The Brits have voted to leave the EU there is nothing to fear other than fear itself. By Wilbert Mukori

The British people have voted to leave the EU. Those campaigned for remain on basis of fear of the unknown are scratching the bottom of the barrel for the doom’s day economic collapse they had predicted and feared. The “proof” of the doom’s day of the morning after has raged from the fall in value of British Pound which suffered a dip in value but has since recovered, to the other EU leaders now demanding the UK “must leave with further delay” (because they are fearful other countries will follow UK example), to the threat of another referendum on Scottish Independence (will the Scottish people still want to join the EU if a few more nations join UK to take the high road?)

 

What the REMAIN lost the argument and thus the vote because they could not deny that the EU was not working because it is expected to do what it was never envisaged to do. The EU started as an economic common market to facilitate the trade of goods and services and along the way was added the monetary union. In order to deliver the economic and monetary union the EU has added on the political arm in the form of the European parliament, commission and courts making laws and regulations over riding these coming from the individual nations’ parliament

 

For the EU to work it is necessary that there is free movement of people and with free movement of people other things follow such as welfare and health care. Britain’s National Health Service, for example, was to be accessible to all EU nationals regardless where they came from.

 

Whilst it is true that for the EU to work national government have had to concede more and more power to the EU political arm in Brussels and individuals have had to give up national identity in favour of the common European identity the fact of the matter is that this was not what the people envisaged when the joined the EU 43 years ago, for the British people.

 

Over the years the politicians have resisted calls for a referendum on continued membership of the EU under the pretext that there have been any significant material changes to the EU of people joined in 1973. This is a lie the remain-camp could not sustain in the face of the call for Britain to get back its independence.

 

However for the EU to function fully it is necessary for Brussels to get even more political powers and for greater integration, something national governments and citizens have resisted for years hence lies EU’s Achilles heel. There is no doubt that the financial crisis that has bedevilled Greece for years now, for example, would have never happened if Brussels was not pulling in one direction and the Greek government was overriding it and pulling in the opposite directions.

 

Instead of the remain camp admitting the EU will needs to be given more power they tried to give the impression national governments can demand more power back from Brussels. Whatever PM David Cameron demanded from the EU “favourable terms” as he called them, were not written into law so EU would have taken them back in the future.

 

The hamstrung EU was bound to stumble from one crisis to the next and it was not just the British people who had notice this but other nations too and it was just a matter of time before they demanded an IN/OUT vote.

 

Of course, everyone likes to be seen as team players and having been a member of a team it is hard to leave and go it alone. But the need to be a member is hardly a reason for one to join; one must look objective at whether one’s economic needs, in this case, are best served by being in or out of the EU. A dysfunctional EU stumble from one crisis to the next will never serve the best interests of those who know they can do better on their own.

 

The British knew the EU was not serving their best interests and vote to leave. I believe many other nations will follow the British’ example and leave the EU. It is not the British who fear the future but the EU now facing the real possibility of the domino effect of more nations tumbling out of the EU.

 

Britain has strong and robust democratic institutions and a well-informed and focused electorate; these have served the nation very well in the past and will do so again now. They have nothing to fear.

 

Those who wanted to remain in the EU used “project fear” before the referendum and they are still banging the same drum because they will not accept they lost the vote. There is nothing to be feared but fear itself. Beside, now that the people have made the democratic decision to leave the EU the nation must look forward, where it is going, and not risk a trip and fall because it was looking back or failed to see the many opportunities because it was paralysed by fear.