The perpetual crisis in British EU membership

By Brian Duggan

Across Brussels and in its member states, rarely is there debate on the EU, its institutions and their popularity (or lack of) without the word crisis entering the conversation.

Putting aside, for a moment, the various international crises that the EU institutions and its member states are engaged in, from the economic crisis, the North African and Middle East crisis and climate change, a perpetual crisis of confidence afflicts this trans-national political structure. And of all the EU member states, Britain seems the most troubled by its membership of the EU.

So this weekend the Fabian Society gathered voices ranging from Shirley Williams to a UKIP MEP to interrogate this continued crisis in confidence of British membership of the EU, debating the question should we be, ‘In, Out or somewhere in between’?

Sunder Katwala advocates an In/Out Referenda on EU Membership to ‘force the question’ and thus ‘lance the boil’ and bring about a reconciliation of public opinion and the views of the pro European ‘political class’.

But would a yes vote lance the boil? Would the reluctant British, on a poor turnout with a potential marginal win for the yes campaign suddenly feel a sense of reconciliation with Brussels? I doubt it.

Historically, it’s worth remembering that Britain has always been a reluctantly politically European but enthusiastically economically European. It is also worth acknowledging that with the increased politicisation of the EU, the debates in Brussels are less about whether one nation is winning over another, but more about how the European left is struggling to articulate itself.

The political right is in control at European level, in all major institutions, establishing fiscal retrenchment, and rolling back public spending with a knock on to earnings and living standards across Europe. Couple this with the continued liberalisation of labour markets and the centre right’s view of what to use the EU for is certainly in triumph. It’s the European left which is in crisis.

If the European left fails to articulate how to use the EU institutions to achieve our political objectives, then the continued alienation of our voters from EU institutions can be expected.

For voters economic stability and state confidence matters but so too does confidence in the political process and the institutions. What exists in Britain is a crisis of confidence in the capacity of the EU to solve our collective problems and a perception that the EU institutions serve the elites and not the many.

For the left to emerge from the doldrums and to tackle Euro scepticism head on, we need not to be defending the EU for its own sake, but to set out our vision for what we would do with its power under our leadership.

There is undoubtedly a crisis of trust in the EU and in public policy, which afflicts the left harder than the right. The calls for a British referendum on EU membership are symptomatic of distrust in politics and an information deficiency.

So would a referendum on EU membership resolve British tension on EU membership? Will it lance the boil? No. The crisis is much wider than that.

It’s a crisis of confidence in the ability of democratic institutions to solve a crisis in capitalism.

For the left to renew, we need to set out a credible plan for regaining the confidence and legitimacy of our voters in our ability to set the political institutions at work in serving their needs.