14 December 2012

Sir Julian Priestley: Britain and Europe - The last rites?

To those who assert that Britain is on its way out of the EU, the most sensible response would seem to be that nothing has been decided, writes Priestley for Nucleus. We are entering into a new, long and complicated phase in EU/UK relations. It is a little premature to organise the funeral rites.

It is perhaps timely for those who count themselves as pro-Europeans here and in Britain to note a number of elementary points.

A case can be made, and is made even by some British pro-Europeans, that Europe would proceed more speedily and efficiently without Britain. The counterargument is that in areas where Britain is absent the record is not one of unadulterated success. The eurozone crisis is looking like a chronicle of wasted time and opportunity which could still derail the whole European project. It alone accounts for most of the recent spike in hostility to the EU in the UK. It is also making Europeans elsewhere less European by the day. Britain may not have lifted a finger to help but the EU and its institutions have hardly covered themselves with glory in the management of a crisis, the responsibility for which is hard to pin on the British.

Despite its political, social and economic weaknesses the UK remains a major and open trading economy; it contributes importantly to multilateral defence activities; it is a permanent member of the UN security council; it has global reach unmatched in the EU by any other Member State except France; it is a stable if imperfect democracy deeply attached to the rule of law. The EU is not so powerfully positioned economically or politically to ignore the albeit largely untapped potential that a constructive UK could offer, as it contemplates deepening economic and political union and becoming a global power.

The UK has been a difficult partner throughout its membership. But even here we pro-Europeans should dispel some myths. Britain has contributed solidly to the building of the EU institutions. It has sent politicians sometimes of the first rank - not technocrats or failed ministers - as Commissioners, thus implicitly accepting the political role of the Union's executive. British officials shaping EU policies are highly regarded. British MEPs are among those who take most seriously and perform most diligently the core parliamentary tasks of legislating and budgeting. The internal market has to a considerable extent been promoted and defended by Britain; and the directives issued in its implementation have been taken more seriously in the UK than in some founding member states. Britain brings an extra dimension to EU deliberations on external policy; it has contributed usefully if fitfully to the first stages of defence cooperation.

Conversely, some Member States which readily trumpet a European mantra on any occasion fall short when it comes to translating their rhetoric into any meaningful commitment to strengthen the Union. The solidarity so essential to bind the Union together has not only been wanting in London. The truth is that the EU has 27 Member States, all of which from time to time behave badly; the current crisis has shown nearly all of them at their worst. To imagine that it is the turbulent British who are the only real obstacle on the smooth path to federal union is a puerile delusion.

The situation in Britain is also less straightforward than it seems. The leadership of all three main parties favours staying in the EU. Neither Liberal Democrats nor Labour have backed a push to repatriate powers to the UK. Although David Cameron has hinted that a referendum might be appropriate to endorse the 'new settlement' were powers to be repatriated after negotiation, he has so far ruled out a referendum which could jeopardise membership. His junior coalition partner opposes a referendum.

Admittedly, none of these leaders is fully in control of a situation which has its own dynamic. The Conservative party has been infiltrated and now almost taken over by cut-price charismatics and sympathisers with the Republican Tea Party. They regard Cameron as the continuation of Tony Blair by other means. They loathe the coalition and their hatred of everything to do with the EU is pathological. For almost the first time in its long history, the Tory party is becoming an ideological one eschewing two centuries of pragmatism. The ranks of the radicals have been swollen as alarm grows that UKIP will deny them victory again at the next election by siphoning off votes in every constituency.

There is no discernible move to greater euroscepticism in the Labour Party despite that EU budget vote; and the more strident the europhobia on the right, the more likely Labour will stay broadly if very tepidly pro-European. Ed Miliband opposes a referendum – again, so far - because he judges it would immobilise a future Labour government were it to be held, and sabotage it were it to be lost. But were the Conservatives to commit to a referendum before the 2015 elections it could become increasingly difficult for Miliband to hold the line.

The Liberal Democrats remain stout-heartedly European but have lost the ear of the British people...

So to those who assert that Britain is on its way out of the EU, the most sensible response would seem to be that nothing has been decided, we are entering into a new, long and complicated phase in EU/UK relations. It is a little premature to organise the funeral rites.

To those European partners who wish Britain to stay in the EU, the only advice that can be given should be to continue to treat the UK as a full member of the Union, to be firm when it seeks to sabotage EU initiatives for opportunistic reasons, but to discount the propaganda of the UK anti-Europeans that British exit is now only a matter of time. Accepting the europhobic propaganda that the UK quitting is almost inevitable could become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Above all, the strongest riposte to the eurosceptics would be to resolve the euro crisis with an effective mix of budgetary responsibility, growth policies and showing solidarity to those member states currently enduring the worst social crisis since the War.

The main responsibility, however, lies with the British pro-Europeans, leaders and representatives in all three political parties, British industry, the trades unions, civil society, the voluntary sector and others who have remained essentially in a state of quietism since the 1975 referendum. They need now to organise. They need to rebut effectively and immediately the lies and misrepresentations churned out by the media and our own local 'droite démplexé. They should prepare for a ground war, and build up a movement in all the regions of the UK. Above all they should raise their heads above the parapets and display some political leadership and passionate engagement after nearly forty years of meek defensiveness.

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© Nucleus (now CBIE)