Coffee House readers know well that democratic consent for the UK’s membership of the EU has reached rock bottom.
In parallel, the people of Europe are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with EU. This is manifesting itself politically and socially all over the continent. On top of that, the EU is currently the slowest growing economic region in the world – as in the final years of the Roman Empire, the EU has grown complacent and over-regulation is stifling our competitiveness.
This tale of democratic and economic woe demonstrates vividly the urgent need for reform of the EU. After decades of what Brussels would claim is well-intentioned regulation, and the rest of us see as interference by unelected Eurocrats, the EU has reached a crunch-point of sink or swim.
The people of Europe clearly cannot go on doing what they have always done and expect a different outcome – that, to paraphrase Albert Einstein, is the definition of insanity. The only realistic option is far-reaching reform.
David Cameron’s promise of a renegotiation followed by a referendum offers the prospect of far-reaching reform, and a new settlement that the British people can be comfortable with at last. Chances of success are improved by changing attitudes to the EU in other member states—most notably Germany and the Netherlands—and the personal relationships being by built by the PM with other leaders.
But, for the negotiation to produce the right terms for the UK and to equip the EU to compete in a globalised world, we must have absolute clarity over the reforms that the UK wants to achieve. This must be coupled with a comprehensive understanding of where the other negotiators stand issue-by-issue, and a single-minded determination to make no concessions on what we regard as non-negotiable national interests.
We will only get the right deal if we are fully prepared for the negotiations from the moment they start. And that means conducting all discussions in accordance with a comprehensive Negotiating Mandate, which sets out clearly and precisely how the EU must be reformed. Anything less would fundamentally undermine our national interests.
It will take time to agree on precisely what goes into the Mandate. So work on drawing up that Mandate must begin now.
The Fresh Start Project, which I co-founded in 2011, today published our ‘Mandate for Reform’. It builds on detailed analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the current relationship between the UK and the EU, and proposes reforms under three headings: Competitiveness, Flexibility and Democratic Accountability.
We hope that FSP’s Mandate will play a part in the debate leading to a clear UK negotiating mandate.
We call on all those across the EU with an interest in economic competitiveness and democracy to give these proposals serious consideration. And we call on all British political parties to work hard to secure a deal that enables the EU to compete globally and offers a better and fairer settlement to the British people.
Andrea Leadsom is the Conservative MP for South Northamptonshire and co-ordinator of the Fresh Start Group.
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