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UNIVERSITE DE VALENCIENNES ET DU HAINAUT-CAMBRESIS

DEPARTEMENT D’ANGLAIS DE LA FACULTE DE LETTRES,

LANGUES, ARTS ET SCIENCES HUMAINES

British Conservative MEPs in the European Parliament since the 2009 European Election.

Mémoire présenté en vue de l’obtention du Master 1 recherche par

Kamel AYADI

Mme CAMP Avril 2011

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Table of Contents.

TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………………………….…….....3

INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………....4

A) Background to the Launch of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group..........................................................................................................................................5

1) The Beginning……………………………………………………………………………......52) The Formation……………………………………………………………………………..... 6

B) The Components of the Group…………………………………………….…….……8

1) The British Members of the ECR……………………………………………………..…..…82) The Political Parties ……………………………………………………….………………...9

C) Their Policy and their Achievements……………………………………….……….11

1) The Role of the ECR Group……………………………………………………………..…..112) The Achievements of the ECR group…………………………………………………..…... 13

CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………….........15

BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………….....…18

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INTRODUCTION.

Since his arrival at the head of the Conservative party, in 2005, David Cameron tries to

reinvent the conservatism under a humanized and compassionate version. His new policy is

named « the Big Society ». The aim is “to create a climate that empowers local people and

communities, building a big society that will take power away from politicians and give it to

people”1. With the change of generation, the renovation of the party consisted in freeing itself

from the dogmas of the Thatcherism and reaffirming the same mistrust towards the government

and the power of Brussels.David Cameron's new orientation creates a traditional conservative

base in domains such as the tax system, criminality and immigration or the international role of

Great Britain, a base which is used as a support to the new Tory party.

The main topics of the European policy of the Conservatives are the repatriation of a certain

number of powers at the national level and the implementation of a system to prevent any

transfer of sovereignty at the European level without a referendum. The fundamental rights, the

social issues as well as the justice are the policies which Cameron would like to re-nationalize

and he wanted to keep the United Kingdom out of the Euro. The Tories even claimed to defend

the national interest in their manifesto for the European Election entitled “Vote for Change.”

The European elections of June 2009 confirmed this mistrust which had begun in the previous

elections: the rise of the euroscepticism was illustrated not only by an increasing rate of

abstention but also by a proliferation of nationalist parties. This phenomenon is quite visible in

the new member states, particularly the countries of Central and Eastern Europe where the

emergence of these parties, sometimes associated to xenophobic groups, imposed a deep

competition around the challenge related to the conservation and the promotion of the national

interests. The importance of the identical problem highlighted the issues devoted to the right,

such as those of immigration and homeland security.

The most striking example is the United Kingdom which is a model of moderation and

democratic stability. The European elections give to the minor parties that are not represented to

the Parliament of Westminster, as the British National Party of extreme-right and United

Kingdom Independence Party militating for the withdrawal of the European Union, an

opportunity to gain votes. This new competition urged the leader of the conservative party, David

1 Government launches “Big Society” programme, 18 May 2010, 11 March 2011,<http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/topstorynews/2010/05/big-society-50248>.

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Cameron, to toughen its euroscepticism by taking the risk of an isolationism and a limited

influence within the parliamentary committees of the European Parliament. After the elections,

the withdrawal of the British Conservatives from the European People's Party –European

Democrats (EPP-ED) and the creation of a new eurosceptic group establish a major change,

which signs the split of the center right. We can wonder what are the main reasons for David

Cameron to leave the EPP-ED group? Who are his new allies in the new eurosceptic group he

created and what are their aims?

Firstly, we will try to answer these questions by analyzing the origins of the controversial bloc

created by David Cameron called the European Conservatives and Reformists group (ECR).

Secondly, we will introduce the new British Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and

the political parties of this group. Finally we will study the role of the ECR group and its

achievements.

A) Background to the Launch of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group.

1) The Beginning.

The first initiative to form a new democratic alternative to the European Union (EU)

federalist mainstream was taken in 2003 by the British Conservative Party, the Czech Civic

Democratic Party (ODS) and the Polish Law and Justice Party (PiS).

After the European elections in 2004, the British Conservative Party and the ODS had worked as

partners in the European Democrats2 (ED), as allied members of the European Peoples Party

group (the EPP), while PiS became member of the then Union for Europe of the Nations (UEN).

Both parties felt that their freedom to campaign for an open and flexible Europe and against an

ever more centralised federalist vision of the European Union was constrained by the realities of

the European Parliament. Their effort to establish their own group in the European Parliament

continued.

