The EU gets more newsprint space

A rallying cry yesterday from Ambrose to the EU's left: the austerity prescription cramps your freedom to tax and spend, and will cost jobs. Under the proposed compact "they cannot pursue their economic agenda ever again." He scouts political developments in several eurozone countries and concludes that

The question for today’s Left is whether it is in their interests to keep apologising for an EU monetary regime that has pushed the jobless rate for youth to 49pc in Spain, 45pc in Greece, 30pc in Portugal and Ireland, 29pc in Italy and 24pc in France – yet 8.9pc in undervalued Germany – and that offers no credible way out of the slump for the Southern half.

Today Ambrose has turned pessimistic about Spain. Several months ago he had been uncharacteristically lured into optimism for the country, after touring a few high tech companies there. No longer. Spain is destined for more cuts and austerity with unemployment already 22.8%. And the issue of Spanish provinces' debt has surfaced again. Valencia is relying on money from Madrid to keep it afloat, after a bond issue failed and one agency downgraded the region to BBB-. For sure Spain has worse to come.

Roger Bootle reviews the reasons why the UK joined the European Union Common Market, and accuses the pro-EU faction of "top table syndrome, sizism, and proximity fetishism" - out of date in an internet enabled world with new economic powers rising.

The pro-EU faction puts its case in a letter to The Telegraph which the paper bills on its front page, where the signatories are described as "a group of leading businessmen".

Hm, let's see. A former EU commissioner? Someone from Good Governance Group? Lord Jay? A former advisor to a Prime Minister on Europe?

And you may think that someone from a translation company and the CEO of Eurostar may conceivably have an axe to grind. The letter is a lot less important than the paper wants to pretend. Was this the best that Roland Rudd could cobble together?

The letter's power of analysis is shown by its contention that

it is in Britain’s interest that the euro survives and we therefore should do everything we can to ensure the necessary steps are taken to guarantee its viability.

"Everything we can"? Sorry, so called business leaders, but that statement is vacuous.

Maybe they should be more concerned by Philip Johnston's argument that "the Lords are right to consider a cost-benefit analysis of Britain’s EU membership". It's not the high level numbers he brings together that are striking - it's that the topic is edging into the mainstream.

Mind you, Chris Huhne's staff at DECC would probably submit a paper arguing that EU membership was essential to protect us against catastrophic global warming.