- Format Paperback
- Pages 157
- Language English