White Paper reaffirms rift on EU reform

Date: 14/03/1996

By Rory Watson

UK Prime Minister John Major will discover next week whether he has succeeded in uniting his Conservative party behind the government's strategy for reform of the EU.

Under constant attack from Eurosceptics in its own party, the British government is trying to tread a careful path. It constantly stresses the vital interests and role of nation states, while trying to ensure the country is not relegated to the fringes of the Union as its European partners seek to deepen integration in a wide range of areas.

The most recent demonstration of this delicate balancing act was the publication this week of the government's consultative White Paper, deliberately entitled A Partnership of Nations, on the next stage of the Union's development.

Unveiling the 38-page document, British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind insisted the UK was “unambiguously committed to our membership of the European Union”.

But in a series of key policy issues, the White Paper confirms the gap which has already emerged in initial negotiations between the UK and most other EU member states in the run-up to the Intergovernmental Conference.

It reaffirms the UK's refusal to entertain any further extension of qualified majority voting in purely European Community policy areas such as taxation and the environment.

It also opposes any suggestion of eroding unanimous decision-making in two of the relatively new and most sensitive areas of Union intergovernmental cooperation: common foreign and security policy (CFSP) and justice and home affairs.

Despite the paralysis which the search for unanimity can provoke, Rifkind insists it should stay since the CFSP will “only carry weight internationally if it represents a genuinely common policy, not a majority one”. Unanimity on justice and home affairs issues is also essential “to carry the support of the peoples of Europe”.

The British government also rejects the arguments being advanced by those member states in favour of giving new powers to the European Parliament. Instead, it argues that several Euro-parliamentary responsibilities introduced by the Maastricht Treaty have yet to be fully tested and advocates a greater involvement of national legislatures in EU business.

In addition, it signals the UK's intention to pay much closer attention to the implementation of Union legislation, challenging any areas where it considers directives are used as vehicles for purposes other than those agreed by governments.

It points in particular to health and safety provisions used for social policy, and fiscal measures added on to single market or environment proposals. London is not only pressing for the automatic withdrawal of draft legislation that fails to be approved within a given period, but also acceptance of the principle that once enacted, directives are not irreversible.

The White Paper confirms that the UK is to press for reforms of the European Court of Justice designed to limit the retroactive impact of the Court's rulings, reduce the danger of damages for errant member states and to introduce an internal appeals procedure.

The government is equally adamant that the IGC will not weaken its hostility to pan-European social policy, insisting: “The UK will not give up its opt out and cannot be forced to do so.”

Despite all this, Rifkind claimed this week: “We will play a leading role in the Union as one of Europe's biggest and most powerful nations. Our voice is influential. We have helped shape the European Community in the past.”

The White Paper will be debated and voted on in the House of Commons next Thursday (21 March), just a week before the launch of the IGC in Turin.

It comes as pressure is growing in the UK for a referendum on the country's future in the EU. The campaign is being led by British millionaire and French MEP James Goldsmith.

Attacking the Conservative government's exposed flank, he created his own Referendum Party in November 1994 and is planning to field at least 400 candidates in the country's next general election.

A confidential assessment by Tory strategists leaked this week warns party leaders that Referendum Party candidates could capture up to 25 seats from Conservatives when UK voters go to the polls later this year or early next.

In a bid to increase the pressure on Major before the parliamentary debate on London's EU strategy, Goldsmith has taken out a series of full-page advertisements in several British newspapers this week.

Rejecting the idea of a limited referendum on the new European single currency, the advertisements proclaim: “The referendum should allow for a full debate on the sort of Europe of which Britain wants to be part.”