Its the day after the European Parliament and I thought I'd make a post about what the consequences of this elections is and what they are indicative of in my opinion.
First of all, I find it very concerning that 4 European countries have elected with a substantial majority euro-sceptic and radical parties. The French Front National topped the vote with around 25% of the French vote, UKIP gained 27% of seats in the United Kingdom, Syriza, the radical left movement in Greece was elected with 26.4% of the votes, and Denmark selected the Danish People's Party with around 27% of the vote. The euro-sceptics party are expected to make up one quarter of the European Parliament according to the Financial Times.
To start with a more positive note, the election results are not all bad! Even though UKIP has gotten most of the votes, the turnout for the United Kingdom was only around 34%, meaning that UKIP represents the views of only 9% of the population. This leaves me with a glimmer of hope that the turn of the UK electorate will not be reflected in the upcoming general elections. However, as Raphael Levy rightly pointed out, I failed to mention that the electoral turnout in the UK was disastrously low, well below the European figure of 40.1% (0.1% higher than the last elections). Furthermore, the far more concerning and outright xenophobic BNP has lost all of its European Seats signalling perhaps a return to more moderation.
But then again, the results in Greece bring out the opposite light with 4 members of the neo-nazi Golden Dawn sent to Brussels from Athens along with several more extremist MEP's from Germany, Austria, and France amongst others.
I also believe, that despite UKIP's pledge to work with the FN from France, we need to rely on the fact that the more centrist European ALDE, EPP, and S&D still have a majority of the parliament, and, on top of that, that the extremist parties tend to sit independently of any European wide parties and hence fail to make a major impact in the decision making process!
However, despite the disastrous results I still strongly believe that the problem is not one of the radicalisation of the European Electorate. The results, for me, hide two deeper problems, one within national entities, and one at the European Parliament level.
To start with the first, I think national governments are in large part responsible for the results of the European Elections. Indeed, in the UK, France, Greece, Spain and other countries national governments have hidden behind the EU using its policies to explain domestic failures. If you refer to the previous blog post you'll see a more in detail explanation of this occurring in the UK. This use of the EU as a scape-goat has, for me, developed a sense of scepticism and even wariness towards the Parliament from national electorates. The real problem is mis-information rather than the radicalisation of Europe. Admittedly a caveat needs to be introduced for Greece, who, under the (erroneous) hope that austerity would resolve the country's fiscal issues, have continuously suffered under pressure from France and Germany. National governments should also be held accountable for increasing the voter turnout at the European Elections. They are not to be taken, as they so often are, as a political barometer for upcoming national elections! And, apologies for pointing out the UK, but that's where I live, parliaments need to make sure EVERYONE is allowed to vote! Many European voters in the UK were turned away from polling stations because they had not been informed that they needed to fill in a special paper in order to vote. The point of European Elections is to represent the views of Europeans at the European level, not the votes of the British alone!
Secondly, I think the European Parliament is spectacularly failing in its mission to communicate with its Europe-wide electorate. To many the working of the parliament are unclear and happen in a far-away land with no effect for them. This is not true, and the Parliament needs to increase its transparency and accountability. They need to inform the people of Europe of what is going on, for them, in Strasbourg and Brussels. I firmly believe the EU has the capacity to push back some of the accusations laid on it by national governments and remind Europeans that the EU was first created for their benefit. The EU was first created to address issues that were pan-European, such as pollution, labour laws. and trade and its involvement has increased the standard of living of all Europeans, and they just need to be reminded of this. I also think that the Parliament should take a step back and accept the fact that their strategy of increasing their power has not increased its legitimacy and needs to find new ways to appeal to electorates without compounding the view that they're 'stealing' power from national governments.
I realise the blog-post fails to go into depth, but I'd be happy to answer any more specific questions posted as comments. The jist of it is just that we need a coordinated effort between national governments and the European Parliament to inform people and rekindle their faith in the European Institutions.
Monday, 26 May 2014
Thursday, 22 May 2014
Euro just wrong....
