Lisa Nandy chose Remembrance Sunday to highlight the legacy of “our brave veterans” as reason to expedite connection with “our friends in Europe” – citing the importance of returning to the European Erasmus student exchange programme as an article of good faith, with a broader significance.
No offence was meant, but someone needed to read over the culture secretary’s statement for a bathos-check. Inevitably, a number of veterans beg to differ with this linkage – and so do many civilians who feel Remembrance Sunday is best left uncoupled from the talking points of the day, or at least more carefully alluded to.
Anyway, stopping wars hasn’t entirely been the record of the EU, even if it was a founding driver for it in the rubble of the Second World War. The bloody conflict in the former Yugoslavia, which I reported on from the 1990s still influences the awkward balance of power in the Balkans to this day. That conflict showed many of the limitations of the European Union’s institutions, because it lacked a defence and security unity to deal with serious threats.
Even today, Europe relies on a couple of major member states to support Ukraine, and some smaller ones (the Nordics) who sacrifice highly per capita. In essence the UK fulfils more of its European duty outside the EU than any other countries do inside it.
One thing we can read into Nandy’s commentary is that the government is now broadcasting very regularly on a Radio Europe frequency. Andy Burnham, the fountainhead of a deeper pro-Europeanism than his predecessor, indicated at the weekend that he sees the upcoming UK-EU summit as an amuse bouche in a longer menu of reconnections with the continent.
He believes that leading from the front to rip up the “red lines” his predecessor embraced will scotch concerns that the UK would tilt from re-connection to re-join. In essence, Burnham is finding every opportunity to say that he wants to change this in Labour’s next manifesto. The benefits he cited in his latest remarks are appealing, even if the money savings turn out to be a bit harder to predict, once we factor in that trade inside Europe grows more protectionism which leaves less headroom for trading with the UK.
From the Prime Minister’s perch however, the UK-EU summit at the end of this month is a solid start to his quest to reintroduce Britain and the EU on friendlier terms – an entry offer to something bigger and better. This is also a very EU-shaped paradox. The reason this deal is (finally) near to completion after a long wrangle is that it is in fact very unadventurous and a great deal of it brings more immediate benefits to the EU than the UK.
One of the biggest elements is getting rid of bureaucratic tagging which has caused difficulty for foodstuffs exporters being a much bigger relief to their EU equivalents – simply because Europe sends a lot more food to the UK than vice versa. Remember – as we must – Liz Truss’s bizarre outrage speech in 2014: “We import two-thirds of our cheese. That. Is. A. Disgrace.”
Yes, it was Liz in her role as the Gloriana of exaggeration. But it’s a reminder that the conversation has moved fast towards the list of EU-side demands. See having the UK agree to pay into European Union development schemes in order to rejoin the bloc’s electricity market, or the now massively raised number of concessions on the original “under 50,000” cap Yvette Cooper had carefully foregrounded to ensure the Youth Mobility Scheme could not be seen to be just more immigration.
As one of the key figures in the previous round of negotiations under Keir Starmer puts it: “They play hardball and they do so more now because they know how much Burnham wants this – we need to be committed but careful right now.”
Since the talks started, a lot has been added to the mix – notably the linkage of discounted university fees for EU students who would benefit from the mobility scheme, for instance. It effectively forces the government to compensate universities for loss of fees revenue or face an expensive shortfall. That matter is still “kinetic”, as one UK negotiator delicately puts it – a polite way of saying “not resolved”. And if it is resolved, it will be by the UK effectively paying more to get this deal, as a down-payment on better relations.
It would not take the world’s greatest eurosceptic to point out that this approach in dealing with the EU is far from guaranteed to yield more generosity. From Brussels to Berlin and Paris, the default mood is: “You left, so you have to bear the pain of coming back.” And one way the EU side can add pressure right now is by simply saying that it will postpone agreements Burnham is clearly very keen to make.
But there can be good reasons, sometimes, for dealing with difficult matters. It’s what Willy Brandt, the charismatic German chancellor and Ostpolitik deal maker in the 1970s, called “the politics of small steps”: allowing for progress at a slower rate to solidify the results and bring the public along with you. Brandt is the kind of European figure Burnham admires – he was one of the great communicators and European connectors of his era.
Right now though, the PM is more attracted to the model of showing himself the dynamic new leader in a hurry than to the politics of the great leap forward in relations with Europe. Is he reading clearly enough the signals the EU sending, that it is somehow doing Britain a favour by dealing with us at all, rather than a tone of mutual benefit? Being “open to” talking about rejoining institutional Europe is not in itself a terrible idea. But it could easily backfire if it looks incautious or giddy.
If we think the present tussles over how many young baristas can work in Berlin or Birmingham and how to label a chicken terrine are arduous, how much more so would be a stand off over freedom of movement and financial contributions to EU budgets – and for what gain?
Whatever the future of the PM’s passion for a Britain back in Europe, the road to a minor deal reminds us that the route to a bigger one would be neither fast, simple or cheap. Small steps, boring as they are might be, could turn out to be more prudent than a rush back to the European fold.
Anne McElvoy is executive editor of Politico and co-host of the Politics at Sam and Anne’s podcast
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