More On Roman

Thanks for looking after the blog, Roman. Regulars will be pleased to know that Roman shouldn't have invoked my name as a supporter for his deeper EU vision - I think there has been a misunderstanding about what EU reform means. Roman is a veteran of the protest "actions" of 2000 and some of his rebellious youth has persisted in his political DNA. Unfortunately, some of Roman's comments do pass muster in the student bars of red Zizkov. I'd be much obliged if anyone can accommodate Roman in London this August.

As further evidence of the old adage that it doesn't matter who you vote for the government always gets in, the Socialist opposition (CSSD) in Czech (who are in the same EU grouping as the beloved British Labour Party) are calling for a referendum on the EU treatistution whilst the ODS are denying Czechs a say.

Update May 2010 - This set of blogs were assisted by Mutley the Dog aka Robert Chambers RIP

Peace and Disarmament

GUEST POST BY ROMAN CUNIK - PRAGUE STUDENT

A future United Europe can only be a force for good in the whole world by making as the United Nations has said, that peace and disarmament are a ways and means to to politics, not some future goal. It means

That all international relations affairs can only be viewed with the question of disarmament and peace as the crucible. Especially in the Middle East, the question is Does what we do enhance peace or make war? Does it advance disarmament or does it contribute to weaponisation?

To make a very cobcrete example - and I am sorry USA fans but here I make some constructive criticisms of USA foriegn policy. Should there be a kind of tripwire missile detection and launching system here in the Czech Republic? If so should it be in the sole control of the USA? I think no and so no to the second as well. President Bush says it contributes to security by promising to shoot down attacking missiles - from where they are flying he does not say. But it also heightens tension with the Eastern countries like Russia to have such powerful weapons systems on their borders. So I say instead approach and make disarmament deals with those countries which might fire those missiles. Then there will be no need for such defences. This peace and disarmament as a policy not a goal.

I am waiting to see who has house room preferably in Londons West End for me to stay for a few weeks this summer...in return you can stay by me in Prague 1, whenever you like.

OK, what say you??

Update May 2010 - this was a joke blog by Robert Chambers aka Mutley the Dog

A United Europe - the Future?

GUEST POST BY ROMAN CUNIK - PRAGUE STUDENT

Like most pro-Europeans I believe that strength in unity is particularly important in today's multipolar world. We argue that a united and independent Europe has become increasingly necessary, while a politically divided one would bring disadvantages in many areas, including economic, cultural, political, social, scientific, diplomatic and military. A major argument is the relative small size and importance of the individual European countries with respect to the current and rising powers on the world scale. The individual countries have limited geopolitical influence and are unable to represent their own interests effectively. On the other hand, a united Europe, with a population and an economy larger than that of the United States, would make a viable partner, or competitor, whose opinion and interests would be taken into account on the world stage. Let us be clear - a United Europe can stand up to America - even by force of arms if needed, but hopefully it will not come to that!

I would like as well to refer to the benefits of the EU to its member states. Citizens enjoy benefits such as the right to free movement across the EEA and social benefits such as employment rights, and consumers benefit from greater choice and guaranteed standards. Such 'cost / benefit' assessments are not the most important however. We also feel that we belong to a community of people with common bonds. Further European Integration and cooperation is a peacemaking force. This is so important I feel no single member state can stand in the way, and if it s needed the European army can enforce reluctant countries to integrate in the name of their own people - that is the United European people.

I hope you agree me and Dominic in this idea for a collective Europe - please let us know.

If you are OK to invite me to visit you in London, please let me know,soonest as I make my summer holiday plans.

Update May 2010 - this post was written by Robert Chambers aka Mutley the Dog to wind up the serious politicos who tended to visit this blog.

Where's Our Referendum?

Just got this in my inbox from the wonderful Roger Helmer MEP. The image is part of a democratic campaign that he is launching this week. "When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty" Thomas Jefferson

Mission Impossible

Graham Brady has resigned from his role as Shadow European Minister. Statement. I'm sure he "loved" his role, but due to his decision of conscience we now have to find a new Conservative MP to take on the Europe brief. Here's your mission should you choose to accept. Old Etonians and people with a known view on Europe need not apply.

Mission Statement - Form a reform grouping of parties drawn from at least 5 states across the EU in anticipation of the 2009 Euro-elections.

Key Obstacles To Overcome -

1. You will get next to no assistance from your other partners in Czech or Bulgaria as you are the biggest member of the coalition, are not new to the EU and therefore are expected to provide leadership.

2. The current Conservative leadership of the MEP delegation will see Brady's departure as an opportunity to stay within the EPP and will be actively working against your mission. They will do their utmost to provoke disunity and prevent the new grouping develop any clarity of vision.

3. There is little opportunity to bring fresh blood into the 2009 delegation because of the MEP selection rules that have been approved by the party board.

4. You may not form coalitions with other parties that have a similar stance on Europe if they are pro-death penalty or opposed to equality for homosexuals. Neither of these issues has anything to do with Europe or EU reform, but nevertheless these rules must be followed. In other words, forget attempting to team up with Polish or Slovak right-wingers.

