new Bruges speech

Written by Andrew Duff MEP and published in Guardian on Fri 16th Nov 2007

According to David Miliband in Bruges on Thursday (as edited by Gordon Brown), the European Union 'will never be a superpower, but could be a model of regional cooperation'. One is struck by the sheer minimalism of the message, and by the contrast with Tony Blair who, at his best, believed in Europe as a political project and could speak warmly about the prospect of Europe as a superpower, in contradistinction to the spectre of a superstate.

The change in Labour's European policy is not only one of tone. In 2004, Blair happily signed up to the constitutional treaty. Next month, Gordon Brown will sign up to the Treaty of Lisbon which, at least as far as the UK is concerned, is a retreat.

The thickening of Britain's notorious 'red lines' has made it practically impossible for the EU to agree on a common approach to social security for migrant workers. This is a strange act for a social democratic government apparently committed to the single market.

The government has succeeded in diluting the scope and force of common foreign and security policy: down-grading the 'Foreign Minister', pulling the new diplomatic service away from the Commission, excluding the Court of Justice and the European Parliament.

British policy is most reactionary in the field of justice and home affairs. Here, the UK will now be able to opt out of the otherwise common effort to enhance internal security, develop decent asylum and immigration policies, fight organised crime, and build up a common area of liberty and justice.

In another singular triumph of British diplomacy, the protection afforded everyone else by the binding Charter of Fundamental Rights will not apply to British citizens. The UK's opt-out from the Charter contaminates the whole legal system of the EU and jeopardises the development across Europe of a superior, modern rights regime.

It is amazing that Labour's red lines go more or less unchallenged at Westminster, even by most Liberal Democrats MPs. Luckily our next leader will be an ex-MEP who will have the inestimable advantage of knowing how Europe works. Both Chris Huhne and Nick Clegg argue persuasively that British politics need to come to terms with European integration. They share a clear-headed and confident vision of Britain's membership of the European Union as being central to the national interest. One of the new leader's first acts must be to sharpen the party's European policy in relation to Labour. The red lines must go.

This article appeared on 16 November in The Guardian.co.uk/commentisfree