With the approach of the 2009 European Parliamentary elections, there is growing concern that turnout will decline and the fortunes of eurosceptic parties will increase. But who are the Eurosceptics and what do they believe in?
European Parliament in Brussels
The UK Independence Party (UKIP) advocate a withdrawal from the EU, replacing it with a free trade zone, not political union. Other sceptics advocate anything from a radical reform of the EU, to outright xenophobia. The main difference is geographical. British sceptics are drawn from the width of the political spectrum, whereas mainland Europe’s sceptics tend to come from either the extreme left or right.
In the 2004 European Parliamentary elections UKIP pushed the pro-Europe UK Liberal Democrats into fourth place and proudly marched to Strasbourg with their star MEP, Robert Kilroy-Silk, formerly a daytime TV host. At a triumphant press conference Kilroy-Silk announced that he was going to ‘wreck’ the EU Parliament. Since then, Kilroy-Silk has left UKIP, formed his own party, left that party and is now apparently trying to wreck the EU by staying away from it, only turning up to collect his expenses. Somehow the Parliament has survived.
The biggest success for the Eurosceptics was the Irish rejection of the Treaty of Lisbon. This vote has provoked much anguish and analysis from as far as several kilometres from Schuman roundabout. According to highly placed sources, the Yes camp were in terminal disarray. Commissioner Margot Walström had objected vigorously to the deliberately opaque and obtuse wording of the treaty – constructed to obscure its similarity to the previously rejected European Constitution according to insiders – and had pleaded with the Council of the European Union to release a clear and readable version, to no avail. The end result was that even the Yes camp couldn’t understand or explain the treaty.
So, a deliberately obscure text was put in front of the electorate, who were meant to endorse it without anyone being able to explain what it meant. You don’t have to be a Eurosceptic to feel that the pro-treaty campaign deserved to lose the referendum in these circumstances.
Out of the woods?
The great European project is at a crossroads, with reform paralysed, an increasing number of member states and growing disillusion amongst Europeans. There is much talk of the ‘democratic deficit’ and ex- Commissioner Peter Mandelson’s worrying assertion that we’re in a ‘post-democratic’ age, whatever that means. Perhaps it’s a reference to his enoblement in the UK House of Lords.
The real issue is about how to adapt to the modern world. The European Union was founded by people who where shocked at the carnage of the Second World War and at how despots had led people down a nihilistic path. It was a ‘we know what’s best for you’, paternalist outlook, with the best of intentions, that gave birth to the European idea. As the Union has developed and changed from an initial steel and coal treaty into political and monetary union, the outside world has also changed as have the expectations of the electorate. People no longer defer to ‘the great and the good’ nor seem content to give carte blanche to their governments to do as they will on the European agenda.
This led to a sense of distance between European citizens and the European Union, which can be seen in the lowering turnout at elections and the lack of interest in European affairs. According to EU surveys, 75% of people don’t even know what year the next European Parliament elections are, when they are only a few months away. Only 30% say they will definitely vote and 68% of those who will not be voting say it is because it won’t make a difference.
A leading commentator from the Socialist Group privately admitted to me that he is considering not voting in the 2009 elections because, “It just doesn’t matter who wins a seat. It makes no difference to what Europe does if my MEP is left or right. I can’t see any real difference between when the Party of European Socialists was a majority and now, when the European Peoples Party are the largest group”.
Eurosceptics have a simple and clear message for the electorate; the EU has failed. Their biggest barrier to their political ambitions is a disillusioned electorate that can’t be motivated to go out and vote for them. The pro-Europeans have a much more complex message, one that hasn’t been well articulated recently. They have one other major handicap, as Christian Leffler, Head of Cabinet for Commissioner Wallström explained, “European politics is boring. It’s for nerds”.
The 2009 election predictions are gloomy for the Europhiles; lower turnout and an increased number of Eurosceptic MEP’s. While a decreased turnout is a serious concern, a democratic process needs dissent and criticism and without the sceptics, European politics would certainly be even more boring. A frightening prospect.
First published in Together Magazine
Excellent article, Andy – but haven’t I seen it somewhere before?
J
Today the quote referred to in the article is sadly true…
“It just doesn’t matter who wins a seat. It makes no difference to what Europe does if my MEP is left or right. I can’t see any real difference between when the Party of European Socialists was a majority and now, when the European Peoples Party are the largest group”
But it did not HAVE to be like this! Last week EPP de facto nominated Barroso as their candidate for the position of Commission president. He is backed not only by them but also by socialist Zapatero and Socrates (!) and it odes seem like the voters had no say on the matter – Barroso is in no matter what is the largest group in the EP!
So why does not PES nominate a conta candidate? I asked Rasmussen and he said “we have not decided if we will do it YET”. Well maybe it is slowly time to do it…. At least if Europe’s voters should get any influence on the composition of Europe’s executive and if their votes should have any real effect”. This weekend the Greens are having their Congress – lets see if they ar prepared to take the lead to make Europe more democratic – unfortunately I doubt it…
more on this topic here:
http://federalists.cafebabel.com/en/
Isn’t it true that the Anti-EU people are out-and-out nationalists? Maybe they fear a power-source that is so remote that it is beyond their control (even indirectly – eg, through elections)? And is that not the reason for much anti-government feeling, wherever you live? Too distant, too remote from “my” everyday life.
Yet, so much of what the EU does is boring administrative stuff. How can people be motivated to be interested? Perhaps this the root of the EU-sceptic position? ie wanting an EU of some sort but not quite sure of what. Note that EU-sceptics want a pan-European organisation, Anti-EU types simply want to return to the “simple” times of nation-states.
As for Barosso, for so long as the Lisbon Treaty is not ratified then his flaccid style is OK by me. I will get really annoyed (ie I will pester my EMP) if he should get the vote with the Lisbon Treaty in force.
Well, I can tell you that EUROPEAN politics ARE NOT BORING, because I know of many people who have to wait till the night to have some free time to go their blogs and start campaigning for a federal europe, a socialist europe or a whatever europe that makes more people live better.
Maybe the author from the article would say that I am a nerd, but when I go to a seminar in the European Parliament, and I have the chance to discuss about the role of the EU in the word, I dont feel that it’s talking about nothing.
(EG: http://www.socialistgroup.eu/gpes/newsdetail.do?id=123415&lg=fr)
And more important, in my daily life I can feel that I am in Europe, because living now in Brussels, or going on holidays to Germany, or talking to my friends from Greece… i can see that we have something in common. We have the chance to leave in countries where people can study, you have the right to fight for a better life and is not about having the freedom to do it, but about having the way to go for it.
Furthermore, I believe that having a political Union, we, THE EUROPEAN CITIZENS, can get much more than leaving the world being international only for bussiness.
And there, we have come back to the central issue. You claim that it doesnt’ make a difference to have left or right? Would you say the same for your country???
I think that you couldn’t be more wrong. You are probably kidding yourself if you think that your left or right wing party can make a difference and that those same parties at a European level dont. I am utterly convinced that our national governments can’t take but secondary deccisions, just because the biggest issues are not on their hands anymore (think of who own the banks in your country and how nobody controls the financial markets…). And that’s why it makes so much sense to vote for the European elections, and why it is so sad that some try to convince the people that it’s useless.
Oh… and a socialist saying that “It just doesn’t matter who wins a seat. It makes no difference to what Europe does if my MEP is left or right. I can’t see any real difference between when the Party of European Socialists was a majority and now, when the European Peoples Party are the largest group”…. i don’t know who could have said that, but I know lots of people who believe in their job and for me it doesnt represent the engagement from the socialists.
USE YOUR RIGHT and VOTE!