Oops! Europe is the Coalition faultline

[malaise]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/oct/29/nick-clegg-rebuke-tory-europe
<snip>
Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, has launched a full-frontal attack on Conservative Eurosceptics within the coalition, describing their aims as "economic suicide" and ruling out a "headfirst" charge towards a repatriation of powers from Europe.

In a direct challenge to Tories calling for a redrawing of the UK's relationship with Europe, the Liberal Democrat leader dismisses calls for a raid on Brussels' powers as a futile distraction. Writing for the Observer, Clegg mocks those who believe this country would survive outside of Europe based on the so-called "special relationship" with America. "Eurosceptics tend to gaze longingly across the Atlantic, but the Americans are interested in us, in large part, because of our sway with our neighbours," he writes. "We stand tall in Washington because we stand tall in Brussels, Paris and Berlin."

The deputy prime minister's forthright intervention makes it clear that Britain's relationship with Europe could yet prove to be the most dangerous faultline within the coalition. It comes after a torrid week in parliament in which the eurozone crisis has led to renewed calls from the Eurosceptic wing of the Conservative party for a partial or total withdrawal from the European Union. Last Monday, 81 Conservative MPs defied a three-line whip to vote against the government and for a referendum on EU membership.

[phasma ex machina]

1. City of London bankster families "stand tall" in America because they own it. nt