Dear Editor,
In the well-balanced article, ‘EU: pros and cons’ (April en), the writer states, on the ‘con’ side, that the UK Government’s vote is routinely ignored in the Council of Ministers. ‘Ignored’ is surely the wrong expression to use in the context of a vote being taken. A losing vote is not an ignored vote. It just means that the UK Government is usually out of step with the majority of other European governments. This is unfortunate, but we can’t really claim that the EU is ignoring us when successive UK governments have been able to arrange significant opt-outs from EU policy, as well as a rebate. It seems as if the EU has been trying to accommodate us rather than ignore us.
Most UK governments have been reluctant participants in the EU and I’m not sure our record is one to be particularly proud of. But the EU doesn’t just operate at government level. My own (work-related) experience of European co-operation has been extremely positive and I’d love to see Britain become more of a team-player in Europe. Taking our bat and ball home now, after more than 40 years of building ties with our neighbours, would be a depressingly backward step.
