Eurosceptics « British Conservatives in Paris Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Eurosceptics’

France: Cleaning up the political mess after the earthquake

mercredi, juin 11th, 2014

On Monday 26th May, France woke up shocked after the political earthquake it experienced with the result of the European Parliament elections. The French left, the Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste, PS) reached a poor 14% of the votes, while the right (Union pour un Mouvement Populaire, UMP) scored 21%; the most striking performance however was the 25% score of the ever stronger far-right party, the Front National, (FN). The result had been forecasted in polls during the months preceding the vote. Contrary to the presidential elections of 2002, when Jean-Marie Le Pen made it to the second round against Jacques Chirac, the rise of the FN was not a big surprise, but still a shocking development. After a little more than a week, the blast of the election results has faded and the press moves on to make its headlines on political scandals concerning the UMP. It seems that there is a lot to do to clean up this electoral and political mess ? but what and whose mess is this?

Read more below in this article by Pauline Lucas, European Public Affairs:
http://www.europeanpublicaffairs.eu/france-cleaning-up-the-political-mess-after-the-earthquake/#more-3100

Tags:European Elections, Eurosceptics, French politics
Posted in Welcome | No Comments »

Blair & Merkel leave Cameron in a perilous position?

lundi, juin 2nd, 2014

Benedict Brogan writing today (click on the link below) in his political blog (The Telegraph on-line, 2nd June, 2014) thinks interventions by Tony Blair and Angela Merkel leave PM David Cameron in a perilous position on Europe.

According to Mr Brogan

« Downing Street has denied German claims that David Cameron said Britain would leave the EU if Jean-Claude Juncker is chosen as president, but that hasn’t stopped them being widely reported. »
« Accompanying the headlines is a sense that Mr Cameron has gone public too early on Britain’s opposition to the Luxembourg federalist. »

[particularly as it is also reported today that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is already working to gather support for the candidacy of Mr Junker.]

In addition, Tony Blair has entered the debate with a speech to the CBI this morning in which he will try to put himself as the head of the « Save Europe » movement. According to Mr Blair:

« It has to be a debate elevated to a Europe-wide level, with Britain playing a leading role, not just a negotiation of Britain’s terms of membership. It has to be about what is good for Europe as well as what is good for Britain. »

Benedict Brogan thinks that all this makes the Prime Minister

« vulnerable to the charge that his position on Europe is not a big strategic argument based on principles, but a series of carefully judged tactical gambits designed to keep one step ahead of Nigel Farage [of UKIP] and numbers of his backbenchers. »

Mr Cameron has chosen to make his stand against Mr Junker, and perhaps has been misquoted in suggesting this as a break point for future UK membership of the EU, but will need the support of Germany to succeed. Without the support of Mrs Merkel he seems to have put himself into a perilous position.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/benedictbrogan/100274299/blair-and-merkel-leave-cameron-in-a-perilous-position/

Tags:Conservative Party, EU Referendum, Eurosceptics, UKIP
Posted in Referendum on EU Membership, Tories & Europe, Welcome, What about UKIP | No Comments »

Nigel Farage is just Russell Brand for old people?

mercredi, avril 30th, 2014

Here’s a challenging article on UKIP leader Nigel Farage from Alex Massie writing in The Spectator blog:

« Nigel Farage is a phoney. There is a simple solution to everything that ails the United Kingdom: leave the European Union and, to all intents and purposes, close our borders. Then we shall enjoy a new Golden Age.

It is an illusion wrapped in a lie inside a fraud. No such solution presents itself. In the unlikely event Mr Farage got his way almost every problem this country faces would remain intact ? and remain as impervious to simple solution. »

« Instead of smearing themselves with tar and feathers, mainstream politicians should remind populists that they do the hard work of politics: representing constituents, reconciling competing claims and taking an interest in dry corners of legislation that affect people?s lives. Most politics is necessary drudgery. Seen from this angle, the ?elite? are the people who get their hands dirty. And populists who damn the whole spectacle from cosy sidelines are the truly decadent ones. »

Tags:Eurosceptics, Nigel Farage, Russell Brand, UKIP
Posted in Farage to Join Conservatives?, Nigel Farage is just Russell Brand, Welcome, What about UKIP, What to do about UKIP? | No Comments »

Are the arguments of UKIP and the SNP that different?

dimanche, avril 20th, 2014

According to David Aaronovitch writing in The Times, (Nigel) Farage of UKIP is shorthand for those in the UK, including around a third of Tories, who want separation from the EU; (Alex) Salmond of the SNP is a figurehead for those in Scotland who want separation from the UK. The writer finds it increasingly hard not to see the similarities in their arguments:

– The UK (Scotland) has been diminished by its association with, or absorption into, a larger grouping represented by « Brussels » (« Westminster ») that rule and rule badly.

