ECR: After The Coup

On 4th November, the Freedom Association, who are behind the Better Off Out campaign, launched their Freedom In Brussels branch with speeches by Michal Kaminski, ECR Group Leader and Roger Helmer, ECR MEP and Hon Chairman of the Freedom Association. The meeting had around 25 attendees and the only other MEP present was Geoffrey Van Orden. There was nobody from United Kingdom Independence Party despite the Freedom Association’s founding of the Better Off Out campaign which advocates a UK withdrawal from the EU. Unusually, the launch of a once prestigious free market think tank was in a room above a bar and not, as would be expected, in the Parliament.
In his speech, probably better described as an informal chat, Kaminski described becoming leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group as “the fulfillment of my dreams” and he said that he was a “champion of Europe” which he sees as a community of independent states. He challenged the audience of Euro-skeptics by saying that “some of you are much more Euro-skeptic that me, but for my country, being in the EU is a great achievement, even though I see many mistakes, but it is still a great idea to have a Europe without war, without borders, a Europe that works together. There are areas where I want more integration, like a more integrated market, but the best thing about Europe is the common market and I will fight for a less regulated, more free market.”
In remarks that will infuriate Euro-skeptics, he said that he was “not in favour of the UK leaving the EU” and he wanted “a strong UK in a free Europe”. On the ECR Group, he claimed that it was going to be successful and that “we have already achieved something, we helped elect President Barroso” and that they had “beaten a socialist attempt to investigate Berlusconi” over his media interests. He described allegations of anti-semitism to be “shameful” and said that “anti-semitism is one of the worst things in the world. It has no place in modern European politics”. He also said that he would be taking legal actions against those who accused him of anti-semitism. Post Lisbon, he pointed out that the treaty gave the parliament more powers and the right to introduce legislation, which he hopes to use to lessen what he sees as over-regulation. His speech to a largely pro-withdrawal audience was littered with references to “moderate conservatism” and “mainstream conservatism” and appeared to be at odds with the expressed views of the Freedom Association and the MEP’s present.
The ECR Group has now admitted that the two organisations we revealed last week do exist. On Their website they say that the transnational party, the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists in Europe, has been set up under Belgian law and that the founders of the new party and think tank were Derk Jan Eppink MEP for the List Dedecker party, Kristof Van der Cruysse who is also a member of  List Dedecker and Vincent De Roeck, President of the Libertarian Think tank “Nova Libertas”. The website makes no mention of any elections, but the current office holder are, Jan Zahradil MEP ODS is President, Adam Bielan MEP Law and Justice is Vice-President, and  Dan Hannan MEP Conservative is Secretary-General. The companion think tank, New Direction - Foundation for European Reform is led by President Geoffrey Van Orden MEP, Conservative, Vice-President Tomasz Poreba MEP, Law and Justice, and Derk Jan Eppink MEP List Dedecker is Treasurer. This announcement was rather low-key, something not traditionally associated with the prime mover, Daniel Hannan MEP.  David Cameron has set out his policy in Europe and it has two aims; to defer the issue of Europe, saying he was going to focus on the domestic economy and to distance himself from the Euro-skeptics whilst trying not to send Tory voters towards UKIP. Hannan has responded by resigning as Legal Affairs Spokesman, a post he has held for a mere two months and has had no noticeable impact. He explained his reasoning, “We need a broad movement within the Conservative Party that will push for referendums, citizens’ initiatives and the rest of the paraphernalia of direct democracy. I don’t just mean a referendum on Europe - though, naturally, that is the obvious place to start... I have returned to the back benches in order to concentrate on building such a movement.” 
Also resigning front bench positions is Roger Helmer MEP, who describes Cameron’s policy as “cosmetic” and states that “Our new policy is confused.  We have said that now that the Lisbon Treaty is EU law, we are not in a position to repudiate it.  Yet we have made a series of proposals which repudiate significant parts of it, and run counter to EU law, for example the proposed Sovereignty Bill.  But as we all know, the supremacy of EU Law is explicit in the Lisbon Treaty.  If we accept Lisbon, we accept the supremacy of EU law.”
Hannan intends to use the new party and think tank as a base for this movement, but will the party step in or leave him to it? A Conservative Party source commented on this, “It is odd that McMillan-Scott, who advocates official party policy has been thrown out of the party when Dan Hannan is openly campaigning against the party line is allowed to continue without sanction or reprimand”. Tory rebel, Edward McMillan-Scott goes further in calling for Helmer and Hannan to be expelled from the party and for Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague to be moved to a different position. He says that “David Cameron must act swiftly to restore order and ensure that he remains in control of his new European agenda. The MEPs Daniel Hannan and Roger Helmer - the core of the notorious Brussels anti-European ‘H’ Block - should be expelled for their serial disloyalty and provocative behaviour. If they are not expelled - as I was for no stated reason - Cameron may be accused of double standards. The UKIP-Tendency within the Conservative Party could prevent the Tory victory at the general election which I look forward to.” Referring to the Foriegn Secretary, he is equally outspoken, “Hague should have used his experience as Leader to stand his ground against Cameron’s pledge to take British Conservative MEPs out of the mainstream centre-right EPP Group, a deal which Hague and I brokered in 1999. Hague failed to do proper research into the Conservatives’ new allies in the European Parliament, leaving British Tory MEPs sitting with parties from the wilder fringes of European politics. It is now clear that these hard-working Tory MEPs will be unable to deliver due to the fractious and incoherent nature of this unpopular new group - at a time when the European Parliament has serious new powers.”  “Hague’s endorsement of Kaminski as leader of the new group and his recent decision to award Daniel Hannan the running of a new €1 million trans-national party based on the new parliamentary group has now led to a rebellion by some ten Conservative MEPs. The Conservative party must re-build its reputation in Europe and restore links with the EPP. David Cameron has, as I predicted, shown he is fit to be Prime Minister by reasserting control over his European policy.” Tim Montgomery, editor of the Conservative Home website writes that “David Cameron gives every impression of wanting to kick the European issue into the long grass so that he can get on with other things... After today, however, I am far from convinced that Britain’s relationship with Europe will be fundamentally different after five years of a Conservative government... Disappointed as I am, I’m going to take a vow of silence on Europe for the next few weeks.” Can other leading Conservatives Euro-skeptics also be persuaded to keep quiet? Many doubt it.