http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7095657.stm EU 'should expand beyond Europe' Miliband on the EU Foreign Secretary David Miliband has suggested the European Union should work towards including Russia, Middle Eastern and North African countries. He said enlargement was "our most powerful tool" for extending stability. In his first major speech on the UK's relationship with Europe, he said the EU would not become a "superpower" but should be a "role model" for the world. It could be a "model power of regional co-operation" dedicated to free trade, the environment and tackling extremism. He said the EU must "keep our promises to Turkey", adding: "If we fail.... it will signal a deep and dangerous divide between east and west. "Beyond that we must keep the door open, retaining the incentive for change and the prospect of membership provides." Mr Miliband made his address at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, where Baroness Thatcher delivered her famous warning against "some sort of identikit European personality" almost exactly two decades ago in September 1988. Mr Miliband said that speech had been "haunted by demons - a European superstate bringing in socialism by the back door". But he said: "The truth is that the EU has enlarged, remodelled and opened up. It is not and is not going to become a superstate. But neither is it destined to become a superpower." Instead he said the EU had the chance to be a "model power" which could develop shared values between countries. "As a club that countries want to join, it can persuade countries to play by the rules, and set global standards. In the way it dispenses its responsibilities around the world, it can be a role model that others follow." Extremism and insecurity Mr Miliband said new threats, like protectionism, religious extremism, energy insecurity, rogue and failing states and climate change provided a new "raison d'etre" for the EU. He outlined four principles for the "next generation" of Europe, for it to remain open to "trade, ideas and investment", to develop shared institutions to overcome religious and cultural divides, to prevent conflict by championing international law and human rights in and outside Europe, and to become a "low carbon power". He said a successful EU must be prepared to "deploy soft and hard power to promote democracy and tackle conflict beyond its borders". He said the goal "must be a multilateral free-trade zone around our periphery". This would be a "version of the European Free Trade Association that could gradually bring the countries of the Mahgreb, the Middle East and Eastern Europe in line with the single market, not as an alternative to membership, but potentially as a step towards it". And the EU should extend military support to places like Darfur, he argued, to help solve problems of unwanted migration. 'Embarrassing' He also said European nations had to "improve their capabilities". "It's frankly embarrassing that when European nations - with almost two million men and women under arms - are only able, at a stretch, to deploy around 100,000 at any one time," he said. "European countries have around 1,200 transport helicopters, yet only 35 are deployed in Afghanistan. And EU member states haven't provided any helicopters in Darfur despite the desperate need there." Long-term regulations were needed to phase out carbon emissions in key areas - by reducing vehicle emissions and work towards "a zero-emission vehicle standard across Europe". He said that by 2020, all new coal-fired power stations must be fitted with "carbon capture and storage". In a reference to the failed EU Constitution, he said: "The constitutional debate shows that people don't want major institutional upheaval. Unanimity is slow but it respects national identities." But his Conservative counterpart William Hague said Mr Miliband and his colleagues were "ramming that constitution through under a new name and refusing to give voters a say at an election or a referendum" - a reference to the EU Reform treaty. "The fact is that if the renamed constitution goes through we will have a more inward-looking Europe," said Mr Hague. "The treaty's clauses will make the EU more protectionist and less competitive and give the EU more power to interfere with crucial areas like our criminal justice system."
Erm, have you looked at the date on this, perchance? I trust you're aware that Mr Miliband hasn't been the Foreign Secretary since Labour lost the election almost a year ago? Maybe you're trying to make a different, more subtle point, but I am not sure what it might be...
A year old isn't THAT old. My point? A glimpse into the mind of labor elites, and all the leftist parties of Europe really. It's very telling about their true vision for Europe, which is rather scary.
Well, a year old is pretty old, considering the rather conclusive thrashing Labour suffered in the general election. As to the "leftist vision for Europe", I am not sure I understand what's so scary about it, a priori. I also don't understand this whole "leftist" label (not that I am a fan of Labour, but I don't think labels are very useful).
You should be more scared about the share of the world's sales their "doomed" socialist economies are taking from ours.
Umm, they aren't. Our GDP per capita, and income per capita is much higher than the vast majority of Europe. Our taxes are also far lower. Have you ever even lived in Europe? Their houses are myopic compared to ours, and very, very modestly furnished by American standards. We have far more consumer options and pay less for nearly everything- food, clothing, entertainment, electronics, gas, you name it. Funny how the people who say these things are generally the people who have never lived there. What they pay to buy a small, modest house would buy an opulent home over here. Most of Europe doesn't even have central air conditioning or duct heating. Did you know that? I'm sorry that you're having trouble with the fact that reality does not conform to your Marxist fantasies. That's why Europe is importing half the 3rd world, they need more fresh blood to feed their parasitic governments. More and more labor to tax, because they can't pay for the entitlements they have. Consequently standard of living is plummeting, prices are raising. The more and more 3rd worlders you import into you country, the more you inexorably find yourself in what increasingly resembles a 3rd world country.
The point is that the standard of living in America, and in the New World in general, is significantly higher than in Europe.
Huh? Which part of Europe are you wildly, inaccurately and rather misguidedly generalizing about like this, pray tell? Where in Europe did you live? Well, I am going to have to ask you to define "European". We're not gonna be talking about the Aryan ideals of racial purity again, are we?