1

Community, Union,Common
Market? Sooner or later, we will
need one or more of these: Brexit
is Dead!
British society, riven in all
periods of national crisis by the
cancer of jealousy, has never
seen anything like it.
On 23rd June, against the
Horacian backdrop of floods in
London, the country assented,
it temporarily seemed, to the
proposition that, Great Britain
should leave the European
Union.

But on 11 July, news came that

no less than 1054 lawyers,
backed by Philip Kolvin QC, had
opined:
We believe that in order to
trigger Article 50, there must first
be primary legislation. It is of the
utmost importance that the
legislative process is informed by
an objective understanding as to
the benefits, costs and risks of
triggering Article 50.

How could so civilized a

country have got into so
profound an impasse?

First, there is the wording of

the ballot question. This
consisted of as many as three
sentences, not just one concise
sentence. And the political bias
and slanting were apparent
from the start.
The question read :
Should the United Kingdom
remain a member of the
European Union or leave the
European Union? with, as a
tickable rider, a binary choice
between : Remain a member

of the European Union ?; and

Leave the European Union ? .
[My question marks.]

The reiteration of the question

with the two alternatives, an
illiteratism typical of the
dumbed-down, philosophically
inculte blue chip age we live in!
(and, to boot, a foolish
tautology!) seriously skewed
the fairness of the scrutiny
requested.
Research has shown that
presenting the easy answer
first in a quiz will usually

provoke a false sense of

confidence if the lob question
comes initially : here, we are
dealing with loaded question ,
anyway; whose subtext is quite
obviously, Remain in the
European Union (heaven
forbid!); or Leave the
European Union (go on, be
bold...!).
The real culprits thus! are
the Mandarins!
We can only throw back at
them their own, especial,
curse: May you live in

interesting times! and hope

that the next Civil Service
Exam at least equates, in its
conditions of deprivation and
physical monasticism (equaled
only, these days, by those of
the pianists who reach the
finals of the Queen Elizabeth
Competition in Brussels!) the
same severe conditions which
were routinely inflicted on the
wannabes of Ming China...
*
A fairer question might have
been: The UK has historically
been a member of the EU
(before the 1992 Maastricht
Treaty, the EEC) since 1973.

Are you in favour of the United

Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland now
withdrawing from this
relationship?
(Footnotes would have defined
EU and EEC).
Of course, what is lost here is
the notion of the EC (European
Community). [My italics].
This concept was live between
1957 (The Treaty of Rome),
when it was prefixed by an E

for economic, and 2009 (The

Treaty of Lisbon).
What has happened to it? It
was lost in translation, a
casualty of falsehood.
A poem, a democratic ode, lost
amongst the paperclips in
Berlaymont!
Wikipedia states:

In 2009 the EC's institutions

were absorbed into the EU's

wider framework and the

community ceased to exist.
The Community's initial aim
was to bring about economic
integration, including a
common market and customs
union, among its six founding
members: Belgium, France,
Italy, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands and West
Germany.
It gained a common set of
institutions along with the
European Coal and Steel
Community (ECSC) and the
European Atomic Energy
Community (EURATOM) as one

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of the European Communities

under the 1965 Merger Treaty
(Treaty of Brussels).
In 1993, a complete single
market was achieved, known
as the internal market, which
allowed for the free movement
of goods, capital, services, and
people within the EEC.
In 1994, the internal market
was formalized by the EEA
agreement. This agreement
also extended the internal
market to include most of the
member states of the European
Free Trade Association, forming

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the European Economic Area

covering 15 countries.

The mischief came twice.

Once, in 1993, with the
Maastricht Treaty, where, for
the first time, and to the
chagrin of Mrs Thatchers
handbag, the language verges
on the theological...
Next came the inoffensive city
of Lisbon home to some of
the worlds finest hostels and a
notable piano apartment, had
the officials but known...

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I could go on, talk about the

iniquities of the franchise,
within the 23 June referendum
vote...

But it is scarcely worthwhile.

Has been well rehearsed.
The very stones cry out!
*
Like Shostakovich, sorry to
criticize fellow citizens...! But
tempora, mores insist...

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In my mind is bold music from

1945, from the era of Monnet,
the Britten Second Quartet.
*
On Jean Monnets grave:
Born in France, widely
travelled...citizen of...a Europe
he helped to create...

Et maintenant...?
Its up to us...!