Britain on the fringes of Europe ─ far from enough?

Labour Has Left Britain On The Fringes Of Europe, wrote shadow foreign secretary William Hague in The Spectator.



Hague is right, but what his posturing fails to communicate is that his and the Conservatives’ policies are even worse. Almost every Conservative promise would propel the UK even further away from the slipstream of Europe. Leaving the mainstream EPP-ED political group is but one example of a political party, which prefers to hang separately rather than together and which hails opinion polls at the expense of leadership.

The same recipes are proposed for the time when the Conservatives form the government, putting European integration in reverse.

Whatever the latest polls show, there is still a chance to start a discussion about the long term interests of Britain ahead of the European elections.

If not, perhaps the United Kingdom deserves a Conservative government and the consequential loss of friends and influence.


Ralf Grahn

Tories: Self-banishment from Europe

The British Conservative party has drawn the conclusions from its continuing trajectory towards the fringes of European politics by announcing its divorce from the European People’s Party – European Democrats (EPP-ED) group in the European Parliament.

The BBC reports ‘Tories leaving Europe’s EPP group’ (11 March 2009):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7938482.stm

Self-expulsion is the easy part, but what are the Tories going to do in European politics?

According to the amended Rule 29(2) of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament, which enters into force after the European elections in June 2009, the minimum requirements for a political group are:

2. A political group shall comprise Members elected in at least one-quarter of the Member States. The minimum number of Members required to form a political group shall be twenty-five.

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The Tories would have to find soul-mates from six other member states in order to form a political group, which is the prerequisite for effective work within the EP. By the looks of it, the ‘talent pool’ outside the constructive groups will be fairly unpalatable for people with some standards on political content and governance.

The alternative is to join the splinter groups and individual MEPs who are content to arrange dress-up charades and other silly pranks to demonstrate against the institution they have been elected to.


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At a time when concerted European action is needed more than ever, what can we expect from a future Tory government?

They are absolutely not working for the interests of the citizens of the European Union, but can they even begin to explain how their self-ostracism serves the interests of British nationals?


Ralf Grahn