Turns out I’m not actually registered to vote. Oh well. Can’t say I’m not more than just a little relieved at being excused from having to go do a duty vote for the Lib Dems or, actually, gasp, consider who else I might vote for.

Truth is no matter how the elections turn out, it’ll be politicians that win. Some lucky people are about to get a very well paying job on the public purse for which there’s no scrutiny, no expectations and no accountability.

I decided to do some digging around to remind myself what MEPs are for. I’d looked it up before but clearly it hadn’t stuck. Worrying.

Turns out there’s a European Parliament, and it has the power to amend, reject or approve legislation. The legislation appears to come from the Council of Ministers (aka the ‘Consilium’ … very “His Dark Materials”-esque) which is where Ministers from each state turn up and propose things – for example, British Ministers go to the EU and demand that Emails and Internet records should be monitored. The Consilium passes this to the European Parliament, it gets debated, approved and then becomes law. Back at home a statutory instrument is drafted that makes the EEC directive law here and, magic, the British Government ‘have no choice’ but to implement this legislation, however they personally might feel about out, the poor things. The EU gets the blame, and the Government gets to spy on people’s internet activity.

Within the various political areas where the EU has authority, they can do anything, it seems.

One alternative to the current system would be to make enforcement of EU directives and rules voluntary. Of course, that would be ‘unfair’ and give an advantage to the countries that opt-out. But what of the EU as a whole, this paradise of worker’s rights, clean water and controlled substances? How do we compete with China, India or America when we’re collectively agreeing to make the EU the most expensive and difficult place on earth to do any kind of business what-so-ever?

It’s easy to see why most libertarians consider the downsides of EU membership (more regulations and taxes) outweight the benefits of a “Free” trade zone and see pulling out of this union to be the only way to prevent Britain being dragged down, as they inevitably will be, with the rest of the EU. There will be consequences for withdrawal, that’s for certain: Expect a great wall of protectionism against British trade and people. That’d be bad. There’d also be the loss of a contrarian and difficult voice within the EU, leaving it even more strongly dominated by Social Democratic politicians across Europe.

There’s also something inherently grating about rich EU countries subsidising the poor EU countries, a sort of intra-national redistribution. I cannot stand people getting something which they have not earned.

I’d like to think it would be possible for Britain to reform the EU, to remake it into something else, something that will bring prosperity and wealth to Europe, but alas I am extremely pessimistic about this. A few British MEPs do not have this sort of power.

The first step might be to start shining a light on the activities of the Consilium (what are British ministers proposing and approving over there?) and how are our MEPs voting? Is this the fault of our media, or the EU? When you look at EU documents they are so impossibly complex that they make British legislation look like it’s writing in a formal, conversational style. Secrecy through obfuscation and needless complexity?

Either way, until there’s some real transparency and accountability brought to bear the only winners of the EU Elections are politicians and bureaucrats and this bohemoth political entity providing employment for the same. I’m glad I can’t vote this time.