The UK should learn from Spain that Europe is what EU make of it

The UK PM has called for an EU referendum in 2015

The wrong people clapping. The wrong people whooping and hollering. The wrong people cheering. David Cameron basked in a warm glow of self- satisfaction following his recent speech on Britain and the EU. The backslappers had put down their knives. The far-right Tories had gotten their wish: the British people will go to the polls in 2015 to vote on a simple ‘In’ or ‘Out’ referendum on the EU.

Should Mr. Cameron still be Prime Minister by then, of course.

Smiles all round, then? Not a chance. The grins on the right were met with groans on the Labour left. The central Lib Dems shuffled uncomfortably. Pleased with the limelight but aghast at the outcome, Nick Clegg and Co could only lay on the platitudes and adopt their much-practised glum looks.

Cameron has gambled that the British public will want out of the EU given the choice. If the ‘Out’ vote does indeed win the day, it will be a Tory triumph of media manipulation; of scare stories about meddling Brussels, open borders and wonky bananas. The message to the common man on the street runs thus: those Europeans are bureaucratic, interfering and expensive to you, sir.

As ever, the truth is very different. The Brits have always been suspicious of Europe. The English Channel may be easily crossed these days by ferry or rail, but the psychological barriers remain lodged firmly in place. How often do you see the European Union’s blue and starry flag flying in the UK? The answer: very rarely.

In Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Amsterdam, Madrid and Rome, it is everywhere: EU membership is a badge worn proudly. Not so in the UK, where suspicion – rather than celebration – reigns.

It’s been said before that Europe ends at the Pyrenees. Spain’s Moorish history, its heat and its rugged landscape are in stark contrast to the green rolling hills and Provençal details of southern France. The passionate people are unique, too.

But despite Spain’s often strained relationship with the EU, the country is grateful to be a member. Yes, the current economic difficulties could maybe be salved short-term if Spain wasn’t a eurozone member, but the immediate gains would quickly fade, and Spain would sink back into Third World ignominy within a decade.

So Spain owes a great debt to the EU – funding for roads, the free market, the easy movement of labour. Spaniards have benefited in numerous ways. And they know it. The difference in the UK is that, while the Brits have benefited too, very few know by just how much. The ‘good times’ were a result of New Labour’s economic policies, or so ran the rhetoric. But the EU gets much of the blame for the current ‘bad times’, often unfairly.

So while Spaniards who can’t find work learn another language and head off to Germany and the UK (something Poles and those from the Baltic States have been doing for years), unemployed Brits bemoan their lot, point fingers and stay put. Europe and the EU, they are told, is the enemy, the reason for your situation. But nothing is stopping Britons from moving to another country in the EU for work.

Nothing, that is, except their own prejudices.