Our jobs and industry need protection
28th October 2011: Yesterday lunchtime, just before leaving the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Andrew Brons had hoped to make this contribution under the 'Catch the Eye' procedure to a debate on the conclusions of the European Council held the previous Sunday.
Disappointingly, he wasn't called to speak.
Andrew would have said:
"I refer to the report on Sunday's meeting (which was the agenda item).
The laudability of a stated aim does not mean that the chosen means are either appropriate or likely to be successful.
Merely to say that you are in favour of sustainable and job-creating growth should not be enough to put you on the side of the angels.
The Single Market might be beneficial to large businesses always seeking cheaper factors of production but do not presume that everybody is a winner and that there are no losers.
The EU promising to reduce the overall regulatory burden is like a recidivist criminal promising to do something about crime. He will do something!
Tucked away in paragraph 4 is a eulogy of the Euro Plus Pact. Under the headline Competitivenes, in the Pact, is the advocacy of abolition of wage indexation. Real wage cuts, we are told, will increase competitiveness - this is the price we pay for embracing Globalism. European countries do not need international trade liberalisation; they need protection for their industries and their jobs."
