Posted, January 01, 2010 @ 00:00
Timothy Kirkhope MEP writes on the Guardian's CommentisFree website:
In the runup to the general election, Labour will be grasping at straws for attack lines against the Conservatives. When a party runs out of ideas, all it has left is to smear and destroy, rather than ask the people to judge them on their prospectus for the nation. Glenis Willmott's rather pitiful attack published here on Monday, illustrated this well.
Apart from the despicable personal digs at our allies in the European parliament, another emerging line of attack is that our new group, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), has diminished British Conservative influence in the EU. Such an argument just goes to highlight how Willmott, and Labour ministers, completely misunderstand the nature of decision-making at the European level.
Conservative MEPs are in a strong position to deliver for Britain.
Had we remained in the centre-right European People's party group, we would have been the fifth largest delegation. In the last session we were the second largest delegation and while we did punch above our weight, we were still constrained within a federalist group. Now we are by far the largest delegation in a political group of our own, and more importantly, the sands in the European parliament itself have shifted, making our group's role pivotal.
Willmott is correct to say that the European parliament's watchword is consensus. Around each issue, each directive, each resolution, no political group has an absolute majority so a coalition must be built. When we look at the European parliament following June's elections, it is clear that the socialists have been consigned to obscurity, and with just 13 MEPs in the socialist group, British Labour MEPs are an irrelevance.
When William Hague, Mark Francois and I met with the leader of the EPP just before the European elections, we made it clear that we want to maintain extremely close relations with them. I believe we still enjoy a strong rapport that is born from two things: the EPP's respect for the hard work and effectiveness of Conservative MEPs; and the fact that the EPP needs our group in order to defeat "the left" in the parliament.
Nothing summed this up better than the re-election of José Manuel Barroso for president of the European commission. Without our votes he would not have secured the majority required to give him a mandate from MEPs. Our group was the first in the parliament that Barroso attended when setting out his priorities for another term. I chaired the meeting and, as the largest delegation in the ECR we were able to subject Barroso to a grilling of several hours. Since that election, I have enjoyed significant amounts of face time with him, enabling us to put the case of the British people direct to those at the top.
Time and again, our analysis is showing that votes are being won and lost in the European parliament, because of our group.
It's worth remembering that we are a new group and it takes time for any movement to become established. However, we are already working well with the EPP and many other sections of the chamber where we can do business. On issues like financial services regulation we can work with our allies in the EPP, but we will also help build a coalition from the more liberal-minded members of the parliament's Liberal group. The Liberals have chosen the former prime minister of Belgium, Guy Verhofstadt, as their leader. He is not a liberal, but a Belgian social democrat, and he has proven a divisive figure in the Liberal group as he imports the worst aspects of Belgian politics to the European parliament. There are plenty of Liberals with whom we are already doing business.
Our group is not just pivotal given the current balance of the European parliament, it is also extremely strong in its own right. We enjoy the chairmanship of the powerful internal market committee. Barroso set out the completion of the single market as one of his main priorities in the next five years. He could hope for no better ally than my colleague Malcolm Harbour, who is renowned in the European parliament as a passionate advocate of completing the single market. Doing so will open up new opportunities to small businesses across Britain.
We have co-ordinators, who manage the business of committees and steer its political direction, on almost every major committee. We have many vice-presidents of committees. As deputy chairman of the group, I regularly represent the group on the parliament's conference of presidents, which is the top table of the parliament, and which enables our group to have direct influence on the business of the whole parliament.
We also enjoy the procedural benefits of having our own group. In the EPP, had we wanted to submit an amendment to a directive in the main chamber we had to plead our old group to submit it. In the many circumstances when this was impossible our members would find themselves trawling around the parliament trying to find 40 MEPs to sign our amendment. Now, we submit our own without hindrance.
Our positions enable us to engage constructively in the EU, but our new group also gives us the freedom to put across our own vision for a European Union that does less and does it better.
Our record of engagement and constructive criticism can be contrasted to Labour's which is one of absence and drift. We all remember when Tony Blair gave away £7bn of Britain's rebate in exchange for a vague promise to reform the common agricultural policy (CAP). You'd have thought that, given the price tag, Britain would have taken a keen interest in those discussions. However, when agriculture ministers met in Slovenia to discuss the so-called CAP health check, there was only one British parliamentarian there: my Conservative colleague Neil Parish. Not a single Labour minister bothered to attend these crucial first discussions, and as a consequence the reform was botched by the French.
That incident was not isolated: ministers are frequently absent from important discussions. One of the worst offenders was Gordon Brown when chancellor. How can they wield influence when they cannot even be bothered to turn up to the meetings?
Worse still, we all witnessed Brown handing away a key economic portfolio in the European commission in order to save face for his failure to install Blair as president of the council of ministers. I personally think we can work with the new French internal market commissioner, Michel Barnier, but we must never forget that, thanks to Labour, Britain no longer has a voice in the economics team of the commission.
The British government naturally has influence in the EU. It will regardless of who is in control. But what's important is how you use that influence to deliver your manifesto priorities for the people. Conservative MEPs have put themselves in a strong position to deliver the agenda of change that the British people voted for in June. I have no doubt that David Cameron, if elected prime minister, will engage fully in the EU in order to fight for Britain in the EU, not the EU in Britain. Labour will undoubtedly continue to carp from the sidelines. The British people deserve better.