letter to the editor from Richard Corbett MEP |
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25th June 2008 |
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The Spectator |
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Dear Editor, You are right to say that Labour politicians need to make the case for Europe a passionate rather than managerial exercise. It is difficult for voters to enthuse about changes to the EU's rule book ( leader, June 19th). But, it is important that the institutional reforms contained in the Lisbon Treaty are not just abandoned because we can't be bothered to seek a solution acceptable to Ireland . David Miliband's argument that the EU can be 'the motor of progressive politics' is right. For that we have to fix the motor. Above all, if we get the institutions right, then the EU's second 50 years can be about tackling the problems that matter to people - tackling man-made climate change, ensuring that our single market balances economic growth with social protection, consumer rights and energy security. Just as Jacques Delors was right in 1988 when he told TUC conference that "nobody falls in love with a market" so it is true that no one is going to fall in love with revised voting weights in Council and an expansion of co-decision powers for the European Parliament. But the reality is that more effective, transparent and democratically accountable institutions will lead to the legislation that can best answer the question "what did the EU ever do for us?". Yours, Richard Corbett Labour MEP for Yorkshire & Humber
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