Rewards For Success & Penalties For Failure

Should you succeed in your mission, your leader will take credit for building this coalition, but will have made many sworn enemies along the way. Should you fail in your mission, you will take the blame and be dispatched to the back-benches. You will have made many sworn enemies along the way.

Update

Congratulations to Mark Francois. He comes from the Treasury team and had a comprehensive education. I do not know his views on Europe. I saw him interviewed on 18 Doughty Street a few months back and was left with a favourable impression. Mark, let us know when you come to visit Prague.

Exceptionally Gloomy European Prognosis

Background

Reforming the EU so that we increase its accountability and legitimacy and reduce its corruption and intrusiveness is a major way that we can improve the lives of the British public. The EU as it stands is bad government and that is very damaging.

Yesterday, on St George's day, the Conservative Party Board voted in some disgraceful proposals for 2009 MEP selection that simultanaeously protected incumbency, reduced the field for new talent and struck at party democracy.

As a party we are committed to moving from being a small fish in a federalist grouping (EPP) to becoming a big fish in an EU reform grouping (MER)*. In this new world we need leaders, visionaries, networkers and reformers. This involves serious change. The proposals look like a dog's breakfast. Let's take a look.

* - If you think that this website looks threadbare, you'd be right. A telling example of our party's failure to plan for 2009.

Protecting Incumbency

Fact - Members will have no direct say in the reselection of incumbents. Incumbents will be ranked higher than any other candidates.

Response - I can't think of a time when measures to protect incumbency have been so inappropriate. The only reason I did not oppose the decision to form a new grouping in 2009 (rather than immediately) was that it was clear to me by their actions that the current Conservative delegation of MEPs was, as a group, not fit for purpose. Dead wood needs to go. Incumbents who are unable or unwilling to make a full contribution to a new EU Reform agenda are an obstacle to our future success in Europe.

Reducing The Field For New Talent

Fact - Should a vacancies arise in any region, women will take the highest non-incumbent slot.

Response - First of all this measure may even be illegal under EU law (see Article 13 of the Amsterdam Treaty). Putting that to one side, new blood is probably required for the new team that is being formed. The protection of incumbents (see above) severely limits our opportunities for this and is likely to discourage good candidates from presenting themselves. The fact that only women can take the top non-incumbent spot in each region chokes off further talent. A constituency chairman informs me that less than 10% of applications in 2004 in his region were from women. As someone who has worked in international business, this does not surprise me. Deliberately reducing the field of talent by about 90% is negligent and highly disrespectful to the important role that MEPs will have. For consistency, next time Cameron reshuffles, I want to see 10 women on the Tory front bench (I don't mean this by the way).

A Blow To Party Democracy

Fact - Members will have no direct say in the reselection of incumbents. Where high-placed slots exist, it will generally be the case that the candidates will have been pre-selected (all women).

Response - This is not democracy. It is nowhere near it. I will fight for democratic representation within my party.

A Personal View

Based in Prague as I am, I hear the voices of politicians and politicos in Czech Republic, Slovakia and the wider region. They describe to me how things look from their side of the fence, taking a leap in the dark to join the Conservatives in an untested grouping. They describe their deep misgivings about our Europhile Conservatives in Brussels and report to me how within their own ranks they are fighting people who are keen to keep the trappings of their EPP status. I've been telling them that things would change due to our party democracy and that we have the people to provide the real leadership that the new reform grouping requires. These proposals change all that and make me look like an idiot. In my personal life, I don't invite friends to a party that is going to be crap and I'm not going to do it in my political life.

Prognosis

A new grouping needs parties from five member states. To attract new partners the Conservative leadership needs

- to organise its partners and MEPs to work as a team
- a politically coherent vision
- the political courage to approach potential partners with unfashionable views (e.g. Poles in favour of the death penalty)

That's phase one. In order to be an effective voice and deliver on the reform agenda, we will need a visionary and energetic grouping. The Movement For European Reform was an ambitious project. These proposals condemn it to failure. They need to be strongly opposed by democrats and reformers within the Conservative Party.

Monday 23rd April - Decision Time

I'd like to endorse Greg Hands' call to lobby grassroots representatives on the Party Board about how MEP selections are carried out. According to Conservative Home the recommendations on the table can be summarised as follows;

(1) Ordinary members lose their decisive say on MEP candidate selection;
(2) Incumbent MEPs - many of them unsupportive of David Cameron's pledge to leave the EPP - will be kept at the top of regional lists if a committee of party appointees and Association Chairmen agree;
(3) All retiring MEPs can only be replaced by women;
(4) Lower slots on the regional lists will be decided by all members.

The first three recommendations are all horribly anti-democratic and that they are being tabled should in itself be an embarassment to the party.



