With the historic day fast approaching when this country will decide our future relations with Europe, a programme appears that is informative. The Jeremy Paxman documentary, first episode last night, looks at the elements that constitute the European Union. With regard to loss of sovereignity programme asks key question, is the European Union worth it? Overnight ratings not yet available from BBC, but programme appears to have been well received. A number of Bay Life readers pointing to programme as example of something worth watching.—Bay Life, 20 May 2016
Jeremy Paxman takes an impartial look at the fundamentals of what actually goes on between the UK and the EU, in this one-hour documentary. He travels to Brussels and walks the corridors of power in the EU’s headquarters, to discover how decisions that affect half a billion people – including all of us – are made.
Paxman meets both officials and politicians from elsewhere in the EU to discover what makes Brussels tick. In interviews and lively encounters he hears the full spectrum of opinion on whether the UK should remain within the union or leave. Back in Britain, he explores how our relationship with the European Union and its predecessors has shaped Westminster politics for decades. He reveals unexpected stories and talks to key figures of many political stripes and differing convictions on the EU.
Paxman explains the process by which laws made in the EU pass onto our statute books. And he examines why the concept of ‘sovereignty’ has long played a part in our national debate about Brussels. The programme reveals just how the decisions made in Brussels are now part of all our lives, and asks how our relationship with Europe might change – whatever the referendum outcome.
Paxman in Brussels: Who Really Rules Us? is one of a series of BBC Current Affairs documentaries that take an impartial look at different topics relating to the EU referendum.
In April Nick Robinson’s Europe: Them Or Us explored the turbulent history of the UK’s relationship with Europe, from the Common Market to the EEC and to the present-day EU.
In late May BBC’s Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg tackles the big questions at the heart of the debate in Britain & Europe: For Richer Or Poorer? and asks, would we be richer or poorer as a nation if we left?
In June, Mishal Husain’s The Truth About EU Migration looks at the effects of migration from other European Union countries to the UK.
The programme is being made by Brook Lapping, co-produced in partnership with The Open University.
Thursday 19 May
8.00pm-9.00pm
BBC ONE iPLAYER