I've now lived the UK for around two years but every time I encounter it I am baffled by the amount of euro-bashing, euro-fearing and euro-scepticism that I encounter.
First off it certainly doesn't help that the populist parties, with an easy to grasp message that appeals to large audiences are also the most euro-sceptic out there. I firmly believe that without UKIP and BNP's spread of false rumours of the EU British citizens would have a much more reasoned view. But I just cannot grasp why the more mainstream parties (a.k.a. Labour, the Tories) have also succumbed to the charm of the EU as a scapegoat.
The current political class, it seems to me, is hiding behind the EU to explain their failure or incapacity to address pressing domestic issues. To answer for high unemployment they point towards the inflow of immigrants from Eastern European states and claim that they abuse the UK's general welfare system. This is just not true. Firstly, immigrants from Eastern Europe coming to the UK are simply more willing to take jobs that UK workers would not be satisfied with. This isn't stealing someone's job this is fulfilling a vital need for society that no one else will. Secondly, immigrants (from all over the world) are in fact less likely to claim on benefits that the British unemployed (I can find the Economist article I sourced this from if people want me to). Additionally, immigration from Eastern Europe in the UK has actually been very limited and below official estimates. Lastly, although much of the immigration to the UK is of low-skilled workers, it also provides major boosts to the labour force and intellectual capacity of the United Kingdom. The message here is not that the UK is wrong, immigration can put undue stress on social institutions such as the NHS, but politicians need to nuance their message.
There also seems to be strong resentment towards the European Union for stealing British money, and again that is somewhat absurd. British contributions to the European Union were much higher in the past and have been repeatedly cut under pressure from successive British governments. Furthermore, it seems bizarre that there would be such a high level of discontent with a policy that really is just the application of basic income redistribution at the European level that has benefits for everyone. The fact that the new members of the European Union can benefit from aid from the European Union provides a) new markets for British goods within the EU, benefiting British trade; b) ensures that new entrants can't be a burden on anybody else (for those that point to Greece, the country was added in the 1st round of enlargement with Ireland and Spain and the UK was all for it). As for other uses of the money, well the EU just needs to be able to run, and the money countries give to the EU is much like a tax paid for citizens. And just like tax revenue is necessary to run welfare states, money is needed from the UK to run the commission, parliament, and European Court of Justice. Moreover, the European Union has never forced the British to do anything! When the British opposed the adhesion to the Euro, we allowed them to opt out! When the Schengen Agreements were signed we allowed the UK to opt out and keep border control.
Plus there just seems to be a complete disregard for the benefits that the European Union has brought to the United Kingdom. Europe is Britain's largest trading partner and has helped fuel and accelerate British growth up to the sovereign debt crisis, and its just too easy to reap the benefits and then back out when times get hard. The free movement of labour has allowed many British nationals to find jobs or settle abroad without the hassle of officially immigrating. As much as people can now work in the UK, British people can work in Belgium, France, and Germany! The fact that the European Union has managed interest rates through the ERM I and II as well as the Euro has helped stabilise exchange rates in the whole of Europe which has been a huge boost for trade, British and other. The common tariffs imposed to non-members also helps British industry as will the potential signing of a unprecedented free-trade agreement with the United States. On top of all this the European Union is the single biggest market in the world, topping even the United States and that gives it power in institutions such as the IMF or WTO; power that it uses to further interests of the Community as a whole, including the economic interests of Great Britain.
To conclude, yes times are hard and the European Union is in crisis, but now is not the time for anyone to back out. What we need is stronger integration. Britain, and France need to accept that their best interests lie in more ties with the rest of Europe through agreements for common fiscal policy as well as defence and foreign policy. Only through sticking together will we whether the current sovereign debt crisis. But, if the British people feel that strongly that the EU has wronged them, then let the UK feel free to leave completely, but I strongly believe that the position of the UK should be renegotiated. Its time for the UK to decide and either its in or its out, but it can't sit on the fence anymore.
P.S. as a quick quip, remember the fact that Scotland won't be able to join just like that might be one of the reasons you get to hold on to your North Sea Oil.
