Thatcher plots with Tories to lead exodus from EPP

By Dana Spinant

Date: 23/10/03

BRITISH Conservatives are plotting to create a new political group in the European Parliament with "Eurorealist" parties from countries joining the EU next year - a step that could totally transform the balance of power in the assembly.

If the group wins enough support, it could result in the European People's Party (EPP), to which the Tories currently belong, being ousted by the Socialists as the biggest political party after next June's elections. That, in turn, could have an impact on the distribution of EU top jobs, such as that of European Commission president.

The Tories have christened the group, which has the key backing of former British premier Margaret Thatcher, as "New Europe". It is based on a vision of a "Europe of the nations, with close relations with the US and a free market economy", Polish observer MEP Adam Bielan told European Voice. The word "Eurorealist" is preferred to "Eurosceptic" to describe the group, but "it will be in this direction anyway", said a Conservative Party source.

Bielan, a member of the right-wing Law and Justice Party (PIS), said it had been holding talks with Conservative counterparts, both in Warsaw and London. Baroness Thatcher and Sir Michael Spicer MP, chairman of the influential Tory backbenchers' 1922 committee, were present.

"We are targeting 75 members from present and new member states, which will allow us to be the third biggest group in Parliament," the Tory insider told this paper.

The Czech Republic's biggest party, the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), Slovakia's Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), a party from Estonia and Portugal's Partido Popular - whose two MEPs are currently members of the Union for Europe of the Nations - have already expressed an interest in joining the group.

The British Conservatives insist they will only accept "sensible moderate parties" and not those from the far-right including Jean-Marie Le Pen's Front National or Austria's Freedom Party. The creation of the group would mean their departure from the EPP, which they joined in 1994.

A Spanish centre-right MEP admitted the Tories had always "sounded a dissonant tone" in the group. "We were never along the same lines on Europe, as most of them are Eurosceptics," he added.

The EPP currently controls 231 seats in the European Parliament, compared to 175 for the Socialists and 53 for the Liberals.

UK Socialist Richard Corbett said: "Obviously, if a large number of members leave [the EPP], it would make it easier for us to be he biggest group in Parliament again."

One advantage, he added, would be that "it would be easier to strike deals with the EPP if they lose the more Eurosceptic elements".

The New Europe partners-to-be are next scheduled to hold talks on 22 November in the Czech Republic. An issue still under discussion is whether the creation of the group should be officially announced before the European elections, or only after the results are known.

One suggestion is that it will be launched next February in Gdansk - the Polish city which triggered the events which led to the collapse of communism in 1989.

The chairman of the British Conservatives in the Parliament, Jonathan Evans, would rather wait until next June before launching the group, said Bieslan.

Asked to comment on the speculation surrounding New Europe, Evans insisted: "Such rumours are immature."

However, others suggest that the future of Europe talks were the turning point which made a split between the Tories and the rest of the EPP inevitable, officials say.

UK Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith hinted at what was to come in his "Prague declaration" in July when he called for a pan-continental alliance to "sweep-away" the "Old Europe" vision of a EU superstate. "The British, Czech and Polish peoples have every right to be in the European Union and reject the euro and the constitution," he said.

The Prague declaration was thought by observers to be the new group's manifesto. However, insiders admit not all Tory MEPs are happy about the prospect of a split from the EPP.

James Elles, one of the Parliament's vice-presidents, is among those against.

"It is in our long-term interest to maintain relations with centre-right parties in Europe," he told this paper.

EPP leader Hans-Gert Pöttering is also keen to avoid a break-up. "I hope the British Conservatives will stay with us," he said. "They could be free to express their views and remain in the group."

Wilfried Martens, the president of the pan-European EPP, issued a warning to the parties in the new member states that could be attracted by Tories: "In the perspective of the British Conservatives, for which the EU is a free trade zone, there is no political and financial solidarity."

A new 'Eurorealist' political group may be created after the European Parliament elections in 2004 made up of MEPs from both the existing and new Member States including the UK Conservatives.