2 The European Democratic Group (ED) was formed on 17 July 1979 by British Conservative, Danish Conservative and other MEPs after their success in the 1979 European elections. It was a political group in the European Parliament, until 1992, when it became a subgroup of EPP-ED.The ED had been less pro-European than the EPP and ended with the creation of the ECR group after thirty years of existence in the European Parliament in 2009.

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But in June 2006, David Cameron ordered Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague3 to ensure

the new group was created by 13 July 2006. However, when that date arrived, a new policy was

announced: in order to campaign with more force and efficiency for their common vision of

Europe, David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party, and Mirek Topolánek, the Czech

Prime Minister and leader of the ODS, announced their intention to form a new group in the

European Parliament after the 2009 elections.

Then they launched the Movement for European Reform (MER) to prepare the ground by

organising activities to evaluate the role and future of the European Union in the light of new

global challenges. MER was formed as an interim measure to function outside the European

Parliament4. MER's position was that the European Union should exist; however, it should be a

looser supranational organisation than the current structure. MER was created as a precursor to

the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (AECR) and European Conservatives

and Reformists (ECR), the political group in the European Parliament that was launched in June

2009 following European elections.They were joined by the Law and Justice Party, which shared

their common vision of Europe. The three major founding parties of the ECR Group, that is the

Conservative Party, the Law and Justice Party and the ODS entered into discussions with like-

minded parties across the continent5.

2) The Formation.

We must also remember the fact that a political group in the European Parliament cannot

be officially recognised if it contains MEPs from only a single member state. Instead, it must

meet the minimum threshold required by the European Parliament's Rules of Procedure. A

political group must comprise Members elected in at least one-quarter of the Member States. The

minimum number of Members required to form a political group must be twenty-five. Any party

seeking to create a group must therefore seek partners.

And according to the first rule of this procedure, the groups have been required to demonstrate

ideological coherence: “Members may form themselves into groups according to their political

3 William Jefferson Hague is a British Conservative politician. He served as Leader of the Conservative Party from June 1997 to September 2001 and is currently the British Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State under David Cameron.4 Cameron Euro declaration, BBC News, 13 July 2006, 16 March 2011, <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5175994.stm>.

5 ECRG, Brief History of the ECR Group, 16 March 2011, <http://www.ecrgroup.eu/ecrg-and-eu3.asp>.

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affinities. Parliament need not normally evaluate the political affinity of members of a group. In

forming a group together under this Rule, Members concerned accept by definition that they

have political affinity. ” 6

This is usually done by publishing a document stating the principles to which each group

member is expected to adhere. The constituent declaration of the ECR has become known as the

Prague Declaration.

Within this new group, the notion of anti-federalism was defined in this Manifesto, which

consists in ten founding principles signed by all the members of the group on June 2009 and

which insists on "the urgent necessity of reforming the European Union on the basis of the

eurorealism, of the opening, of the credibility and of the democracy ".7

On 24 June, the group held its inaugural meeting, in which Conservative MEP Timothy Kirkhope

was named interim leader. Adam Bielan of PiS and Jan Zahradil of the ODS were named interim

vice-chairmen. The creation of the group of the ECR which becomes the fourth bloc within the

European Parliament indicates the emergence of a more Atlanticist and anti-federalist

conservatism.

The first election for the group leadership was also scheduled for 14 July, it was between the

interim leader Kirkhope and Geoffrey Van Orden.8 However, both Conservative leadership

candidates were forced to forfeit the leadership in order to prevent it from falling apart, when

Conservative MEP Edward McMillan-Scott defied his party whip and stood for one of the vice-

presidency posts despite pledges that Polish MEP Michał Kamiński would be backed for it.

Kamiński's bid for Vice-President of the European Parliament subsequently failed, and the

Poles threatened to abandon the new caucus unless Kamiński was made the group leader in the

parliament. Kirkhope went to an emergency meeting with the Poles in Strasbourg and proposed

sharing the group leadership with the Poles. However, this was not accepted, and he had to step

down as coalition leader, withdrawing in favor of Kamiński. McMillan-Scott, who believes the

6 The European Parliament, Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament ,1 July 2009, 16 March 2011, <http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+RULES-EP+20090714+RULE-030+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN&navigationBar=YES>.

7 The Prague Declaration, 16 March 2011, <http://www.kayswinburne.co.uk/the-prague-declaration>.

8 Geoffrey Charles Van Orden is a British politician. He is currently Member of the European Parliament for the East of England region for the Conservative Party. He is opposed to British membership of the euro, the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe and the Treaty of Lisbon. He had long campaigned for the Conservative Party to end their association with the European People's Party in the European Parliament.

