Tuesday 20 April 2010

Who wants European cooperation?

Europe's airlines and airports are in chaos. Thousands of holidaymakers are stranded abroad. I don't think crisis is too strong a word. Now if you are on holiday on the far side of Europe and you were desperate to get home, how would you do it? Well you could wait for the dust to settle, literally and metaphorically and catch the next available plane but this may not be quick enough for you. An alternative is to plan a route by land and sea but this would take some planning.

You would need cooperation from the rest of Europe. You will need to pay your way through Europe so banking systems would be involved, as well as good communication with bus, train or car hire companies. Let's not forget the ferry companies too. You may fall ill so we will need health agreements across Europe. You may break the law (accidentally or deliberately) so we will need some legal procedures that cut across national boundaries. You need to eat and sleep so you need to cope with negotiations for both in foreign languages (although many Europeans do speak English, but you can always point at food and mime the action of sleeping). Shouldn't we coordinate how we deal with this pan European problem with the rest of Europe? There is the minor issue of European trade even if we are only talking about the tourist trade.

I have only thought about this for ten minutes. If you are stuck abroad then I am sure that you will have given it much greater consideration. Yesterday I wrote about how Liberal Democrat policies will be exposed. Now which party is for European cooperation?

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