William Hague's instructions to the European Conservatives and Reformists group in the European Parliament, in which the British Tories sit, were decisive in securing a crucial positive vote on the European External Action Service (EEAS), EurActiv has learned.Was it really worth all this hassle, then leaving the EPP in the first place?
Without a decisive call by UK Foreign Minister William Hague to his fellow party members in the European Conservatives and Reformists group (ECR), whose members were elected on an anti-federalist ticket, the EEAS would probably not have got off the ground. (see roll call by Vote Watch)
The Parliament voted last Thursday (8 July) on a decision to establish the European External Action Service, a new EU diplomatic corps that will be led by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
To the surprise of many observers – including some ECR group members – the EEAS proposal was approved, in part thanks to the support of MEPs from the European Conservatives and Reformists group.
The Conservatives' grassroots is spitting feathers.
4 comments:
Typical. Every time someone is essentially Eurosceptic for the cameras they take us deeper and deeper into Europe.
Mrs Thatcher, Mr Major, Mr Blair and Mr Brown... and now Davenick
Why won't these arch sceptics take us out of Europe altogether?
Was it really worth all this hassle, then leaving the EPP in the first place?
The hassle of leaving the EPP was not worth it on almost every level.
The Conservatives are appallingly bad at politics, and when in Europe they are woeful. Have written on this before and nothing has changed to suggest that things have improved or that worst fears would not be realised.
More locally, what has this adventure cost Northern Ireland in terms of influence. Leaving aside any view of the person, as part of the EPP Jim Nicholson was afforded a very senior position in the Parliament, lost in ECR. And for what?
PARTY MANIFESTO PAGE 24
We have long championed the enlargement of the European Union because
we believe that EU membership or its prospect has been crucial in firmly
establishing democracy across the continent. The economic benefits are also
profound: trade between the UK and the ten countries that joined the EU in
2004 increased by almost 400 per cent between 1992 and 2005, ten times the rate of growth in trade between the UK and the rest of the world. Our MEPs will support the further enlargement
of the EU, including to the Ukraine, Belarus, Turkey, Georgia and the countries of the Balkans,
if they wish to achieve EU membership, however distant that prospect may be in some cases.
Post a Comment