A view from inside the EU

There is less than one week to go before the 2009 European elections yet you could be forgiven for not even being aware one was taking place. Instead the press is full of calls for a UK General election to be held in the aftermath of the Westminster expenses scandal and few mention a different election already scheduled for Thursday 4th June. This is a shame, as voters only get one opportunity every 5 years to express their views on the EU and who they want to represent them. This election campaign has been all but obliterated by national issues.

With a busy year behind me (which has given me no time to keep this blog up to date), I'm finally picking it up again as I set out on the campaign trail to convince fellow Brits that the European Union is not a power-hungry organisation intent upon removing every last shred of sovereignty from Britain. I'm number 5 on the Liberal Democrat list in the NW of England. Under a fixed list PR electoral system I am unlikely to be elected but there is a lot of misunderstanding and lack of awareness of what the EU does that needs explaining.

The summit meeting this week in Brussels of EU Presidents and Prime Ministers was supposed to conclude the work of the Slovene presidency, give the country a pat on the back and usher in the next 6 month incumbent - French President, Nicholas Sarkozy. In the event, following the uncertainty created by the Irish rejection of the EU's latest attempt at reform, it was difficult to focus on anything else.

So the Irish people eventually said 'no' to the EU's Reform Treaty designed to streamline the institutions, increase their ability to act more effectively on the world stage and cut back on bureaucracy internally. We are left with the current institutional framework agreed at Nice in 2000. Europhiles, myself included, are bitterly disappointed, not least at the way the Irish public seem to have been taken in by the scaremongering and lies of the 'no' camp in their efforts to kill the Treaty.

The Treaty of Lisbon is making its way laboriously through the British Parliament. So far half a dozen other European countries have ratified it - all by parliamentary vote. There is nothing undemocratic about this. Most people, I suspect, are not that interested in the ins and outs of the latest Treaty reform. I can't really blame them.

As this entry hits the blogosphere I am in a position to confirm that I shall be standing as a candidate for the Liberal Democrats at the next European elections in June 2009, though not in a position (fixed lists) that is likely to see me elected, unless there is a sudden and unexpected landslide victory for pro-European policies from the electorate in the North West of England. The important thing for me was to be on the list and have a chance to campaign in 18 months time. God knows the pro-European case needs all the help it can get.

The latest summit of EU leaders has now ended with agreement on the new Reform Treaty. Several Member States came to the table with their (mostly petty) national interests to defend. Austria for instance wanted to prevent German medical students flooding its colleges. Bulgaria wanted to ensure that the "Euro" would be written correctly as "Evro" in Cyrillic whilst Italy was holding out for one more MEP.

This week the European Parliament met for the second time this month in the French city of Strasbourg. By agreement of national governments, reconfirmed in 1992 under John Major's presidency of the EU, the European Parliament is required to meet 12 times a year in Strasbourg. Since August is parliamentary recess, it must meet twice in another month. The issue has become a favourite with the media when seeking to bash the institution but the reality is the Parliament itself can do nothing about it.

The annual pilgrimages of the party faithful return to Britain’s seaside resorts. Lib Dems kicked off the season in Brighton – always a good venue for what amounts to the political equivalent of Glastonbury. There is always so much going on that delegates inevitably have to choose between conflicting events – a rally, a drinks reception, a thought-provoking fringe debate on where Lib Dems stand with respect to Labour and Tories.

Just returned from the first plenary session of the European Parliament after the summer break. The agenda was comparatively light but provided an opportunity to hold a debate with Commission and Council (the EU executive and main arm of legislative) on the devastation caused by flooding, fires and soaring temperatures over the summer. The British Government have formally requested financial assistance from an EU 'solidarity' fund to help clear up the mess left by floods in Yorkshire, Gloucestershire and West Midlands in July and August.