European Referendum
By Andrea Leadsom MP. Whether we like it or not, what happens in the EU has a big impact on the UK. Europe is by far our most important overseas market and trading partner. And, just in case anyone missed it, the Eurozone was this week confirmed to be in the sixth successive quarter of Recession. ...
Fresh Start Project Visit to Berlin
By Andrea Leadsom MP. I travelled with a group of colleagues recently to Berlin, to meet with German politicians, business leaders and think tanks to discuss ideas for reform of the EU. We wanted to share with them some of the ideas of the Fresh Start Project, and to understand the German perspecti...
The EU and the Democratic Deficit
By Andrea Leadsom MP. Today I am delighted to be delivering the annual Hansard Society Lecture on the shortcomings of the relationship between the Westminster Parliament and the European Union, with particular emphasis on the effectiveness of scrutiny of EU legislation by the UK Parliament. It sur...
Look to the Commonwealth for Trade
By George Pender. The Prime Minister's recent speech on EU policy, and the publication of the Fresh Start Manifesto has been a relief. Party Policy on the European Union is in the right place and furthermore it feels comfortable for the vast majority of Party Members and Britons more widely. Whet...
Italy’s Vote a ‘No’ to Europe
Who will govern Italy? That was the question splashed all across the newspaper front pages after an inconclusive general election saw the country mired in the murky waters of a hung Parliament, something Italians are actually familiar with. The centre-left Democratic Party (PD) holds the majority on...
This shows that an EU that moved towards greater friendly co-operation and away from Coercive structures would have substantial support not just in the UK but across the rest of EU. Indeed a good modal for the EU would be to look at the Commonwealth of nations and to produce something similar for EU members.
- George Pender
Did the 'group of colleagues' you went with by chance include a D. Cameron or a W. Hague? I ask because your description of pleasant chats with the nice Germans uncannily echoes the Prime Minister's negotiating strategy to change the course of European History and move the Project off in a different direction. While the giant pan-continental wheels of ever closer union grind on - Mr Barroso has just given advance notice of plans for full federation - Fresh Start seem to think, with the PM, that all can be put right by 'building dialogues'! Please take stock of what is going on and apply the brains and energy of your initiative to what is actually going on. For a start let's have a revised Green Paper. The current one has 270 odd pages of what we want and half a page (Appendix 3 ) of how we are going to get it. It is fantasy to think that the Commission is going to grant a Convention, let alone an Inter-Governmental Conference, to discuss a British shopping list. So let's hear a plausible strategy for how we are going to get what we want.
- George Bunting
George, Thank you for the post. I, along with many analysts and politicians, consider it likely that the eurozone member states will require some changes to the treaties to ensure fiscal and banking union. And this presents the UK with an opportunity to put forward some proposals of our own. Regarding the content of the Green Paper, each chapter contains a number of ideas for reform that the UK can pursue without treaty change. And each of the subsequent papers, such as the manifesto and the paper on the NHS, contain specific proposal for how to deliver change. On your broader point on ‘building dialogues’, while clearly not sufficient in the their own right to deliver the significant change the UK people want, I believe that they are an important part. With best wishes, Duncan
- Duncan McCourt