European Conservatives: Prague declaration analysis (Part one)

What do we know about the politics of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECRG) in the European Parliament?

The strongest manifestation is the establishment of the new political group, built around the UK Conservative Party of David Cameron and William Hague (26 MEPs), the Polish Law and Justice Party (PiS) of the Kaczynski twins (15 MEPs) and the Czech Civic Democratic Party (ODS) of Mirek Topolanek (formerly Vaclav Klaus) (9 MEPs), with a fluctuating number of individual representatives from other member states.

The Tories and the ODS left the EPP-ED group, the home of the mainstream group of the European People’s Party (EPP) and the sub-group European Democrats (ED). The divorce from the European mainstream is accentuated by the new union with the nationalist and populist PiS on the fringes.

Prague declaration

There is not much to go on with regard to policies, but the three main parties have agreed on some common principles, the so called Prague declaration.



Let us look at the declaration and provide some subjective comment on its contents.

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Preamble

The Prague declaration of principles of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group in the European Parliament

Conscious of the urgent need to reform the EU on the basis of Eurorealism, openness, accountability and democracy, in a way that respects the sovereignty of our nations and concentrates on economic recovery, growth and competitiveness, the European Conservatives and Reformists Group shares the following Principles: …


Comment

The euphemism Euroskeptic is mainly used by people who oppose European integration and in many cases propose breaking up the European Union, or at least their country’s secession from the EU. Anti-EU and anti-European are preferable terms.

Eurorealism is seen as a softer version of anti-EU action. European integration as a process leading to closer political union is rejected. Dismantling parts of the institutional EU and repatriating some powers to the member states are distinct possibilities. This is the first – and key – auto-definition of the ECRG.

Without using the word, the ECRG defines itself as nationalist, because the Eurorealism, openness, accountability and democracy it mentions as the cornerstones of EU reform are all subject to the respect of the sovereignty of their nations, i.e. the member states.

The political scope of the “reformed” European Union is practically reduced to the economic area: economic recovery, growth and competitiveness.



Ralf Grahn


P.S. The European Citizen has written a thoughtful blog post on the new political group: The European Conservatives and Reformists (24 June 2009).

European elections: Talibans to the rescue?

It is always interesting to read Nosemonkey, but I wonder at his reasoning in Why voting for a eurosceptic party is a good thing for the EU (23 May 2009).



Naturally, the European Union needs critics and reformers, but that that is not what added representation for the British National Party (BNP) or the UK Independence Party (UKIP) is going to bring. There is nothing ‘skeptic’ about them. They want the European Union to fail and the United Kingdom to secede regardless of reform issues.

What Nosemonkey is doing is akin to calling for the Talibans to reform the United States.

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Julien Frisch is looking for the kind of criticism needed to improve the European project in Why we might need EU-sceptic parties (24 May 2009).




"The problem is that EU-sceptic parties’ critique to anything the EU does can easily be discredited as if it was just done to harm the Union, as a matter of principle and not as a constructive approach to make the Union better, even when they are right.

I think we will need heavily EU-critical parties with a true love to the basic idea of such a supranational entity. So far, this critique too often comes from the extremes, but it needs to comes from the centres of the political spectrum, to make it more credible.

But maybe those political forces will first need the EU-sceptic pitbulls to smooth the way before they get their window of opportunity to make the EU a better polity than it is today…"


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It is a corruption of language to gather Taliban-like BNP or UKIP under the banner of ‘skepticisim’, and it is a folly to see them as saviours. Eurotoxic EU reform is a non-starter.

The inadequate treaties of the European Union, including the Lisbon Treaty, and the EU’s obvious shortcomings need a different kind of critique.

The basic questions are how to enhance the security and to improve the prosperity of EU citizens in a turbulent world.

We can become more secure, if the European Union is able to speak with one voice in the world, and more prosperous if the EU embraces economic reform fit for the 21st century.

For this the EU needs real powers, but they have to be legitimate, based on representative democracy and with accountable government at EU level.

EU 2.0 is well beyond the parochial world view of our national governments and the mainstream views of those wedded to the current ‘institutional balance’, but even a hundred ‘Nigel Farages’ in the European Parliament is not going to bring about needed reform, or even the discussion needed to address the right issues.

During more than three decades British tabloids have managed to poison the atmosphere, but they have not even started reflection about how to improve the European Union. Why should more of the same be any better?


Ralf Grahn

Euroskepticism and other creeds

The term Euroskeptic (or Eurosceptic) has been used misleadingly to lend adversaries of European integration an aura of intellectual respectability.

Here are a few suggestions for a new and more accurate political EU vocabulary in a UK context, ahead of the European elections.


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Constructive

Liberals

Stronger Together Poorer Apart

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Euroskeptic

Labour Party

Behind the slipstream of Europe, paring down the Lisbon Treaty and approving it with four opt-outs.

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Anti-European

Libertas

Campaigns to take the European Union back to the Treaty of Nice and to put an end to free movement.


Conservative Party

Wants to wreck the Lisbon Treaty, leave the mainstream EPP-ED parliamentary group and commence integration in reverse. The ones who love French wine and cheese and holidays on the Riviera may object to being called anti-Europeans, which however refers to their political views.

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Eurotoxic

UKIP and BNP want Britain to exit.


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Reasoned suggestions are welcome.


Ralf Grahn