On the heels of Brexit, ominous news has come out of Europe. The Polish channel, TVP Info, has released documents that outline plans for the creation of an EU superstate.
The nine-page document, titled “A strong Europe in a world of uncertainties”, is co-authored by the German and French foreign ministers, Jean-Marc Ayrault and Frank-Walter Steinmeier. (what’s up with the hyphenated first names?)
The scheme envisions an all-powerful European Union, overseeing virtually every important aspect of member country governance, including curency, taxation, defense and immigration. Cynics will say that the EU is already a USSR-lite superstate, but the plan envisions an even more invasive, controlling and centralized organization.
Something that has puzzled me about Poland, given its torturous recent history of invasions and oppression, is why it would give up its hard-fought freedom so freely to the EU? The obvious answer is that Poland benefits tremendously from EU funding, more than any other country, and Poles who can choose to work abroad can send huge amounts of money home. Last year alone about $1 billion was sent back by Poles working in the UK. One of the most unsavory benefits has been access to UK welfare. Shamefully, some Poles have even taken welfare from both the UK and Poland simultaneously.
And Poles wonder why immigration was the defining issue of the #Leave campaign?
At present, Poland has enjoyed the benefits of EU membership, without feeling its negative consequences as strongly as Great Britain has. Many fail to see that there is no free lunch. The money Poland is receiving will drop over time and reciprocity will be expected to spur the economies of current or future memeber states that are poorer than Poland.
Most importantly, ongoing EU membership is a major liability for Poland in terms of immigration and security. In my opinion the migration policy of Angela Merkel’s Germany is totally insane. Not only is it unsustainable (hundreds of millions of people want to come to Europe), but it’s inherently anti-European. The mostly young Muslim men are overwhelmingly not refugees and have little interest in assimilation. For now Poland has resisted EU attempts to impose a quota system for migrant relocation, but we can expect that pressure will continue to mount as Germany becomes more desperate to offload the problem it created onto Eastern Europe.
Paul Joseph Watson’s explanation for why the EU has been a wretched deal for the UK should be instructive for Poland:
The renowned Soviet dissident, Vladimir Bukovsky, penned an op-ed on Brexit for a Ukrainian magazine. His main argument is that the costs of the EU for Great Britain (estimated as £60 billion per year), along with en ever-expanding bureaucracy seeking control over the economy and legal systems, is highly destructive towards society. He reminds us of his attempt to discourage Poland from joining the EU more than a decade ago:
The EU became a Soviet style structure a long time ago. There was a time when I went to Poland, trying to convince them not to join the EU. They did not listen and joined — now they reap the results. People are unwilling to think; it is simply amazing to me. The ability to think — I am talking about multiplication-table level thinking, not Newton’s theorems — it is simple!
The belief in technocracy, a government managed by sophisticated and erudite “experts”, has proven to be a failure. Millions of people making their own choices will always lead to superior results over the micromanagement of elites. As Bill Buckley famously stated: “I am obliged to confess I should sooner live in a society governed by the first two thousand names in the Boston telephone directory than in a society governed by the two thousand faculty members of Harvard University.”
In the words of Bruce Thornton:
Technocracy, however, is by definition anti-democratic. So how can the foundational belief of Western governments – the sovereignty of free people and their right to be ruled by their own consent–– coexist with an administrative state staffed by “experts” and armed with the coercive power of the state? Quite simply, it can’t.
It’s foolish to assume that the best possible outcome for citizens is even the goal of expanding the EU’s power. Humanity skews towards greed and exploitation when people are in positions of authority.
Democratic elections serve as a check on this fault in our nature, but the EU sees democracy as a hostile force opposed to its top-down directives.
Poland should be under not illusions that the EU elites are interested in its well-being, beyond what it takes to keep them within the fold of membership. The hostile behavior of Germany, as far as their dangerous migration policy goes, should be reason enough to take a long hard look at what the EU is really doing.
National defense was never a priority for the EU and should conflict break out with Russia, NATO and especially the United States and Great Britain will bear the brunt of it. Looking to Berlin, Brussels and Paris for robust leadership in these difficult times is a fool’s errand.
Calls are already being made for fundamental reforms in how the EU functions, while many other countries will consider their own EU exit votes. European leaders are likely to double down and force through the plan for EU aggrandizement, instead of reforming and respecting the national sovereignty of their member states.
On the heels of Brexit, ominous news has come out of Europe. The Polish channel, TVP Info, has released documents that outline plans for the creation of an EU superstate.
The nine-page document, titled “A strong Europe in a world of uncertainties”, is co-authored by the German and French foreign ministers, Jean-Marc Ayrault and Frank-Walter Steinmeier. (what’s up with the hyphenated first names?)
The scheme envisions an all-powerful European Union, overseeing virtually every important aspect of member country governance, including curency, taxation, defense and immigration. Cynics will say that the EU is already a USSR-lite superstate, but the plan envisions an even more invasive, controlling and centralized organization.
Something that has puzzled me about Poland, given its torturous recent history of invasions and oppression, is why it would give up its hard-fought freedom so freely to the EU? The obvious answer is that Poland benefits tremendously from EU funding, more than any other country, and Poles who can choose to work abroad can send huge amounts of money home. Last year alone about $1 billion was sent back by Poles working in the UK. One of the most unsavory benefits has been access to UK welfare. Shamefully, some Poles have even taken welfare from both the UK and Poland simultaneously.