The three elected members of the party board towards whom party members who believe in democracy should be making representations are Charles Barwell (on the left of the picture), Emma Pidding (centre right) and Jeremy Middleton (on the right). Mail addresses are jeremy@middletonenterprises.com, emma.pidding@richardsoneyres.co.uk and mail@charlesbarwell.com.

I have to say that I don't know much of Emma or Jeremy. Charles Barwell is a fellow Brummie and Villa fan and I regularly check out his blog. On his home page he lists maintaining a united party as his number one area of focus. Like the other members of the Board he has an opportunity on Monday to prevent a resolution that would cause serious disunity in the party.

If the party leadership is looking for a clause four moment, this could be their chance. However, supporting these anti-democratic measures is indefensible and would be a terrible horse for them to back.

Learning About The EU

The Independent produced a 50 point eulogy to the EU on its cover the other day which has been throroughly fisked. As someone who lived and worked in the Czech Republic before and after their 2004 EU accession, I reckon that the EU has made little positive difference to my life. As you may know the gf is studying in Prague (which means we will be here until at least 2009). She has just started a law module which includes some EU law. For this study, we bought a textbook which shall remain nameless as I don’t want to give the authors any publicity (and as they are lawyers they’d probably find a way to sue me for reproducing their "work"). Here’s the very first section of their book. I have put the abridged bits in brackets.

One problem that appears to confront students of EU law is an apparent assumption in the UK that Europe is something foreign, that it refers to a place and to people across the English Channel that has nothing to do with the UK. This is, of course, not the truth since … (boring timeline discussion about the 1972 EC Act and the 1975 referendum)

Paraphrase - in the first paragraph of this textbook we patronise the British reader!

Nevertheless, Euro-scepticism is not uncommon within the country and it would not be unreasonable to suggest that this, in part at least, follows the encouragement of certain elements of the media. (Here follows a blustering and at times shocking discourse outlining the misconceptions that Euro-sceptics suffer from and how a united Europe has been desired since the Romans, name-dropping Napoleon and incredibly Hitler(!) as aspiring for a united Europe).

Paraphrase - Although a united European has never stuck, we find it surprising that some opposition remains. We blame, at least in part, dark forces operating within the British media (Ed. and presumably believe that BBC are unbiased).

Historically, then, it is true to say that the so-called Euro-sceptics" are in a minority and that there has always been in a widest sense a European identity and the desire for European unity. In this way it is Euro-scepticism which is the recent phenomenon and indeed exists only in restricted elements of national feeling that is hostile to the idea of Community. It has a particular foothold in the United Kingdom.

Paraphrase - We've made the biggest leap since Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon in our first sentence, but we're hoping you'll ignore that. Euro-scepticism means being opposed to anything foreign and only exists amongst nationalist/individualists (oxymoron alert) mainly amongst those horrible islanders in the cold, north-west of the continent.

I get the feeling that I may share more from this tome. I haven't got to the social chapter chapter yet.

EU Related Blogs

I've spent some time trawling for the best EU related blogs/websites so you don't have to.

1. Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan is a brilliant writer and his fairly new blog is already gaining a deservedly excellent reputation.
2. Europe Reform is the site for the new Reform grouping that the Tories will lead from 2009.
3. I hadn't checked it out for some time, but I was heartened to see that DUP MEP Jim Allister continues to run one of the most informative Europe websites.
4. MEP Watch has got off to a good start and I expect it to play a crucial role in ensuring that our 2009 delegation will be fit for purpose.
5. I met some people from the Open Europe organisation before Christmas. They have taken to blogging with aplomb.

Please feel free to add suggestions before I set up an EU section in my links.

Merkel’s Banging Her Head Against A Brick Wall.

Czech Government Forms

After seven months and two failed attempts, the right-wing ODS party have finally formed a coalition government with the Greens and some liberals due to some pre-arranged abstentions in the crucial confidence vote from the Socialists. Relations between the new PM - the ODS’s Mirek Topolanek - and President Klaus are very poor and Klaus’s reputation has been tarnished by the tortuous saga. Anyway, we will start having some Czech political news. Hurrah.

Merkel In Prague!

On that theme, readers may be interested to know that on Friday, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Prague for four hours of meetings to push a new version of the EU constitution. My understanding is that the new version of the constitution remains a good door-stop.

Earlier last week, Mirek Topolanek appointed chief euro-sceptic MEP Jan Zahradil as his special envoy for the EU constitution during Germany’s upcoming EU presidency. I wouldn’t go as far to say that Mr Zahradil’s dislike of the EU is visceral, but he does make Bill Cash look like a Europhile. 75% of Czech MEPs voted against the constitution and Czechs don’t appreciate Germans giving orders. The Germans seem determined to force EU issues centre-stage during their presidency. What is Merkel playing at?

Update

It is being reported in the Czech press that Merkel did indeed run into a big no. Interesting that it was reported that she wouldn't meet Cameron when he recently visited Germany because of his policy to leave the EPP. Klaus and Topolanek appear far more euro-sceptic than Dave. Also, the Socialists are calling Topolanek's appointment of Zahradil "provocative". I can see what they mean *grins*.