John Baron MP: The Twelve Days of the European Union – 5

5 – Five Presidents’ Report

As we approach the final furlong to the EU referendum, and with the necessary apologies to the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’, John Baron MP is sharing his ‘Twelve Days of the European Union’, setting out why we should vote to leave on 23rd June. Further daily instalments to follow.

In June 2015, the EU Commission produced the so-called ‘Five Presidents’ Report’, in which the Presidents of the Council, Commission, European Central Bank, Eurogroup and European Parliament issued their conclusions on how to complete EU monetary union. It commits the EU to creating a ‘genuine monetary union’, a financial union, a fiscal union and a political union – in keeping with the EU’s analysis that the Eurozone crisis reveals the need for ‘more Europe’.

Even though the UK is not a member of the Euro, it could still be affected by these proposals – for instance, the report complains that ‘…in the international financial institutions, the EU and the euro area are still not represented as one. This fragmented voice means the EU is punching below its political and economic weight…This is particularly true in the case of the IMF despite the efforts made to coordinate European positions’.

John said,

“The Five Presidents’ Report shows the future direction the EU wishes to take – deeper political and economic union which steadily encroaches on national sovereignty. It underlines that remaining in the EU is not a static option, and that Britain must leave the EU to avoid being locked into an ever closer union.”

Quote of the Day:

‘We want more Europe and stronger powers to intervene’
(Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, 2005-)