The ramp up for the European elections in June is now truly in full gear and again the true colours of our fair nation are on display. It seems that a large number of people are ever so slightly backwards in their opinions of Europe. There are a lot of misconceptions and general ignorance in regards to the EU. For example mention the Lisbon treaty and you'll more than likely be met with 'The Lisburn Treaty, wha's that?' Ask anyone what they think the European Union represents you'll get one of two responses. The most common one is that it is nothing but a meeting place for farmers and fishermen to fight over meat and fishing holes. And the second opinion comes from those slightly less open minded, more conservative people who see it as nothing more than a bunch of money grabbin' opportunists coming over here to steal our houses, our jobs and weemin and fill our supermarkets with strange stuff that ye wouldn't give yer dog. I can see to an extent where this anti-european sentiment comes from. After all we are a confused community stuck in a partitioned part of an island, off an island off the mainland. We're essentially part of the scenery at the back of the stage somewhere. This isn't helped any when all three of our current MEPs are all anti European so what else can we expect but these out-dated backwards opinions.Thats why now more than ever we need to change opinions and make the push for progress. And to tackle these opinions head on I'm going for the hard sell and playing to our strengths. Lets forget the leaps and bounds our roads and transport routes have made thanks to EU funding, lets forget the help that has assisted many small businesses flourish in a free market, lets set aside the assistance and development our languages have received. Thats not selling Europe to anyone here. If we want to change apathy to enthusiasm its time for an image overhaul. We never miss a trick here, if theres money available somewhere you can be sure everyone will know exactly what you need to get it. So lets play to our strengths...lets sell the EU as one giant dole office. Lets think of it as every social benefit you could ever apply for. As harsh as this may sound it would be interesting to see how quickly people would change their tune if we re branded the EU in this way. We stand to gain a lot from the EU if we only show a little support, a little forward thinking. Now surely thats an idea we can all get behind.
