The June 2009 European Parliamentary Election results saw the largest swing towards member state independence in the history of the European Union.
Robin Scott, explored the possible consequences of this historic result.
The EU results have produced that empty-chested ‘my team just lost in a semi-final shootout’ feeling the morning after the least hoped for result occurred. I’m talking, of course, about the European elections, and the far right lean we all thought possible, but hoped would not have happened. It happened.
In Scotland, the SNP (Scottish National Party) won the popular vote for the first ever time, beating Labour by over 9%. In the rest of Britain, the BNP (British National Party) gained its first ever two seats, while UKIP (the UK Independence Party) scored a hugely unexpected 17% of the total vote. These figures are worrying for the clues embedded in these party names: National; Independence.
These ideas suggest a public following a path well trodden, which was earlier followed in the post-Depression 1930s. This was a time of severe economic crisis which saw many countries pushed to extreme ends of the political spectrum, most notably, in Europe, a move to the far right: to nationalism. Let’s not forget where that ended, with the biggest pile of bodies the world has ever seen, AKA World War II.
The aftermath of the Second World War led ultimately to the foundation of the European Union – though its roots can be traced further back – the need for unity within Europe during the shell-shocked state Europe found itself in following 1945 had become far more evident.
The European Union is also based, in part, upon a solid German model known as subsidiarity. Without digressing into a discussion about constitutional law, simply put, the principle of subsidiarity inherent in the European Constitution means that decisions, at European level, should be taken at the most appropriate (lowest) level, closest to the matters at hand. In practice this means the EU will not interfere where a national Government can run it’s own affairs. It also follows that a National Government should, in theory, allow local Government to take its own decisions.
When this idea is really engaged with, any move for independence seems an extreme reaction: Europe is based upon the right for self-determination of its member states, except, generally speaking, where their actions are against the European Convention on Human Rights, or where the decision the Government is taking is found otherwise to be against the European Constitution, unless the decision is adjudged in the National Interest.
These are complex ideas, it is true, but none who support staying in Europe are expressing them well to voters. If they were, then surely a move for independence would not be happening. Unless, as the major fear must be, the issues most people are voting on are less about self-governance, and more about protectionism: people are voting against freedom of workers within Europe.
This is not the first vote since the European Union enlarged to include many old ‘Eastern Bloc’ countries, granting their citizens rights and freedoms to move within Europe and work where their skills are required, however, the first vote was only a month after this occurred. In the five years since that vote, we’ve seen the first influx of these workers into Western European countries. Importantly, latterly, we’ve also seen the economy fall to pieces.
With rising unemployment, who are the first people to be singled out? Immigrant workers.
The economy looks like continuing the worst downward spiral since the Second World War – perhaps that is the major underlying reason for the biggest European right-wing swing in this period?
During these troubled times, it is interesting to watch the news media’s current favourite source of stories: Twitter. Anti-BNP sentiment prevails. If ‘Twitter Trends’ were ballot boxes, we’d have a fairly liberal Europe right now. They aren’t. Maybe this is why we should, as a media, stop looking to Twitter as a reflection of society. Educated, technologised, Western liberals are on Twitter; it is not they who are working at the 2009 equivalent of the coal face: no, those Yorkshiremen aren’t Twittering, they are voting BNP, at least 1 out of every 10 of them just did.
For the more moderate within society, there is a more moderate option. UKIP won 13 European seats – more than all but one of the UK political parties. Whatever the public opinion about these parties, the message is the same: “we want to rule ourselves; we want to stop up our borders. Isolation. Nationalism. Independence”.
Xenophobia? Racism? Fascism?
These are precisely the views that the formation of the European Union was designed to prevent. The move towards absolute freedom seen as the perfect foil for the over-zealous nationalism which had brought the continent – bloodied and battered – to its knees.
Europe needs strength from its centrist parties, if it is to prevent the economy from undoing the past 60 years of civilisation.