History was made last
week as European leaders almost unanimously reached an agreement on a fiscal
accord designed to tackle the euro-zone debt crisis. The agreement, to be known
as the ‘fiscal compact’, will set a cap of 0.5 per cent of GDP on member states'
annual structural deficits, penalise countries whose public deficit goes above
3 per cent of GDP, and require member states to give up to 200 billion Euros to
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a buffer for debt-stricken euro-zone
members. The pact is expected to enter into effect by March 2012 and marks a
move towards further European integration.
Despite
the significance of the agreement to the future of the European Union (EU), journalists
largely overlooked the details of the accord, focussing instead on the
political scandal that played out at the summit. In the end, the European
Council session in Brussels was not so much about deficits and debt, but drama
and disputes, as, for the first time in its history, Britain used its right to
veto. The British prime minister, David Cameron, refused to sign the treaty after
his proposed safeguards for British interests were rejected by euro-zone
leaders.
The three
others countries that were initially hesitant about the deal: Hungary, the
Czech Republic and Sweden,
have now agreed to the pact, leaving Britain the only member state not
participating in the inter-governmental treaty.
It is an odd time
to be a Brit in Brussels. Upon arriving at my office on Friday morning, a
colleague joked that I needed to clear my desk as Britain would soon be out of
the EU entirely. Throughout the day, I found myself embarrassed and apologetic
for the short-sighted decisions made by a government that I did not vote for.
Overnight, I felt that I no longer belonged on the ninth floor of the
Charlemagne building, and should instead be making my way to Gare du Midi to catch the next Eurostar back to London.
Mr Cameron’s objectives before entering the summit, were, as I see it,
two-fold. Firstly, under pressure from Conservative Party backbenchers, he
wanted to utilise the negotiation of a new treaty to gain leverage in bringing
powers back from Brussels. Secondly, under pressure from the banks, he wanted
to protect the financial services industry from the Financial Transaction Tax proposed
by the European Commission. It is no coincidence that the Conservative Party’s
funding from the City of London more than quadrupled from when Mr Cameron
became Tory leader to when he was elected prime minister.
He
failed on both counts: the 26 members of the new treaty, acting together, can
easily outvote Britain. Far from protecting British interests, Mr Cameron has
guaranteed that the UK will lose its influence at the top decision-making table
over issues that will doubtless affect British citizens, including financial
market regulation. On Friday, in
Brussels, Mr Cameron replaced Mr Berlusconi as the most laughable politician on
the continent, and marginalised Britain in the process.
Of course,
Britain has always considered itself somewhat outside of the EU, somehow
different from other Europeans. This long-standing sense of exceptionalism can
be traced right through from the nation’s late arrival to the European Economic
Community, 16 years after its advent, to Britain’s more recent non-participation
in the single currency and the Schengen Agreement.
This notion of
exceptionalism is, in my eyes, inaccurate and egocentric. The Brits tend to
forget that their European neighbours, such as, France, Spain and Italy also
have strong national identities, none of which are compromised by their support
for the European ‘project’.
Euroscepticism is
rife in the UK, fuelled by a news industry that regularly prints
misinformation, partial truths and sensationalist speculation on EU matters.
The press depict Brussels as Europe’s very own Mordor, an evil axis of power,
greedily eating away at national sovereignty. Because of this, in the UK, few
people understand what the EU does for British citizens. They only hear how
much it costs them. The political elites, even those supposedly adopting a
pro-European stance, such as the Labour Party or the Liberal Democrats, have
done little to address this problem. After all, it is often not in their
interests to educate their populace as to the benefits of membership to the European
Union: Brussels serves as the perfect scapegoat when things go wrong
domestically.
My relationship
with European Union is very distinct from that of your average Brit. From a
young age, I wanted to know what EU membership meant for the UK. I represented
the country at various EU-led youth conferences and participated in the
European Youth Parliament. Few young British people do this, and most are
misinformed about Europe.
However, if
Britain is to effectively ‘renegotiate’ its relationship with the EU, its
citizens, including its young people, must be informed as to what Europe does.
I am not advocating a propaganda campaign of Soviet proportion, but merely balanced
and accessible information on the EU for British citizens. Unfortunately, by
the time this is realised, I fear it will already be too late.
Cheerio Europe,
it’s been nice knowing you.
By
Sonia Jordan
