You will remember that on Friday I posted a report on the Tripartite Lords, Commons and European Parliament meeting held the day before. I deliberately didn’t mention any of the names of those present, but nevertheless tried to give a rounded account of what transpired.
One thing I didn’t mention and decided to leave for later was a very significant comment by one of the Lords present. He (all except one of the peers present were male) made the obvious and strikingly simple point that were the Tories ever to form a government they would have to engage with the European Union. Britain is, after all, a fully paid up member and has been for over 30 years.
Were there to be a Conservative government, they would have no option other that to take part in the Council of Ministers. Government Ministers would have to go to the Council Ministerial meetings. If they failed to attend Britain would be left completely out in the cold. Not going to Council meetings would mean the government could not stand up for Britain’s interests, surely a very grave dereliction of duty. Again, I am not going to divulge the name of the Lord who put forward this view, except to say he has been a leading Conservative and therefore speaks with some weight. However, what he said is not rocket science. The Tories would have no choice but to be present in the EU and do their best for us, the British people.
This again shows the complete madness of Tory policy on Europe. They are trying to be neither one thing nor the other. On the one hand, the Tories do not want to withdraw completely from the EU while on the other they think they can change EU agreements to suit their own agenda. As I have said many times before, renegotiation of the treaties and agreements is a non-starter. All of these were closely fought before being signed by all the EU member states. Given this, it seems extremely unlikely that any, let alone a majority, of EU countries would be willing even to contemplate tearing up what already exists just to placate one particular member state.
The fact that the Tories had huge difficulties setting up the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group in the European Parliament shows, I believe, just how marginalised they have become in Europe. The Tories have, as I understand it, lost support from Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy as well as other centre-right governments in Europe. In all honesty, I really cannot see any way in which they would be able to get enough agreement from enough of the 27 EU member states to change any of the EU treaties.
This leaves the option of withdrawing completely from the EU. This, at least, would be an honest policy and is now achievable as the Lisbon Treaty allows countries to leave the EU. However, it appears Cameron doesn’t want to go down this route. The Tories are stuck with their impossible promises. In all seriousness, would you put your trust in a political party whose leaders are so obviously muddled on a topic as important as Britain’s role in Europe?
