Memo to Columnists: The EU does NOT have much in common with the USSR

Janet Daley describes herself as a euro-sceptic of “apocalyptic dimensions”. The evidence presented by her column today suggests this may be an understatement. Alas, this kind of euro-scepticism seems to drive its followers mad. This is the only sensible conclusion that may be drawn from Daley’s final paragraph in which she writes:

On Europe, our hope can only be that the peoples of the EU will one day walk out from under their oppressors, just as the people of the Warsaw Pact walked out from under theirs.

Really? I dare say that, this month of all months, the peoples of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslaovakia (as was) and East Germany might find that a pretty startling comparison. Some of them might even find the comparison between totalitarian societies occupied by the Soviet Union and a peaceful association of democratic countries (which, remember anyone is free to leave) who agree to work together on issues of common interest to be either offensive or hilarious. Or both. It’s certainly deluded.

It’s also, I suggest, the kind of rhetoric that discredits the euro-sceptic cause rather than advancing it. Sober advocacy rather than ranting and raving might be a better way forward. Hard to see that catching on, mind you…

I say this because, at the moment, there doesn’t seem to be a majority in favour of withdrawing from the EU. If euro-sceptics want that to change they should probably stop peddling nonsense that is contradicted by the evidence that people see for themselves. The EU really isn’t very much like the USSR and it’s most unlikely many people will be persuaded that, actually, it is and they’re just too stupid to see the chains that bind them.

Also: perhaps we need a Stalin-themed companion to Godwin’s Law?

[Hat-tip: Sunder Katwala]