The EU offers a progressive vision for domestic and world politics, argues British Influence’s Rachel Franklin
This morning David Cameron launched the Conservative party’s European election campaign. What is most refreshing is that the European Union is finally making headlines that go beyond scaremongering on immigration statistics and the alleged ‘Brussels dictatorship’. However, we are still some way from a discussion about what the EU really offers Britain: a progressive political and social agenda across EU member states and beyond.
The EU has long been a champion of human rights and has a longstanding record of working to combat inequality both within and outside its borders to boot. It is the world’s biggest donor of overseas development assistance and has played an instrumental role in supporting human rights reform in previously war-torn or repressive regimes such as Burma, Rwanda and Kosovo, to name but a few. Over half a century after its formation, built on a continent torn apart by war, it continues to symbolise peace and prosperity across nations.
The EU also remains a committed world leader in climate change policies. Its 2020 targets – to cut greenhouse gas emissions across the EU to 20 per cent below 1990 levels, increase the share of renewables in the energy market to 20 per cent, and achieve a 20 per cent increase in energy efficiency – are admirably ambitious. Discussions (led by the British government) about its targets for 2030 in the autumn, rumoured to be planning to increase the emissions target to a 40 per cent reduction by 2030, are commendable. The EU’s efforts to mitigate the impact of climate change for those most vulnerable reinforce the precedents it has already set in the global debate. The EU will inevitably play a key role in the vital preparations necessary to get a global climate deal in Paris next year. Representing over 500 million people across 28 member states, this is a discussion the UK will be part of and play a leading role in.
Domestically, the EU continues to be a beacon of progressive policies on gender equality. The EU has been promoting equality between men and women since its inception, enshrining the goal of equal pay for men and women in the 1957 Treaty of Rome – 13 years ahead of any legislation at UK level. A directive on equal pay was passed in 1975 and was followed by dozens of other EU commitments to promote women’s rights – legislation against discrimination at work, the establishment of EU-wide maternity rights and parental leave, enshrining rights for part-time workers (of which the majority in the UK are women) and combating violence against women, sexual harassment and human trafficking.
The elections are just 20 days away. Polls forecast a United Kingdom Independence party victory, which would hugely diminish Britain’s ability to contribute to and be part of shaping and implementing this agenda. It is imperative that those committed to combatting inequalities in all forms – social, economic and gender – come out in force and exercise their democratic right to vote in these elections. Voting in the elections goes beyond the in-out dichotomy that continues to dominate the mainstream discourse on the EU. Participating in the elections is a moral imperative for anybody that is passionate about a more progressive vision for politics and ensuring that Ukip’s prejudiced, regressive and isolationist vision for Britain is kept to the confines of its disowned manifestos rather than becoming a painful reality for hardworking families across Britain.
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Rachel Franklin is research and campaign manager at British Influence
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Find out more about the campaign to keep Britain in the EU here or follow the campaign on Twitter: @britinfluence
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Photo: Rock Cohen