– The people of the UK (Scotland) did not vote for Jose Manuel Barroso (David Cameron).

– UKIP praises Switzerland as a model non-EU country while the SNP/Scottish manifesto mentioned Norway 57 times and that « small, independent nations of comparable size to Scotland are the world’s happiest. »

– Both camps share a common language of complacent and ill-founded reassurance: It will be alright. They’re just bluffing. Britain (Scotland) is too important to the EU (UK) for them not to allow us to separate on our terms.

Reference: Farage and Salmond want you to live in Outopia, David Aaronovitch, The Times, Thursday April 17, 2014

Tags:Conservative Party, Eurosceptics, Scottish Independence, SNP, UKIP
Posted in Farage to Join Conservatives?, Menzies Campbell: No to Independence, Scottish Independence, Scottish Referendum, Similar Arguments: UKIP & SNP, What about UKIP, What to do about UKIP? | No Comments »

Merkel in London ? A Lesson in Eurorealism

lundi, mars 17th, 2014

This challenging article by Thomas Fillis of European Public Affairs concludes, following the visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to London, that the gap between what Tory backbenchers are demanding, and what David Cameron can deliver in Europe is still unbridgeable.

http://www.europeanpublicaffairs.eu/merkel-in-london-a-lesson-in-eurorealism/#comments

« Merkel?s visit has reminded us that Eurorealism is how to engage with Brussels. »

That is, the only way to change the European Union is from within.

What do the members and friends of British Conservatives in Paris think?

Tags:Conservative Party, EU Referendum, Eurosceptics
Posted in Merkel EU Lobby for UK, Merkel in London, Referendum on EU Membership, The Wrong Battle, To Be or Not in EU, Welcome | No Comments »

Facing up to Tory Eurosceptics

jeudi, février 6th, 2014

Adam Boulton writing in The Sunday Times senses that for Prime Minister Cameron, Chancellor Osborne and Foreign Secretary Hague, staying in Europe has become a major priority.

George Osborne speaking at a recent ?Pan-European? conference hosted by the Open Europe think tank and the Fresh Start group of Tory MPs, apparently gave the clearest indication yet of what the Prime Minister might be aiming to renegotiate before his 2017 referendum on continuing EU membership i.e.
1. The Euro: To seek guarantees that EU member countries not in the common currency area can remain so, without strictures on them being imposed by the Eurozone members.
2. Welfare: With the support of Germany in particular and other richer EU members, to introduce curbs on migration within the framework of ?freedom of movement? for more control at national level of the associated spending on welfare.
3. Single market: Accepting that the EU needs to become more competitive globally, to accelerate completion of the single market e.g. for services, by allowing Britain and other large EU states to integrate more quickly while smaller states can still protect their home markets.

It will be interesting to see whether such an approach will allow PM Cameron to out-manoeuvre the estimated one third of total Conservative MPs who are exploiting the rise of UKIP to promote their euroscepicism. At constituency level Tory activists are also said to be generally more Eurosceptic but actual Tory voters seem more in tune with the general public in that the EU does not appear in the top 10 of their major concerns!

Reference: N° 11 signals a way to halt the Eurosceptic express, Adam Boulton, The Sunday Times 19.01.14.

Tags:Conservative Party, EU Referendum, EU Single market, Eurosceptics, Welfare Reform
Posted in Britain in Europe, Cameron & Eurozone, Cameron & Old Tories, Cameron's EU Negotiation, PMs Europe Speech - Gregor Dallas, Referendum on EU Membership, Tory Eurosceptics, Winning in 2015 | No Comments »

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