For those of us who miss #Europe & are sceptical about the Lexiter position that its all a neoliberal conspiracy, here's John Palmer's obituary for Jaques Delors, making the point that his idea of an EU which strengthened & protected #workers rights was at the centre of his vision for a 'federalising' EU.
@ChrisMayLA6 I had an epic debate with a Lexiter who claimed that there were 'no leftist theorists' arguing for the EU, and of course they didn't have anything on Habermas
When I'm feeling like it I point out to Lexiters that perhaps the biggest neoliberal influence on the EU was the UK, so their self-sacrifice in removing that influence via Brexit was greatly appreciated by their leftist colleagues in the EU.... they are seldom amused!
@ChrisMayLA6 To be entirely fair, there is a neoliberal part of the EU, but then again, I don't think anyone arguing for the UK in the EU thinks that the EU is perfect. The point surely needs to be that we need to make changes, and Lexiters just turned out to be a huge help for the Tories and they drove privatisation
@ChrisMayLA6@greenback 👌 I studied UK law some time ago (more than a decade) and, as someone who'd been out of Europe for years, was quite surprised at the extent to which the Companies Act of 2006 aligned the UK with European norms on "enlightened shareholder interest" (duties of social and environmental responsibility). Seemed a decisive break w Friedmanite economics and one curiously uncelebrated in UK, as if embarrassing to imaginary "special relationship."
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