IN advance of tonight's debate on Europe on Sky television between Ukip leader Nigel Farage and Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg, Green Party leader Natalie Bennett expressed disappointment that the public was being presented with such a narrow perspective on these important issues.
Bennett said:
"The public will be presented with two simplistic, unrealistic views of the European Union and Britain's place in it. They'll hear from Ukip that it is the source of all of our problems and withdrawal would, like waving a magic wand, solve them all, and from the Lib Dems the utterly naïve view that through the EU-US free trade deal the British economy would receive an enormous boost, without radical and disastrous side effects.
"The public will also be hearing from one party with no MPs in the British parliament, and a party that the pollsters suggest may well have no MEPs after the European election on May 22. They won't be hearing from the Green Party, part of the fourth-largest-group in the European parliament."
Bennett said: "Had the Greens, as a British parliamentary party that received 1.2 million votes (8.7% of the total) in the last European election, had the opportunity to participate tonight, I would have been offering the public 'three yeses'.
"First, we say yes to remaining in the European Union, playing our part in maintaining a foundation of standards on critical issues such as social and workers' rights and consumer protections, food safety and environmental standards, and working for peace and human rights. In an increasingly dangerous and unstable world, the union has the potential to be a foundation, an example, and a leader.
"Second, we say 'yes' to reform, particularly in two important areas. Europe as it currently operates creates positive conditions for large multinational corporations and the financial sector, disadvantaging small businesses and communities, and undemocratically imposing austerity on whole states. This has to change. And it is far too centralised. The principle of subsidiarity - decisions being made as locally as possible by the people affected by them - is embedded in the Lisbon Treaty and needs to be respected and developed.
"Third, we say 'yes' to a referendum on Europe. We respect the principle of self-determination and trust in democracy. And more democracy is certainly something that Britain needs."
Bennett added that it was particularly disappointing that there would be no airing of the critically important issue of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which would be a polluters' charter that could destroy painfully established standards in Europe, particularly around food safety, allowing multinational companies to dictate to governments about their laws.
She said: "The proposed EU-US free trade deal is a threat to our democracy, yet astonishingly it is being discussed in secret, behind closed doors. Assertions that it would create large numbers of jobs have been found to be 'vastly overblown' (1) and it aims to remove 'impediments' to trade like 'domestic regulation'.”
"That means health rules like banning the washing of contaminated chicken carcasses in bleach and injecting cattle with hormones could be abandoned, and our NHS could be made even more vulnerable to being handed over to the private sector, without hope of rescue."
ENDS
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NOTES:
(1) http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/news/display/?id=11096