Why do many of us not like being in the EU? Many people feel that we are not allowed to govern our own Country and object to Brussels telling us what to do in our home affairs. Basically, do we still want to be part of a Federalist State? I am not going to try and give you any answers. It is not my place to do so.
But I was lucky to meet and have a discussion with a Judge who has recently retired from the European Court of Justice. The first point I challenged her on was the fact that, unlike in the English Jurisdiction, a verdict is given in the ECJ as if all the Judges agreed with it. In the UK any dissenting judgment is reported as well, not merely the majority’s judgment. My comment to her was that in my view many judgments seem to be “administrative decisions” rather than law inspired. She acknowledged that a judgment of the ECJ sometimes adopts the “lowest common denominator”. This is certainly not the way the UK judicial system operates. The ECJ has adopted the procedures of France, Germany and other Europeans. For me, the quality of justice from the ECJ is not as sound as that in the UK and hence we see some absurd decisions.
What was informative is that if we do leave the EU, the EU will be very much worse off. One reason is that the English contingent in Brussels are very proactive, as are the Germans, in putting through legislation and then implementing it, whereas it can take years before other Member States (eg. Greece or Portugal) do so. So if we leave the EU the impetus that the UK representatives give to the EU Law making machine will be lost. So, in reality, EU Federalists will greatly miss our legal expertise and input if we leave the EU. Their loss and, maybe, it is our gain.
The big question is when we leave the EU what will we lose? Time will provide the answer.
Richard J Bell
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