Euro-sceptics pose a bigger threat to Britain than BNP

Written for the-vibe.co.uk

Last Sunday, a day after the free world celebrated the 65th anniversary of the defeat of Fascism, the British National Party won its first seats in the European Parliament. While the thought of Nick Griffin representing Britain in Brussels is admittedly horrifying, I found the Queen’s absence from the D-Day celebrations the day before far more disconcerting.

I take comfort in knowing that actually winning two seats in the European Parliament is just about the worst thing that could have happened to the BNP. Denied the freedom of being the in vogue black sheep of British politics (pardon the irony) and constrained by the responsibilities of office and the realities of accountability, their base incompetence and sheer racism will undoubtedly prove their undoing.

Britain’s remaining euro-sceptics, on the other hand, have a simple message. Led by the Conservative party, they say that close ties with the European Union will erode Britain’s sovereignty and undermine the national interest. As a result they have shunned the European People’s Party (EPP), the parliamentary grouping in which most centre-right MEPs sit, on the grounds that it is not euro-sceptic enough.

It is ultimately their overwhelming success in the European elections that will prove far more damaging to Britain’s standing in the world and harder to undo. Their approach to Europe threatens to widen the divide that underlined French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s snub of the Queen last weekend. He saw the D-Day celebrations as a Franco-American occasion. Gordon Brown was only there because he begged for an invitation and Prince Charles had to rely on American diplomacy for his ticket.

This unfortunate episode was symptomatic of a recent shift in global power that has seen France, led by its most pro-American President in years, become the new ‘special friend’ of the United States leaving the United Kingdom sidelined and irrelevant. Indeed, during Barack Obama’s first trip to Europe as President, he singled out as priorities of the transatlantic relationship, European integration and rapprochement with France, whom he hailed as America’s “oldest ally, our first ally”.

The reason for this shift is simple. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taught America that there are limits to what they can do alone. So, they have sought to repair their relations with Europe. However, as the EU lacks a single foreign policy, a single partner who can maximise American influence in Europe is needed. This was traditionally a role played by the UK, but the Iraq war and the rise of euro-scepticism have since allowed France to take over.

It is true that many European countries, including France and Germany, leaned to the right in last week’s elections, albeit for mostly domestic reasons. However, there is no question over their commitment to the European project of ever-closer integration. While the policy of the UK Conservatives towards Europe though is predictably hazy, their intentions have been made clear by leader David Cameron’s appeasement of the Euro-sceptic wing of his party.

Along with withdrawing his party from the EPP and calling for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, Cameron recently even described the EU as “completely unaccountable to the people of Britain.” During that same speech he also blamed the electorate’s disillusionment with politics on the EU and promised to negotiate the return of powers to Britain.

One can only hope that such promises were designed merely to outmanouver UKIP at the European elections and that in the event of a Conservative victory at the next general election, now a near certainty, he will take a more sensible approach advancing the national interest.