February 5, 2007
The Brits are winning in Europe
Great to have some feedback on my recent comment about Britain’s attitude towards Europe post-Blair. But some people in Brussels would chuckle at the idea I’m some kind of self-loathing federalist Brit - a species which admittedly can be found in this habitat.
My point is not that Britain should sign up to a federalist agenda (indeed there aren’t many countries left that are still pushing it, apart from Belgium), but rather that there exists a great opportunity for Gordon Brown or David Cameron to shape the EU in a way that helps the UK.
As a French MEP told me the other day: "The Brits are winning in Europe. So what is their problem?" Indeed one of the reasons cited by French politicians for the No vote to the constitution is that it was too Anglo-Saxon.
It seems to have passed some people by how British the EU has become. The main working language is English; many of the most senior EU officials are British; the professions that operate around Brussels - the media, law, lobbying, public relations - have heavy concentrations of Brits.
It is also true that many of the arguments advanced by Margaret Thatcher have been won. Privatisation is now commonplace across Europe, the European Commission is run by the most liberal pro-business team ever assembled in Brussels. And few in Britain believe that the UK should join the euro any time soon. The countries of central and eastern Europe who looked to Thatcher as a heroine in the 1980s are now inside the club.
British politicians should seize the moment to force home their advantage. The EU, with a market of almost 500m and great trade power, can be a tool to promote British interests in the world, whether it is tackling global warming, fighting protectionism or tackling immigration.
What are the alternatives? We have seen recently how much influence Britain can leverage through its "special relationship" with the US. The global institutions don’t operate sufficiently well to provide a different route. British politicians should get out of the bunker, stop worrying about a constitution that will be a profoundly modest affair, if it ever happens - and start feeling comfortable in a new-look home they helped to design.
George I couldn’t agree more - and I think this does tie in with Stuart’s view on Gordon Brown. His grumpy finger-wagging may be entirely rational and legitimate political behaviour, but it will not make him more effective. The piece you did in today’s print edition on the dirty trick being played by the French by linking the VAT carousel loop-hole fix to the rebate is a case in point.
Having said all that, there is an awful lot of housekeeping that needs doing, including keeping the promises the Commission made on cutting regulation and on repealing scores of obsolete legislation.
Posted by: Chris Sherwood | February 2nd, 2007 at 3:39 pm | Report this comment“Grumpy”? Moi? Outrageous
You wouldn’t be the first, Chris, to argue that democracy is not the most ‘effective’ way of going about things. But I wouldn’t like to find myself in that sort of company.
I guess we’ll see in the next treaty - Constitution Plus or Constitution Lite - whether the usual ‘federalist’ (or more accurately, centralist) EU agenda remains rampant.
But who’d dare to bet against yet more of the same old integrationist story? The only question seems to be how *much* more decision-making passing to the EU it will propose.
I don’t see the continuation of that out-dated process as in any country’s interests. Least of all the one in which I have a vote - a vote I want to have value.
Posted by: Stuart Coster | February 2nd, 2007 at 5:48 pm | Report this commentI meant that Gordon Brown was grumpy, of course - apologies if it came across diferently!
Posted by: Chris Sherwood | February 3rd, 2007 at 11:53 am | Report this commentGeorge,
maybe it is worth discussing at some point the notion of “federalism” which seems to imply completely opposite things for people from different parts of the Continent. Even though I happily stand out and call myself a federalist (unlike you), there is probably more than 90% we share on Europe should be constructed.
Posted by: Jan Seifert | February 3rd, 2007 at 4:42 pm | Report this commentYou seem to say George that if the British could just grab the wheel of this beast then all would be fine. But the EU is inherently undemocratic and its ‘one-size-fits-all’ solutions will never be suitable for everyone. It is no more acceptable that the British run the affairs of 450 million Europeans than a Franco-German ‘directoire’.
The nation-state is the alternative that results in responsible government responsive to the votes of a demos (people). Every new EU law replaces national law and results in laws that the people cannot ever change again through their votes. (The French see this today when trying to reduce VAT on restaurant bills). The cumulative effect of this is to hollow out our democracies. The supremacy of EU law over national law (and even national constitutions) lies at the heart of the EU’s democracy problem. This primacy is OK when trying to produce regulations to police a single market but is totally unacceptable in a democracy for the bread-and-butter issues of politics. The French are currently changing their constitution to make the death penalty unconstitutional. But it does not matter what their constitutions says when there is an EU law against the death penalty. Similarly the EU would like to create an EU-wide smoking ban. If this were to happen then no voter in any EU member state could ever again change the law of their land on this topic. Even a referendum on smoking would have no effect because no country is free to introduce legislation that contradicts EU law where it exists. So the next time you meet that French MEP George who does not understand why the British have a problem with the EU, ask him why the French government mandated as it is to reduce VAT on restaurant bills cannot do it. Or why changes to the French constitution are superfluous when the EU has a law on the death penalty already.
Posted by: John | February 4th, 2007 at 7:26 pm | Report this commentMielenkiintoinen poitti.
Posted by: Kirsi Rantanen | April 25th, 2007 at 2:06 pm | Report this comment