Claudio Grass Talks to Godfrey Bloom

Back in the seventies, we still vaguely believed our politicians told the truth. We had faith in our Prime Ministers, even though that might sound a bit naive today. It is also worth remembering Great Britain back then was at a low point in its historical trajectory, the lowest since the thirties and we were desperate.

Self-government has been salami-sliced away year by year. Neither the press nor media ever covered this aspect of the EU and its voracious central-planning ambitions. Public sector news broadcasting has been totally corrupted. It is still corrupt and biased even in the coverage of the referendum campaign. It goes to show, the establishment has a grip of steel over every aspect of our lives.

EU overreach and infringement of national and individual rights have continued unabated for twenty years. The British people have been slow to wake up to this reality, as a direct result of corrupt public service broadcasting and a systematic dumbing down of the education system.

Would you believe the principles of English law are not taught in schools today; not even our system of government, or the English Bill of Rights. It is so easy to steal from people something that they did not know they had in the first place.

I had some of the top city analysts and statisticians at my disposal. I also had two months to produce my findings… it was all over in a week! The whole concept was flawed: we saw there could be no common fiscal policy or lender of last resort, nor was there any democratic mandate. We simply did not continue the project.

In the mid 1990s, I was a guest lecturer at Cambridge University, explaining how it was bound to fail and in what manner and time scale. Cambridge academics are pretending now they envisaged failure because of these flaws. They didn’t. I was regarded as an eccentric, even though amusing, speaker and I was really thought to be away with the fairies. The rest, as they say, is history.

The UK imports and exports to the EU are on an unfavorable ratio of 80/20. Upon BREXIT the EU will crawl on its hand and knees and beg the UK to let them continue flooding its markets with their goods. The EU is a customs union, an anachronism, a child of the 1950s.

Who drives a car from that era, owns a TV or uses a telephone from those days? This is a political project with a superstate as the ultimate goal. It is unsaleable to the British as the establishment they well know. Hence the increasingly bizarre arguments of the Remain campaign.

Continental politicians are genuinely bewildered that we don’t share that vision and embrace it. My experience of ten years of Brussels politics is that they simply do not understand the mentality of an island nation. We are awkward, stubborn, and sometimes irrational. But thank God for it all. Our compass and our values are built on the experiences of 1939-1945 and that is all we really need in the end.

The thing that has always irritated me most over the last thirty years is the dishonest refusal of the British establishment to come clean about the truth of the European project. If you believe in a superstate for the good of Europe and mankind, then speak up and clearly say so, and be proud.

Whilst I, as an Austrian economist, would simply declare the UK a free trade area, the press and electorate beg for an alternative to the EU, which they can comprehend, and that is a two-year option of joining the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) whilst things settle down, so that we can negotiate globally at leisure.

The EFTA is a ready made off the shelf solution that is instantly available. Our membership would calm the natural fears of an electorate. Not perfect, but pragmatic and practical. After all, it represents what the UK voted for in 1975: free trade, friendship and cooperation. In short it is sellable and a base to further the cause of international classical liberalism.

I lectured at the inspiring Mises Institute a few years ago at the summer seminar. I was put under pressure by the youngsters for suggesting even temporary compromises on Rothbardian Anarcho economics. Back then I was an elected politician who was very keen to get the Austrian philosophy out of the academic cloisters. I still am.

Until one has been a politician especially sitting as I did on the EU Economic & Monetary Affairs Committee for 5 years, it is impossible to experience the extraordinary hostility to Austrian Economics from both socialists and conservatives.

If I may use an analogy, for the Christian Faith to sweep the world allowed retention of a little paganism around the edges. So I offer the equivalent of the economic Yuletide log. In short, the EFTA is a political solution, but not for the purist. I suspect this would be another rough ride from Misean youngsters.

Many of my thoughts are expressed in an excellent editorial by the Institute’s chief executive Miss Laure Ferrari on the website. She encapsulates everything that is wrong with the current systems especially in Europe with the obvious exception of Switzerland.

It seems the State sees itself as the ultimate champion of the consumer. Therefore, it demands a remit of almost absolute power. This, in addition to corporate and social welfarism, means that we are now ruled by the most intrusive governments in history.

This system is doomed to inevitable failure: Ultimately, only the market can protect the citizen. Not only are there not enough resources for the State to take over this role, but also, as every Austrian economist knows, regulation is impossible without perfect knowledge of the market.

Only civil servants and politicians could be arrogant enough to believe they can control and steer the economy at will; paradoxically, the same two groups of people with no knowledge of markets by definition. Moreover, any attendants at an EU parliamentary committee can confirm that euro politicians are some form of sub species worthy of careful study in their own right.

It has been known since 1920 that sensible economic calculation is literally impossible for governments and central planners…a fact that has been studiously ignored by self-anointed social engineers ever since, even in the face of overwhelming evidence.

  Introductory Remarks – About Godfrey Bloom [ed note by PT: Readers may recall our previous presentation of “Godfrey Bloom the Anti-Politician”, which inter alia contains a selection of videos of speeches he gave in the European parliament. Both eru... - Click to enlarge

Yesterday I posted the Swiss poll results on BREXIT on twitter. I have been overwhelmed by the response with over 70% in favor of Brexit. The concept of an advantageous alliance with the Swiss is what might be referred to in the auction room as a ‘new bid’. It will terrify the EU and its apologists.

Claudio Grass: Thank you very much, Mr. Bloom. I wish you and the Leave Camp the best of luck in the coming referendum.

Only one hundred years ago, the world looked at Great Britain as a broadly benevolent super power with a legal system born of Saxon times, as a savior of Europe in its darkest hours over two centuries. The British people have not lost their confidence, but its leaders have. June 23rd is only the first step on the very long road to a prosperous and classical liberal community. It is not a silver bullet for all the government-created woes of the nation.

Great Britain, as a major European economy in EFTA, would give that organization a massive piece of artillery. The EU is a typical bully-boy, a major strengthening of EEFA / EFTA would benefit both trade and democracy. Indeed it is impossible to believe major Northern European electorates would not clamor for this option in just a few months of BREXIT.

Public support from the Swiss, a much-admired country in the northern states, would provide just the final push we need for a victory. It is difficult for me as a military historian not to look back to 1815 for inspiration.