Getting Europe

By Julian Ware-Lane

I started out being a Euro-sceptic. I was opposed to the UK’s entry into the Common Market in 1973 and had I been old enough in 1975 would have voted “No” with my parents. Looking back, the “No” camp had some ill-matched bedfellows, and was comprehensively routed. (The yes camp also had some strange alliances: Harold Wilson and Margaret Thatcher are but two examples.)

I cannot claim to have fallen in love with the EU since then, but rather to appreciate it and to see that leaving is neither a sensible nor realistic option. With just three months to the Euro elections I will be campaigning to return as many Labour MEPs as possible, and making the argument for Europe in the process.

For me there are two killer arguments for the EU and our continuing presence at the heart of it.

The twentieth century was Europe’s bloodiest. There can be little argument that the EU was created against the backdrop of two terrible World Wars, and I do not consider it coincidental that no blood has been shed in warfare in Western Europe since. For reasons of peace alone it has been worth it.

However, peace is often linked to prosperity. We live in the age of globalisation. European nations individually would carry little weight against the economic super-entities. As part of the EU the UK is able to compete, negotiate and trade with the rest of the world from a basis of equality. Alone we would be a small fish, a junior player.

Despite all this, I do reserve the right to be cynical. The Common Agricultural Policy is nothing less than an unmitigated disaster. Not being able to sign off the accounts for more years than I care to remember does not cover the organisation in glory either.

I also cannot believe that allowing Spanish fishermen to drive their West Country competitors out of business is what the EU was set up for. These are issues of detail which will be resolved democratically.

Shrill commentators in the blogosphere would have you believe that there is widespread support for the UK leaving, or at least renegotiating its commitment to, the EU. Yet Euro-sceptic parties rarely save their deposits, and the low turnout in European elections leaves one thinking that most voters are untroubled by thoughts of Brussels.

What is true, though, that there are muffled voices in CCHQ who are straining at the leash to be able to voice their wrath at what they see as loss of sovereignty. Despite assurances from Ken Clarke I do not believe that there is a “settled” line on Europe in the Conservative Party – and this is a pity. I think David Cameron should be unequivocal. The mature and responsible response from him is an assurance that the Conservative Party is now committed to Europe. Anything less is playing hostage to the extreme voices who would sacrifice peace and prosperity for the sake of delusional daydreams.