mr president it was predictable perhaps inexorable that the european union would leap on the financial crisis in greece in order to advance its well-laid plans for the harmonisation of fiscal policy
we have seen repeated calls for a european debt agency for a european monetary fund for pan-european taxation so as not to have to go to the national electorates for a bail-out
mr van rompuy and the other commissioners are as honest federalists exactly agreeing with the case that was made by british sceptics which was that you cannot have monetary union without fiscal and economic union
i think it was john maynard keynes who wrote he who controls the currency controls the country
i promise that is the only time i am going to quote keynes approvingly
in fact let me give you a higher and better authority even than john maynard keynes
i refer you to the gospel of st matthew chapter twenty-two
i am sure you will remember this
our lord is asked whether it is proper to pay taxes to rome
he says why tempt ye me ye hypocrites
show me the tribute money
and they brought unto him a penny
and jesus saith unto them whose is this image and superscription
they say unto him caesar's
and saith jesus unto them render therefore unto caesar the things which are caesar's and unto god the things that are god's
now i am not arguing that our lord was on one side or the other of the debate about the euro
the point is that when looking for the supreme symbol of temporal authority the absolute sign of sovereignty it is the coin and so we have seen that the euro leads to common economic government
thank heaven we had the foresight to keep the pound
