Globalaffairs

Issue 15/June-July 2009
By Glen Ruffle

The people of Europe have voted, and shown that the separation between them and the elite is bigger than ever. Given this, and how the elite will not listen to the people, the only way forwards for the EU is to reduce in size.

Europe is now looking at the aftermath of the European Parliament elections, where 350 million people were able to have their say choose some of the people who will make laws that rule and govern their lives.

With the lowest ever voter-turnout, the election of explicitly anti-EU MEPs, and gains for far-right parties across Europe, only Jose Manuel Barrosso could say “Overall, the results are an undeniable victory for those parties and candidates that support the European project and want to see the European Union delivering policy responses to their everyday concerns” [1].

That the President of the Commission could conclude such a fantastical and outrageously wrong conclusion is symptomatic of the plight facing the EU. Quite simply, the elite of Europe are not listening, and don’t want to listen.

With only 43% of people bothering to cast a vote [2], it is a clear sign that the elections mean nothing to the ordinary person. Who and what is this European Parliament? What does it do? Why should I care? All of these questions are mysteries to the average person in Europe. They are also mysteries because many people expect to be ruled by members of their own country - by people from the same linguistic, cultural and historical background as themselves. The European Parliament, instead, under a semblance of democracy, offers the chance for people from ex-Communist states to help rule those in the Atlantic Ocean, and vice-versa. This is not giving power to the people; it is actually removing power from the people, and would only be acceptable if the EU was in fact one state, which, as the historical progression of Treaties shows, is where the EU is heading.

So as the EU is becoming a new State, what do the people think? We know from repeated polling evidence that the British hate it and would like to leave [3] [4], but are being denied any form of choice. When the French and Dutch voters were asked to vote on the European Constitution in 2005, they gave a resounding ‘no’ vote to this federalist document [5].

And when the Irish people were asked to vote on the Treaty of Lisbon, ninety-six percent the same as the Constitution, they also said no [6]. The result? They are being asked to vote again, and this time to vote ‘correctly’. The EU has this time even co-opted the Catholic Church into supporting the Treaty in order to try and make the people of Ireland vote ‘as they should have’ the first time round. Arch-federalist Hans Gert Pottering, President of the European Parliament, was adamant that it is “the responsibility of Ireland” to make sure the Lisbon Treaty goes into law [7].

There is a clear and disturbing pattern here: if you vote against the project, no one listens, and no one notices. They simply carry on. It makes no difference.

However, it is becoming increasingly clear that opposition is rising. At the next election in Britain, it is highly likely that a government will come to power that explicitly has promised a referendum on the Lisbon treaty, and it is widely known that if the people were asked, they would say no. This of course would force the European Union into another crisis.

What is the way forwards?

The only sensible way forwards for the Euro-federalists, those who want to persist with their dream of ‘ever closer union’ (mainly people in the European Commission, the European Parliament and in some Member States), is to reduce and deepen. This is horrifying news for many of them, but if the dream of a United States of Europe is to be achieved, then they must accept that the present structure is just an obstacle.

Twenty Seven Member States is too many. There are too many ideas, fears, desires and visions to be successfully managed in such a large group. And as the elections showed, it simply is not possible to combine so many peoples under one idea of a new, united country. The people of Europe voted for parties that explicitly state they do not want to live as one harmonious group of people [8]. But the main political parties simply refuse to accept this fact. Yet you cannot simply erase history and culture and create a new Europe if the people are not in support of this.

This new Europe cannot include Britain, which has only ever been a thorn in the side of the Europhiles. Already integrated culturally and genetically with the English speaking world of Canada, the US, Australia and the rest, the UK has only ever sought to expand the EU and create a functioning market, which has made it harder for the EU to deepen in its integration, and come closer together.

Historically, Europe has never been united - only parts of it, at different periods, have come under different rulers [9]. The Roman Empire, Charlemagne, Napoleon, Hitler…all attempted at different times to assert their vision of a united Europe, but all of these visions were in fact smaller than the present EU. For the EU to truly develop ‘ever closer union’, it must jettison the baggage, and eliminate the periphery, troublesome states and build on the foundation of a small unit, in core states, where there is indeed an idea of Europe in the hearts of more people.

The periphery might also include Eastern Europe. In the current economic crisis, many states in the East of Europe have suffered exceptionally. Latvia is facing a sovereign debt crisis, and the basis of European Monetary Union is being threatened by the debts of Eastern Europe [10]. If the Euro were to collapse, the entire European Project would fall.

Essentially, Europe needs to accept that the dream of a federal state is only strong in certain countries. Eastern Europe is only an obstacle to this. For example, Member States have competing fears and interests, which critically divide the EU. Germany has pushed ahead with the Nord Stream gas project with Russia, which will secure German standards of living and provide this state with needed energy. Yet in doing so it undermines the united front that many Eastern Europeans are trying to portray to the Russian leviathan on their borders. The Kremlin has so far successfully divided and ruled Europe, increasing the dependence of European states on its energy, and in so doing drawing them under Moscow’s sphere of influence [11].

It would be wrong to suggest everyone in Europe is against the European project. But many people, in many states, have not got the chance to say what they really think. By creating a two-speed Europe, with a core of deeply integrating states and then maybe some satellite states, everyone can be happy. The EU’s own polling service, Eurobarometer, shows the depth of division across Europe - barely 30% of Latvian, British and Hungarian people thought membership of the EU was a good thing, whilst in the Netherlands 80% were convinced of its benefits [12].

With such diversity in the EU, it is impossible for deeper integration to truly take place without dangerous backlashes. The EU elite don’t want to listen to the people, but if they do want to save their precious dream of Euro-unity, then the present European monster needs to be reduced in size.

Glen Ruffle
Masters from the University of Southampton and currently teaches in Moscow.

References/Sources

[1] and [8] BBC News (2009) Voters steer Europe to the right, 08.06.2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8088309.stm

[2] Elitsa Vucheva (2009) European Elections Marked by Record Low Turnout, EU Observer, 08.06.2009, http://euobserver.com/9/28262

[3] Global Vision / Taxpayers Alliance (2009) YouGov Poll, 11th January 2009
http://www.global-vision.net/GVTPAY2106.htm

[4] Peter Riddell (2009) European Elections: Times poll gives fringe parties a boost, 13th May 2009,
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/peter_riddell/article6275933.ece

[5] BBC News (2005) French say firm ‘no’ to EU Treaty, 30 May 2005, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4592243.stm

[6] Open Europe (2007) New EU Treaty is 96% the same as old Constitution, 24 July 2007
http://www.openeurope.org.uk/media-centre/bulletin.aspx?bulletinid=61

[7] Andrew Willis (2009) Lisbon Treaty strengthens role of religion says EU, EU Observer, 11.05.09
http://euobserver.com/18/28106

[8] see [1]

[9] Helen Szamuely (2004) Myth of the week: Europe is being reunited, EU Referendum, 27.06.04
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2004/06/myth-of-week-europe-is-being-reunited.html

[10] Ambrose Evans-Pritchard (2009) Latvian debt crisis shakes Eastern Europe, Daily Telegraph, 3.06.09
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/5438615/Latvian-debt-crisis-shakes-Eastern-Europe.html

[11] Fredrik Erixon (2009) Dividing and Ruling Europe, page 8 of The Moscow Times, Wednesday 3rd June 2009

[12] Eurobarometer (2008) Eurobarometer 70, page 32, December 2008.
http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/eb/eb70/eb70_first_en.pdf

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