From Mr John Sabin Sir: Conrad Black continues to propagate
the myth of Eurosocialism used by Eurosceptic journalists in their ceaseless efforts to discredit the European Union. His references to 'sluggish socialist economies' and 'more or less socialist regimes' do not reflect the reality. Social- ism in Europe disappeared along with the Berlin Wall, and the term can only proper- ly be applied to the type of command economies prevalent in Eastern Europe
LETTERS
until 1989, which were of course manifestly a complete failure. To compare this with the free societies and social market economies of Western Europe is like com- paring night with day.
If the European social model is such a failure, how is it that most Western Euro- pean countries north of the Mediterranean have a higher standard of living than Britain? How come that they can afford better health services and more advanced transport systems and more generous pen- sion provision? How is it that so many everyday items from motor cars to petrol and alcohol are cheaper on the Continent? How do they achieve better standards of literacy and numeracy among their state- educated students than we do in the UK? All this was achieved without the supposed benefits of the bracing cold shower of Thatcherism bestowed on Britain in the 1980s.
In the last 50 years, almost the whole of Western and Central Europe has arisen from the ashes of two world wars, thrown off the yokes of both fascism and commu- nism, and established democratic parlia- mentary institutions and successful market economies, which interlink the European nations economically and politically to ensure that the Continental wars of the earlier part of this century and previous centuries do not happen again. That is not just a noble ideal, but a huge, unprecedent- ed achievement. Britain has a vital interest in ensuring its continuation.
John Sabin
London W4
Previous page
