Insidiously from within

Well, here’s something interesting. According to shadow trade and industry secretary Stephen O'Brien, Britain is responsible for increasing the burden of Brussels initiated regulation by adding a little extra value of its own:

"The UK Government will gold plate by multiplying the burden of regulation by over three times from the original directive," said Mr O'Brien.

He pointed to a 12-page EU directive on abattoirs which had been cut to seven pages when implemented in France but increased to 96 pages in Britain.

"There are lots of examples like that where they build on things as well as over-interpret and over-implement," he said. "It's a menace to British business."

This brings to mind Sean Gabb’s free life commentary number 59 - A Case Against the European Union (recently posted to the Out of EU yahoo group) in which he states:

In October 1995, it became a criminal offence to use English measurements in a wide range of commercial transactions. There was an outcry in the media and to some extent in Parliament, as people were forced to stop using measurements the very names of which are part of our language. The outcry was silenced by the explanation that this had been forced on us by "Europe". A Directive from 1989 was produced which required standard units of measurement throughout the Union.

The explanation was false. The Directive did require standardisation, but was silent about the outlawing of other units of measurement, or the use of criminal law to ensure compliance. Indeed, a Directive of the European Union is not a law. It is simply a wishlist sent out by the Commission to the member governments, which can be treated very largely as they wish. I am told that in Spain and Italy and Holland, I can still legally buy a gallon of petrol and even a scruple of vitamin C - assuming I can find anyone there willing to deal with me in these units.

The forced metrication of this country happened not because someone in Brussels decreed that it be done, but because the relevant officials at the Board of Trade have tidy minds that are offended by the illogicality of the English system of weights and measures; and because the big food retailers could see a means of increasing their already large market share by imposing conversion costs on their smaller competitors that they themselves can easily afford. These people used the excuse of Europe to avoid the political reaction that might have frustrated their design had they relied on a law made entirely in this country.

People are beginning to join up the dots you know and the picture, though not yet clear, seems pretty sordid. Perhaps there is no real picture, just a bunch of self important people manipulating what they can for their own petty gains. Don’t like the imperial system of weights and measures? Never mind, here comes one of those EU thingies we keep getting. Let’s tag something onto that and blame the Belgians.

Frankly I’m a bit dazed. I mean is it really true that our own government adds so significantly to EU regulation? Is Sean Gabb right that the EU regulators never required the witnessed level of assault on our Imperial measurement system?

Are we really that surrounded by our enemies?

Posted by John at August 18, 2004 01:21 PM | TrackBack