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Conservative's new allies in Poland are “racist and homophobic”, had the Conservative whip

withdrawn in the European Parliament.9

On 14 July, the European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering announced that applications

from all new and returning groups had been received and approved, including the ECR. The

group then became eligible for EU funding, office space, and committee places appropriate for a

group of its size.

Following the election in June 2009, the ECR Group was finally formed in the European

Parliament consisting of 55 MEPs from eight countries. David Cameron’s vision of a new

political force in European politics has been realized after many negotiations and controversial

issues about xenophobia and homophobia linked to Michał Kamiński, MEP of the Polish party

Law and Justice (PiS) at that time. 10

B) The Components of the Group.

1) The British MEPs of the ECR group.

MEPs are the representatives of the people in the European Union. Their job is to represent

various interests and those of a city or region in Europe. They do this by listening to people with

local and national concerns, to interest groups and businesses. When necessary, they question

and lobby the Commission and the Council of Ministers.

MEPs have the power to approve, amend or reject nearly all EU legislation.

They hold the European Commission to account and can force it to resign.

The European Parliament also decides on the EU budget and influences how EU money is spent.

British MEPs of the ECR group are composed of 24 Conservative MEPs and one MEP from the

Ulster Conservatives and Unionists, who is James Nicholson, member of the Committee on

Agriculture and Rural Development. Nicholson describes himself as a euro-realist; he is opposed

to the creation of a federal Europe and is against the adoption of the euro as the currency of the

United Kingdom. He does, however, acknowledge that the European Union has been good for

Northern Ireland in relation to funding and infrastructure.11

9 Conservatives expel MEP after row over right-wing bloc, The New Statesman, 15 July 2009, 16 March 2011, <http://www.newstatesman.com/2009/07/mcmillan-scott-european-mep>.10 David Charter, Rightwing Polish MEP Michal Kaminski becomes Tories controversial EU leader, 16 July 2009, 16 March 2011, The Times, <http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6715542.ece.>.

11 UUP candidate: Jim Nicholson, 18 May 2004, 16 March 2011, BBC News, <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/3704721.stm>.

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Timothy Kirkhope is one of the ECR group Deputy Chairman, he is the UK Delegation Leader

and member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. He is part of the

delegation for relations with the United States.

Then the British MEPs of the Bureau of the ECR group are Philip Bradbourn12, ECR Group Co-

Treasurer, member of the Committee on Regional Development and chairman of the delegation

for relations with Canada.

Another essential MEP is Malcolm Harbour,13 who is the Chairman of the Committee on the

Internal Market and Consumer Protection. He is the only member of the ECR group to have a

committee chair. He is one of the most influential and powerful ECR MEPs, because he is at the

head of one of the key legislative committees in consumer and economic policy.

Added to that, the European Conservatives and Reformists Chief Whip is Ashley Fox,14 who is a

member of the Internal Market Committee. He also sits on the Economic and Monetary Affairs

Committee and the Committee for Constitutional Affairs. Ashley Fox is a member of the

Delegation for relations with the Arabian Peninsula and also of the Delegation for relations with

China.

The other Conservative MEPs of the ECR group Bureau are Geoffrey Van Orden, member of the

Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Security and Defence and Martin Callanan,15

member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety.

It is noticeable that British MEPs are the first component in the ECR group, but they had to make

alliances with other parties to meet the requirements in order to exist as a political group in the

European Parliament.

2) The Political Parties.

These parties, which now comprise the core of the European Conservatives and Reformist

Group, are from across the EU.

12 Philip Bradbourn MEP is a British politician, and Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands, for the Conservative Party. He has been a member of the European Parliament since 1999.

13 Malcolm Harbour is a Conservative MEP for the West Midlands.

14 Ashley Fox was elected to the European Parliament in June 2009. He is a British Conservative Member of the European Parliament representing the South West of England.

15 Martin Callanan is a British Conservative Party politician. He has been a Member of the European Parliament for the North East England constituency since 1999, and was re-elected in 2004 and 2009.

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One of the largest after the British Conservatives is Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc (PiS) from Poland

with 15 MEPs.

The Polish Law and Justice Party (PiS) was established as a national conservative party in 2001

by Jaroslaw and Lech Kaczyński, who is the President of Poland. A founding principle of the

Party was the fight against criminality and corruption, which is reflected in the party‘s name. The

PiS supports strong Euro-Atlantic co-operation and promotes the concept of a Europe of the

nations. One of its MEP, Michał Kamiński was chairman of the European Conservatives and

Reformists in the European Parliament in July 2009. In November 2010, he left PiS to form

the more liberal Poland Comes First (PJN); while remaining in the ECR, he stepped down as

chairman in March 2011.

