model-willem releases a blog on Europe on the Liberal Democrats website

On 18 April 1951, six countries signed a treaty in Paris to regulate the market for coal and steel, in the aftermath of the Second World War. These six countries had a goal, to create an economic system that would ensure that the production and distribution of coal and steel were regulated, to prevent another war on the scale of World War II.

After a few years, this community grew until it comprised of 28 member states. 28 countries that worked together on all kinds of policies, such as economy, agriculture, fisheries, foreign affairs and all kinds of other policy areas. Together they formed an organisation that was present at a lot of international conferences and meetings to further the cause of Europe.

The United Kingdom was a part of this organisation and helped it shape to its current state and we are proud of that. The EU has brought us a lot of prosperity and ensured that our NHS, social care system and agriculture can continue to be stable, through the number of EU citizens who work in these jobs.

All of this is why the Liberal Democrats want to make sure that the UK is aligned as possible. We want to achieve this to get a deep and comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the EU to be able to trade with them on roughly the same terms as we are now, so Scottish beef, English cheese, Welsh steel, and machinery from Northern Ireland can go to European countries. 45.5% of our export went to the European Union in 2018, that’s almost half of the value of the UK’s export capacity. We want to look into the possibility of joining the EFTA to ensure that we can have extensive trade agreements with the EU to continue the current levels of trade with the EU.

In combination with this FTA, we need to have something as close to Freedom of Movement as possible. We do not only need this for the transport sector so trucks with those goods can leave the United Kingdom into the EU. We also need this to create the opportunity for workers from the EU to enter the United Kingdom to help our economy as people have been doing for such a long time.

Something that’s important in all of this is the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. In the last quarter of 2019, 34.8% of Northern Ireland’s export went to the Republic of Ireland, showing the economic bond between the two. This has to be retained, therefore we want to have a seamless border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland as we can create.

Due to all of this and the importance of our export and import we need to have a free trade agreement with the EU, which is why we want to seek a fail-safe mechanism to prevent a no-deal agreement at the end of the year. We are going to do whatever it takes to protect the UK and to protect our economy.

The Liberal Democrats remain realistic, but we keep on believing in the strength of the EU. We are a party that remains open-minded about the EU and the possibilities that the co-operation with these countries can give us. We believe in global cooperation, in internationalism and in the fact that with this cooperation we can achieve more and create a brighter future for the United Kingdom.

- /u/model-willem