Raising awareness
Summary
- Liberal Democrats have an opportunity and responsibility to address this voter indifference and ignorance by raising awareness and making the case for European integration.
- The achievements of the Single Market are considerable in which the free movement of persons goods, services and capital is guaranteed.
- As a result of EU law the UK has cleaner beaches, safer cars and consumer goods and better working conditions.
- All EU legislation has to be approved by national ministers and, in most cases, by the European Parliament.
Too often voter turnout at European elections is low either as a result of widespread indifference or ignorance -or both- to European affairs and a very low expectation of how the European Parliament can affect their daily lives.
With the Liberal Democrat record of good governance at local level and our consistent and constructive engagement with our European partners we have both an opportunity and responsibility to address this voter apathy and lack of awareness. The Party manifesto and Euro candidates should make a point of reconnecting Europe to the citizen by emphasizing both its relevance and influence.
The European Union has a significant and growing impact on our daily lives from the quality of the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat or the consumer products we purchase in the high street. It is now 15 years since the introduction of the Single Market which enabled the free movement of persons, goods, capital and services across the frontiers of Europe. It is easily forgotten or taken for granted what has been achieved. There are still a number of major gaps in the Internal Market, notably in the areas of financial services, energy and aspects of cross-border transport services. The free movement of persons across borders is also limited for UK residents due to the fact that Britain has not signed the Schengen Agreement for passport free travel.
Nevertheless, much has already been accomplished. We now have cleaner beaches and rivers as well as safer cars and consumer goods, better Conditions in the workplace and comprehensive and enforceable consumer rights. Although the Government rarely acknowledges it, most of the legislation introduced in the UK to raise environmental standards, consumer protection or worker safety derives from EC law. Indeed we only tend to hear about "Brussels" when legislation is unpopular or poorly transposed or gold plated or unsuitable to a particular group.
The fact is that all EU legislation has to be approved by national ministers and, in most cases these days, also by the European Parliament. It is true that the British Government can be outvoted in the Council of Ministers that adopts EU laws. However, by the Government's own statistics, this only occurs in a small minority of cases. Quite often we resist change to our way of doing things and refuse myopically to consider that others may do it better. A cursory glance at the state of British schools, hospitals and railways should be sufficient to convince anyone that Britain does not have all the answers to issues that matter most to its citizens. We must have an open mind and be willing to explore alternative solutions, learning from the experience of our partners; from the Dutch education system to the Swedish welfare system and the French transport system.
As a Party we need to raise collective awareness of European level governance, its role, functioning and impact on our lives. We should be made more aware of important policy initiatives in the pipeline, the influences on the development of those policies and the rationale behind decisions. If the British electorate were better informed of the important decisions affecting them they might just sit up and take an interest -and even decide to cast a vote for an MEP once every 5 years.