The third political party is the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) with 9 MEPs from Czech Republic.

The ODS, led by Mirek Topolanek, is the major conservative-liberal party in the Czech Republic.

Founded in 1991 by the current President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, the party played

a pivotal role in post-communist transition reforms. The ODS has promoted principles of

European integration based on strong national sovereignty and a non-federalist European Union.

In March 2011, Jan Zarhadil, an MEP of the ODS European Parliamentary Contingent, was

elected to replace Michał Kamiński as chairman of the ECR, defeating Timothy Kirkhope.

Added to that, the Lijst Lijst Dedecker (LDD), with one MEP, is a new conservative liberal party

in Belgium, founded in January 2007 by senior figures from the Flemish liberal party. Lijst

Dedecker promotes a eurorealistic approach towards the EU.

It opposes European Federalism, considered as unrealistic and undemocratic. LDD coined the

term eurorealism: to maintain a realistic but reformist perception of the European Union and

European integration, focusing on core-tasks, reducing excessive bureaucracy.

The other parties that are composed of only one MEP are Magyar Demokrata Fórum (MDF)

from Hungary, ChristenUnie16 from the Netherlands, For Fatherland and Freedom – Latvian

National Independence Movement (TB/LNNK)17 from Latvia and Electoral Action of Poles in

Lithuania (LLRA) from Lithuania.

16 The Christen Unie is a Christian-social party that supports the European Union but opposes a federal future for the

EU. The MEP Peter van Dalen is an expert in the area of transport policy, who has held senior advisory positions

both in the national administration and the EU.

17 The TB/LNNK is a conservative party of the Latvian political scene. Roberts Zīle MEP contributes to the group

with his experience as the former Minister of Finance and Minister of Transport. TB/LNNK support a strong

transatlantic alliance and oppose a federal future for the European Union.

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Along with the Conservative Party from the United Kingdom, parties and MEPs from seven

other EU Member States are forming a new group in the European Parliament, to be known as

the European Conservatives and Reformists.

For the first time in the European Parliament, Conservative MEPs form a new centre-right, non-

federalist mainstream group, which may play an increasing role in the European Parliament.

C) Their Policy and their Achievements.

1) The Role of the ECR Group.

A key moment for the foreign orientation of the British Conservative Party and the

direction it would take after elections to the European Parliament came with the signing on 10

July 2003 in Prague of the Prague Declaration.

The document outlines an alternative European program which the authors propose in opposition

to the prevailing federalist and centralist opinion in European integration. The Prague

Declaration targeted all parties on the right which support European integration leading to

cooperation between sovereign nations in the area of common interests, under the framework of a

single economic area, a common market and free trade.

The role of the ECR group is to implement these principles. That is why, the group created a

political guideline, composed of four parts.18

The first one is related to the system of institutions and the budget discipline.

The ECR Group considers that the fundamental element of the Community idea is equality

between its Member States. The group wants to build a balanced institutional system of the

European Union between the member states based on the principles of sovereignty.

The ECR Group supports the role of the national parliaments and disapproves of excessive

European centralization without democratic control over EU policies. Added to that, the ECR is

in favor of the reduction of the costs of the EU institutions, and especially by saving money with

the Common Agricultural Policy reform.

The second part deals with the economy. The ECR group believes that, just as competition in the

market forces businesses to offer better and cheaper goods and gives consumers freedom of

choice, competition among tax systems is also beneficial. But it is strongly opposed to any steps

that might imply a harmonisation of corporate tax rate in the future or impose a social policy on

18 ECRG, Political Guidelines of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group, 16 March 2011, <http://www.ecrgroup.eu/download/publications/ecr-political-guidelines-en.pdf>.

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the country. It wants to develop the single market and to support steps leading to less regulation.

They agree with the creation of a common energy market and they promote the principles of a

sustainable clean energy supply with an emphasis on energy security. It is against the directive

on certain aspects of work time, stating that the area of labour law is in the competence of

sovereign nations and disagreeing with the system proposed by the European left to the detriment

of employers.

The social model is the third part of this ECR political guideline. The group lays the emphasis on

the basic rules of European social culture resting on three pillars: the free and responsible

individual, the family as the bedrock of society, and civil communities as the material for

collective action.

The fourth part concerns the relationship between Europe and the world.

In February 2010, Timothy Kirhope said in his speech in Washington: “And we are totally

committed to the defence of the Atlantic Alliance. This is why the Presidency of the Group is

here in Washington this week - to demonstrate that commitment and forge new links” .19 The ECR

believes that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has a pivotal role in the stability in

the Euro-Atlantic region, thus they will reinforce their links with NATO by supporting political

steps and projects a European defence co-operation. However they will reject European

initiatives that would undermine or duplicate NATO.

