Forcing Europe onto the agenda

Civitas, 31 March 2009

There has been widespread press coverage of Mr Stuart Wheeler’s announcement that he intends to donate £100,000 to the UK Independence Party and to vote for UKIP at the forthcoming European Parliament election in June 2009. Mr Wheeler has said that whilst he still intends to vote Conservative in the local elections on the same day, for the European election he will support UKIP because he cannot “work from within” the Conservative Party to influence its policy on Europe.

Despite the fact that, as Mr Wheeler asserts, “more than half the shadow cabinet are more eurosceptic than the leadership and would favour a tougher line on Europe”, the Party leadership are sweeping the European issue aside for fear of opening old Party wounds. As the Conservatives start to sense victory at the next General Election (which must take place before or on 3rd June 2010), they are becoming increasingly risk averse. For example, David Cameron prioritised domestic electoral success over EU policy when he recently promoted Ken Clarke back into the Shadow Cabinet despite Mr Clarke’s famously pro-EU stance. Cameron’s motivation was to utilise Clarke’s experience to deflect Gordon Brown’s “this is no time for a novice” criticism of the Conservative shadow cabinet. Of further concern was the condition that Mr Clarke effectively take a “vow of silence on Europe” (until his appointment to the shadow cabinet, Mr Clarke had been due to take part in this year’s Civitas National Sixth Form EU conference on 12th March. He had been billed take part on a debate on the need for the UK to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty…)

Stuart Wheeler is not simply provoking an internal Conservative Party revolt, but his protest forces the EU onto the agenda for the European Parliament election. This might seem to be a tautological point, but the absense of a European demos means that electorates across the EU are not demanding a European focus for the EP election campaigns. Furthermore, the absence of pan-European Parties creates a void, which encourages MEP candidates to draw on National issues.  So it will be no surprise when, following the election in June, the media will portray the EP election result in the UK as a referendum on Gordon Brown’s leadership (in the absence of a General Election, and discounting by-elections, it would indeed be the only electoral test of Brown’s leadership since he succeeded Tony Blair as Prime Minister).
Britain is not alone in this electoral trend. The French are widely considered to have rejected the EU Constitution as a result of National concerns, and following the Irish referendum last year there was much criticism that the Irish “No” had been a result of National concerns, rather than genuine opposition to the Lisbon Treaty. The argument ran that, the result of the referendum wasn’t a “real” NO to the Lisbon Treaty and therefore, they had better hold a second vote…

Because the European Parliament is the only directly elected EU institution, the elections in June provide the only chance for voters to hold the EU to account for the next five years. Yet uninformed voters and risk averse politicians are creating a viscous circle within which debate on the European Union is being stifled. However, as Stuart Wheeler’s protest highlights, the upcoming election presents an crucial opportunity for open debate and an honest evaluation of the European Union. To avoid the European Parliament election becoming commandeered by national parties as a litmus test for the forthcoming UK General Election, the EP election needs to be about European issues to provoke crucial debate and to enable further awareness and understanding of the EU.