Europe listens

I read with interest yesterday the Spanish media´s reaction to Prime Minister David Cameron´s proposals to hold a referendum on membership of the European Union. To my surprise they were quite supportive and to some extent vaguely intrigued. Could a major European nation survive outside the European Union was their question? Well, according to Cameron, yes. Now, Spain would never leave the European Union but German Chancellor Angela Merkel is often accused by the Spanish media of being “too big for her boots” and forcing Spain to make austerity cuts which are severe and harsh. Cameron has certainly opened a can of worms and I suspect that there will be calls for similar referendums in other countries. Spain likes to blame the euro for all its economic problems. It hasn´t been the banks or the end of the property boom which has brought the country to its knees it has been the euro which has seen prices escalate out of control. Some people are openly saying that Spain would be better off if it returned to the good old peseta. What the European Union has to realise is that it is no longer very popular. The European dream has in some quarters become the European nightmare thanks to the economic crisis. Cameron has done Europe few favours. He has shown that there can be life outside the European Union, which will have given plenty of people food for thought. If the British can do it, why can´t we, will be a question pondered by many.