Europe is in the limelight once again, so we looked to Au Revoir, Europe author David Charter for some thoughts.
“Poll after poll shows that if a referendum on EU membership was held tomorrow, Britain would vote to leave. But some surveys, including the recent ComRes poll for Open Europe, also find that this result would be reversed if the government succeeds in winning powers back from Brussels to protect Britain’s interests. It seems like a ringing endorsement of David Cameron’s plan to renegotiate the EU relationship and then hold a referendum in 2017. But this reckons without the glaring contradiction at the heart of Conservative thinking on Europe.
The Fresh Start group of eurosceptic Conservative MPs has set out its own manifesto for repatriating powers from Brussels. Their top priority is to get an “emergency brake” – a kind of veto – over EU legislation that affects financial services. Second on their wish list is the repatriation of control over social and employment law, or failing that, another emergency brake over future legislation in this field.
Elsewhere in their manifesto, the group praises the part of the EU seen by the Conservatives as the main reason for keeping Britain in the organisation: “Our ambition is to build on the success of the Single Market. We want to ensure the EU institutions protect and deepen the Single Market.” This also fits in with Cameron’s declared intention in his major EU speech earlier this year: “Britain is at the heart of that Single Market, and must remain so.”
And yet the top two goals for renegotiation from his own backbenchers are both aimed at scaling back the Single Market they support so dearly. Most of the other EU nations view financial services and social and employment law as key parts of the Single Market that cannot be altered without damaging the whole system.
The ComRes poll threw up a similar conundrum from voters. When asked what should change about Britain’s relationship with the EU, the top answer was control over immigration – and yet the free movement of workers is one of the four founding principles of the Single Market.
David Cameron has launched a campaign to keep Britain in a reformed EU and wants to stay because of the importance of the Single Market. Meanwhile the reforms most wanted by his supporters and many voters are seen in Brussels as an assault on the very foundations of that Single Market. If Cameron cannot find other areas to reform and renegotiate in order to win the referendum, he seems destined to end up battling to unravel the bit of the EU he claims to value the most.”
For further discussion about the EU, get your hands on a copy of Au Revoir, Europe, at the exclusive promotional price of £8.99
Follow @David Charter now