BEING EUROPEAN

I consider myself a European. I have made my life in a European country which is not my place of birth and to use that great word, I feel I am integrated in Spain. That doesn't mean that I go out and buy a copy of a Spanish national newspaper and struggle through with a dictionary or change my name to one which sounds more local. It means that I have made my home here. I respect local customs and traditions, I can speak the language and I don't give my friends the title of my Spanish friends they are all just friends, whatever nationality. I feel very much at home here because after all it is my home. I work in an office with 300 Spaniards and I feel that it is like any other working environment in the European Union. Taking all this into account, I would vote “no” in the referendum which Tony Blair has finally called on the European Constitution. It is not because I am unhappy with Europe - thanks to the changes introduced by the European Union over the last decade my life has become much easier and also I've got the vote. It's because I think it is a useless piece of legislation which will cause more trouble than it is really worth. There is a nice balance in Europe at the moment. There is friendly rivalry between all European states and on the whole I don't really believe there is any need to further the European dream at the moment. Britain has stayed out of the European single currency while Spain hasn't. But really it hasn't made a lot of difference. This is not about your little Englander who hates everything European. I don't think the British do. There are an estimated 500'000 British citizens living in Spain at the moment alone. To all those who believe in the European dream, I ask them to go out and speak to their fellow Europeans and make up their own mind. I am convinced that they will be rather shocked by what they hear.