Tory EU stance will 'castrate' UK

[pampango]

Source: BBC

The Conservatives' stance on the EU has been attacked as "pathetic" by a French government minister who says it will "castrate" UK influence in Europe. France's minister for Europe, Pierre Lellouche, said EU leaders would not help the Tories re-negotiate treaties.

Mr Cameron said all future treaties would be put to a public vote. He also promised a sovereignty bill if the Tories win the next election to "lock in" the supremacy of UK laws. And the Tory leader vowed to repatriate powers on the Charter of Fundamental Rights, employment and criminal law - which would need the agreement of all 27 EU nations.

Sylvie Goulard, a French MEP and president of the French European Movement, agreed with Mr Lellouche by saying she did not think the other member states would go along with the Tory plan.

"The idea that everyone comes in when there is a change in government in one of the member states, everybody has the right to change everything, has nothing to do with the legal tradition of the European Union. "So we should refuse simply to do it."

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8343641.stm

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The Conservatives in the UK (and some other European countries) just keep on battling the progressive integration of Europe. Fortunately the conservatives' preference for a continent of competing (rather than cooperating), nationalistic countries (as has been the case for most of Europe's history) is no more likely to happen than their goal of a less progressive British health care system, social safety net, and tax structure.

The Conservatives are favored to win next year's UK election, but let's hope that this is another case of the pundits being wrong.

[harmonicon]

1. I'm afraid that the Torries will win, but this kind of thing could help make that not happen

The problem is that Gordon Brown and "new" Labour have fucked things right up, and UK voters are just as stupid as American voters - they think that changing the government will help, even if that change is even more in the direction of what they don't like.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. This is unlikely to hurt the Tories' chances of winning much

They need about 35% of the vote to be the largest party, and 40% should get them a comfortable majority in the Commons. While a few pro-Europeans might think again about voting for them because of this, there are many anti-Europeans, especially in the Conservatives' target voters, who think Britain should be permanently arguing with the rest of Europe on principle. That 40% is easily achievable from among that lot.

In fact, Cameron's main European problem at the moment is the nutters in his party who are insisting he should hold a meaningless referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon months after it has come into force, just so they can get the satisfaction of saying "see? We would have won a referendum about the treaty if we'd held one when it mattered". So a shouting match with anyone European will be red meat to those mutts.

[LeftishBrit]

3. Unfortunately ,the kind of people in the UK who would change their vote on the basis of Europaean

issues tend to be the right-wingers who hate the EU. People who support the EU rarely do so passionately or as a single issue. Europhobics, on the other hand, can vote on those grounds alone. If anything, these comments might make the Tories more likely to win, by drawing some votes back to them from UKIP.

[pampango]

4. Are there ties (formal or informal) between the UKIP and the BNP? Their programs seem similar

though the BNP seems more overtly racist.

From what I can tell the UKIP is for withdrawal from the EU and lower taxes (even a flat tax). It almost seems libertarian in some ways.

The BNP seems more overtly racist, anti-gay, anti-immigrant and anti-muslim with an economic policy of protectionism and economic nationalism.

Even though there are differences in their policies is seems like they both target the same population of disaffected whites who don't trust foreigners whether they are French or Pakistani.

[LeftishBrit]

5. Not formally...

And I would say they appeal overall to somewhat different groups: the UKIP supporters tend to be more middle-class. The BNP attempts to target young working-class white males in particular, though there are supporters in all walks of society.

There is, however, a fair bit of overlap between the viewpoints of UKIP, the BNP, and the Right wing of the Tories. And the RW tabloids cater to, and whip up, all of these views.