faults-of-millibands-expanded-eu

On Friday Foreign Secretary David Milliband called for a large expansion of the European Union, far enough to include nations not even considered European like those of the Middle East and North Africa. The Secretary hopes to use this space to promote free trade, environmentalism, and security.

The goals of increasing a free trade space are commendable, but of course that’s not all the EU does. EU legislation necessarily means more hierarchical and centralized control and the promotion of singular agendas. Milliband’s dream of the expansion of EU territory will conveniently increase the area over which the EU has power to regulate, especially in terms of green legislation and global security threats. This expansion would also see the means to a more powerful military to enforce international law and intervene in international conflicts. Milliband clearly wants an EU with the power to promote policies of the European politicized state. He claimed that the EU will not become an all encompassing ‘superstate’ but what else can it be when it aims to increase territory in order to implement policies favourable to it?

Is this government really ready to call for an expansion of Europe, after it has already denied its euro-sceptic nation a referendum? The government seems unable to accept the attributes of localism and remains bent on increasing hierarchical control both at home and in Europe. An expanded European Union will never offer the ideal of free trade. It will merely lead to a larger protectionist zone, and once again the people of Europe shall be the ones losing out.