Parties look east for soul mates

Date: 24/10/1996

By Mark Turner

When the Party of European Socialists holds its summit in Budapest this weekend, it will demonstrate that in many ways EU enlargement is already under way.

Twenty-one party leaders, including seven prime ministers, will make a high-profile demonstration of political solidarity with their eastern colleagues.

Their meeting is well timed. Four candidates for EU accession - Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia and the Czech Republic - will be holding elections over the next three weeks, and in some senses at least these will be fought around the same left-right political divide as in the west.

Given that the first central and eastern European countries (CEECs) could be in the EU as soon as 2002, the fortunes of their future allies will clearly be of great concern to Euro MPs.

Winners of this spate of elections could find themselves riding a tide of goodwill following EU accession, which would increase their chances of success in polls for the European Parliament.

The Party of European Socialists (PES) is not the only organisation to have woken up to the high prizes at stake. If anything, the christian democratic European People's Party (EPP) has been touting its CEEC credentials with more vigour than the left.

On 6 October, EPP leaders voted to merge with the 46-party European Union of Christian Democrats (EUCD) at its 25th Congress in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

“We are reconciling Europe - the time is now ripe and we must seize the chance. The christian democrats of this region are no longer the lost cousins, working underground,” explained Dutch MEP and EUCD President Wim van Velzen.

The advantages work both ways. Pan-European parties appear more 'pan' the more parties they can recruit.

On the other hand, CEEC parties gain prestige and publicity if they are seen working hand in glove with high-profile western leaders.

The EPP can offer the likes of Germany's Chancellor Kohl, Spain's José María Aznar and European Commission President Jacques Santer. The PES replies with such stalwarts as Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok, Ireland's Deputy Premier Dick Spring and Commission Vice-President Manuel Marín.

The importance of such clubs is not to be underestimated. The truce which ended the Union's mad cow crisis was forged by a christian democrat clique ten days before the Florence European summit, and socialists have long held similar meetings to determine strategy on crucial issues. But observers wonder whether the mutual trust possible between western leaders will be maintained once the east joins in.

The religious aspect of the christian democratic movement in the west is far less evident in neighbouring states to the east. The right, born out of revolt, is burdened by immature infrastructure and a tendency to extremism.

CEEC socialists face different problems - a sophisticated infrastructure is there, but is still shackled to its communist past.

Yet gradual reform and global movements are bound to usher parties in the EU and its hopeful members in the same general direction, say commentators. And the promise of western political expertise and hard cash may prove an irresistible carrot for easterners not sure which direction that is.

This evolution can also be witnessed in the growth of liberalism in the CEECs, as black-and-white post-independence politics begin to grey at the edges. The European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR) claims affiliate members in five of the ten CEECs, and has been pushing its policies since 1990.

“For us, October 1996 is nothing special,” said spokesman Christian Ehlers. As if to underline his comments that east-west contacts take place on a regular basis, the international secretaries of ELDR parties will shortly convene in Romania in a bid to harmonise liberal strategies.

With environmental policy still on the sidelines of CEEC politics, the Greens are finding it more difficult, but they can also boast a European federation with members in almost all applicant countries.