The continuing confusion over the future of the Lisbon treaty – Ireland is due to vote again, the Czechs have not yet ratified, and Germany’s constitutional court is currently discussing its legality – has caused all of us who believe in the European project to reflect on Europe’s direction. For too long, too many pro-Europeans have been frightened of tackling Eurosceptic assaults head-on. It is high time that we took a much more positive approach to Europe. It is high time that we forcefully outlined what the EU has done for Britain, and what it can do in the future.
After the disastrous 1980s slump brought on by Thatcherite economic policies, European money proved crucial in transforming deprived regions of the UK. Today, the European parliament continues to work hard on European citizens’ behalf. It has reduced the cost of mobile phone calls across national boundaries. It has black-listed unsafe airlines. It has promoted environmental policies such as recycling, to limit carbon and energy use.
And the EU will play an ever greater role in confronting the developing global threats we face – in the international fight against terrorism, against people trafficking, drugs, and counterfeit goods. Let’s not forget that the Union is one of the biggest players on the globe when it comes to foreign aid and investment. What’s more, the EU will become increasingly important as the economic crisis deepens. Britain trades more with the rest of Europe than with anywhere else in the world – 3.5 million of our jobs in manufacturing and services depend on it.
The UK has always been integral in promoting EU enlargement and should strongly advocate this expansive vision in the face of destructive Euroscepticism. As a country, we need to argue that enlargement means an even bigger market for our goods and services. The biggest setback of non-ratification of Lisbon is that the treaty represents a major step forward in streamlining and simplifying the administration of this wider Union.
Being in Europe also means we can travel to countries like Spain or Greece with ease – and can go and live and work there if we want to. Citizens of other European countries are able to move to the UK and do some of the jobs that British people don’t want to do. Locally grown fruit and veg would be a lot harder to come by without their labour.
The list of the EU’s achievements goes on. Europe’s record on protecting the rights of workers in the UK is second-to-none. It has brought in better and fairer terms and conditions of employment, rights for part-time and agency workers, and more stringent rules on health and safety. Last June the European commission approved a plan to outlaw discrimination of every kind. Yet the Conservatives in the European parliament want to opt out of social legislation that protects and promotes equalities.
On 4 June this year there will be elections to the European parliament. Euro elections are typically beset by very low turn-out. So it will be all the more important that pro-Europeans come out fighting, and put their case positively – both for the single market and the opportunities it offers our businesses, and the social chapter and the benefits it has brought to our workers.
The Tories and UKIP want to put all of this at risk. As they have done at every previous election, these two parties will try to undermine the entire European project. And the BNP threat looms menacingly, threatening the North West and the West and East Midlands with the possibility of representation in Europe by a neofascist party. Remember also that the coming European test will be the Labour party’s last major electoral challenge before a 2010 general election. Doing as badly as we have done recently is unthinkable – it will cement the idea that the government is destined to be voted out.
We cannot allow the Eurosceptics to distort what the EU has achieved so far, and what it will achieve in the future. We need to make the case for Europe with conviction, and with pride. What happens in the European parliament touches everyone in the UK, through its impact on jobs, on investment, and on social concerns. Labour will go into the European elections making a strong case for these benefits, and determined to use British influence to bring about even greater advantages for the businesses, consumers, and workers of Britain.
Neena Gill is Labour MEP for the West Midlands