First off it certainly doesn't help that the populist parties, with an easy to grasp message that appeals to large audiences are also the most euro-sceptic out there. I firmly believe that without UKIP and BNP's spread of false rumours of the EU British citizens would have a much more reasoned view. But I just cannot grasp why the more mainstream parties (a.k.a. Labour, the Tories) have also succumbed to the charm of the EU as a scapegoat.
The current political class, it seems to me, is hiding behind the EU to explain their failure or incapacity to address pressing domestic issues. To answer for high unemployment they point towards the inflow of immigrants from Eastern European states and claim that they abuse the UK's general welfare system. This is just not true. Firstly, immigrants from Eastern Europe coming to the UK are simply more willing to take jobs that UK workers would not be satisfied with. This isn't stealing someone's job this is fulfilling a vital need for society that no one else will. Secondly, immigrants (from all over the world) are in fact less likely to claim on benefits that the British unemployed (I can find the Economist article I sourced this from if people want me to). Additionally, immigration from Eastern Europe in the UK has actually been very limited and below official estimates. Lastly, although much of the immigration to the UK is of low-skilled workers, it also provides major boosts to the labour force and intellectual capacity of the United Kingdom. The message here is not that the UK is wrong, immigration can put undue stress on social institutions such as the NHS, but politicians need to nuance their message.
There also seems to be strong resentment towards the European Union for stealing British money, and again that is somewhat absurd. British contributions to the European Union were much higher in the past and have been repeatedly cut under pressure from successive British governments. Furthermore, it seems bizarre that there would be such a high level of discontent with a policy that really is just the application of basic income redistribution at the European level that has benefits for everyone. The fact that the new members of the European Union can benefit from aid from the European Union provides a) new markets for British goods within the EU, benefiting British trade; b) ensures that new entrants can't be a burden on anybody else (for those that point to Greece, the country was added in the 1st round of enlargement with Ireland and Spain and the UK was all for it). As for other uses of the money, well the EU just needs to be able to run, and the money countries give to the EU is much like a tax paid for citizens. And just like tax revenue is necessary to run welfare states, money is needed from the UK to run the commission, parliament, and European Court of Justice. Moreover, the European Union has never forced the British to do anything! When the British opposed the adhesion to the Euro, we allowed them to opt out! When the Schengen Agreements were signed we allowed the UK to opt out and keep border control.
Plus there just seems to be a complete disregard for the benefits that the European Union has brought to the United Kingdom. Europe is Britain's largest trading partner and has helped fuel and accelerate British growth up to the sovereign debt crisis, and its just too easy to reap the benefits and then back out when times get hard. The free movement of labour has allowed many British nationals to find jobs or settle abroad without the hassle of officially immigrating. As much as people can now work in the UK, British people can work in Belgium, France, and Germany! The fact that the European Union has managed interest rates through the ERM I and II as well as the Euro has helped stabilise exchange rates in the whole of Europe which has been a huge boost for trade, British and other. The common tariffs imposed to non-members also helps British industry as will the potential signing of a unprecedented free-trade agreement with the United States. On top of all this the European Union is the single biggest market in the world, topping even the United States and that gives it power in institutions such as the IMF or WTO; power that it uses to further interests of the Community as a whole, including the economic interests of Great Britain.
To conclude, yes times are hard and the European Union is in crisis, but now is not the time for anyone to back out. What we need is stronger integration. Britain, and France need to accept that their best interests lie in more ties with the rest of Europe through agreements for common fiscal policy as well as defence and foreign policy. Only through sticking together will we whether the current sovereign debt crisis. But, if the British people feel that strongly that the EU has wronged them, then let the UK feel free to leave completely, but I strongly believe that the position of the UK should be renegotiated. Its time for the UK to decide and either its in or its out, but it can't sit on the fence anymore.
P.S. as a quick quip, remember the fact that Scotland won't be able to join just like that might be one of the reasons you get to hold on to your North Sea Oil.
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