Those hostile to or simply unenthusiastic about the European Union have plenty of smaller parties for whom to vote in this year's European Elections. They can vote for UKIP, or for the parties of the extreme left and the extreme right that are bidding vigorously for the Eurosceptic vote. They can vote for the Conservative Party, which attacks the European Union as a quasi-socialist, fundamentally corporatist organization. They can vote for No2EU, which depicts the Union, with a righteous conviction entirely matching that of the Conservatives, as a neo-liberal conspiracy. The Labour Party stands on its record of having kept Britain out of the euro, while the Liberal Democrats claim to want Britain to join the single European currency in the long term, but (in case you were worried folks) certainly not any time soon.
There is, however, a small party standing in London which comes from a completely different part of the European argument from all the above. It stands firmly in the European, if not necessarily in the British political mainstream. Yes 2 Europe believes that the genuine merits and advantages of the European Union incomparably outweigh any of its (largely fictional) disadvantages. It is taking advantage of the European Elections to pursue the unusual tactic of speaking exclusively about the European Union and Britain's role in it. Its central message is that Britain is doing itself no good at all by its uncertain and half-hearted attitude towards the European Union and its policies.
Yes 2 Europe urges that Britain should join the euro as soon as possible, should join at once the system of open borders which most other members of the European Union enjoy and get rid of the confused and confusing system of opt-outs and opt-ins to the European treaties. The party believes that Britain's unwillingness to participate fully in the policies of the Union derives much more from the strange British mixture of fear and condescension toward its European neighbours than from any genuine assessment of national interest. The present global economic and financial crisis has shown just how narrow and fragile is the basis upon which our apparent prosperity has been constructed. Our economic and political future will be more stable as equal partners in Europe rather than the option we have recently preferred, that of self-abasing subordinates of the United States.
While the policies Yes 2 Europe advocates are themselves radical enough, its underlying philosophy is equally distinctive. Unlike most British politicians, it applauds and welcomes the role of the European institutions, which it sees as guarantors of European democracy and the rule of law. It firmly believes that if a European democracy is to be constructed, it can only be on the basis of representative institutions such as the European Parliament, acting as monitor of the European Commission and co-legislator with the national governments. Any justified criticism of those institutions should be met by improving the institutions, not by destroying them. The alternative to representative institutions is not European democracy, as some would claim, but European demagogy.
Yes 2 Europe welcomes support from all parts of the political spectrum. Its concept of a democratic European Union is one in which there is a continuing interplay between a range of economic and social approaches. It emphatically does not see the legitimacy of the Union as being dependent upon its absolute commitment to a particular economic analysis, be that analysis one of economic neo-liberalism or anti-globalization. It is ironic, but perhaps reassuring, that those most wedded to economic neo-liberalism often criticize the Union for its supposed "corporatism," while those most hostile to globalization often criticize that same Union for its "doctrinaire neo-liberalism." Logically, both these analyses certanly cannot be correct. Logically, both can certainly be incorrect.
It is an advantage of the system of proportional representation used for European Elections that it allows small parties to participate in national elections with an infinitely greater chance of making a mark than they have in Westminster Elections. There is a tranche of British public opinion which is uneasy at the increasing self-imposed marginalization of the United Kingdom within the European Union, The Elections of 4th June will be an opportunity for those of them who live in London to express their unease. Yes 2 Europe is not a party which comes from or fits easily into the "Westminster consensus" of reflexive suspicion towards all European matters, a consensus well typified by Mr. Cameron's decision to withdraw his Conservative MEPs from the mainstream right-wing grouping in the European Parliament. In the current political climate, Yes 2 Europe's absence from the "Westminster consensus" might be something to help rather than hinder the party's chances on 4th June.