In addition to that, the ECR wants effective controls on immigration. It is essential for the group

that the Member States can decide whether immigrants are allowed to settle, taking into account

their particular needs and capacities.

Since the general election in 2010 in the United Kingdom, the ECR group has been reinforced by

the new Conservative government led by David Cameron. The work of ECR members of the

European Parliament is supported by its national political parties and a clear political guideline

judging from the elements given above. These supports allow them to make a few achievements

in different areas that affect the EU.

2) The Achievements of the ECR group.

19 Timothy Kirkhope, Timothy Kirkhope in Washington: The Transatlantic alliance is more relevant than ever, 17 February 2010, 16 March 2011, < http://www.ecrgroup.eu/timothy-kirkhope-in-washington--the-transatlantic-alliance-is-more-relevant-than-ever-speeches-13.html>.

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The ECR group try to apply its vision of EU, thus the group needs to have chairman or

vice-chairman in several committees. The ECR managed to have a seat at the table of the

Parliament‘s governing political body, the Conference of Presidents, and has active members on

all Parliament‘s Committees.

The group holds the chairmanship of the important Internal Market Committee whose President

is Malcolm Harbour. It has six Vice Presidents who are Robert Sturdy (UK) in the International

Trade, Peter Van Dalen (NL) in Transport, Struan Stevenson (UK) in Fisheries, Evzen

Tosenovsky (CZ) in Industry, Nirj Deva (UK) in Development and Syed Kamall (UK) in

Constitutional Affairs.

These positions and the active lobbying give them opportunities to obtain some successes in

plenary sessions20. A plenary session is where committees and political groups present the results

of their work. It is during the plenary that they decide the issues to be dealt with and can propose

amendments to the reports voted. On Wednesday 10 November 2010 in Brussels, the ECR group

supported the proposals made in the debate dealing with the meeting of the Transatlantic

Economic Council and on the EU and the United States data protection agreement entitled

“Swift”.21 One of the main principles of the British Conservatives is to promote the Atlantic

Alliance and in this debate three Tories MEPs expressed their opinions to show their

commitment and their support to these proposals. Timothy Kirkhope, Geoffrey Van Orden and

Malcolm Harbour agreed to go further in the cooperation with the United States on data

protection, NATO and the economic area.22

Another achievement of the group is the promise to cut red tape. Malcolm Harbour and his

committee was the first to demand a full debate on the Impact Assessment of any new laws

proposed by the European Commission. The responsible officials now have to justify the need

for the new laws and to show the European value added. They must show their background

20 The European Commission and the Council of the European Union also participate in the plenary sessions in order to facilitate cooperation between institutions in the decision-making process. During the sessions, the MEPs debate and vote on the texts submitted. If they consider it necessary, MEPs can raise any subject they think important at a plenary. They can also ask the European Commission to submit a proposal on any issue that they think requires community legislation. When submitted, a parliamentary report is always subjected to debate before it is adopted. It is at this point that they can propose amendments in order to remove, reformulate, replace or develop the content of the text.

21 The Swift Agreement is an international treaty that came into effect on August 1st 2010 between the European Union and the United States. It gives the American authorities the access to the European data bank stored in the network of the company Swift, aiming at fighting against terrorism, under some conditions of protection of the private life of the citizens.

22 The European Parliament, 14. Upcoming EU-US summit and Transatlantic Economic Council - EU-US Data Protection Agreement (debate), 7 February 2011, 16 March 2011,< http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+CRE+20101110+ITEM-014+DOC+XML+V0//EN>

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research and the alternatives they examined. MEPs will use these findings to amend, approve, or

reject, a proposal. The ECR group is constantly trying to cut the costs of the EU and to oppose

excessive EU interference and bureaucracy.

Furthermore, Conservative MEPs successfully pushed through the European Parliament a

proposal that would cut down on the number of trips between Brussels and Strasbourg each

year23. This is as a result of proposals put forward by Conservative MEP Ashley Fox. An

amendment was tabled by Conservative MEPs to change the parliament’s calendars of 2012 and

2013 by merging the two sessions in October into one week. It means that MEPs will fulfill their

treaty obligations to hold 12 sessions in Strasbourg and only having to make eleven trips

backwards and forwards.

The MEPs of the ECR group also supports several proposals in different committees.

We can quote ECR agriculture coordinator and European Parliament rapporteur on the Dairy

Package, James Nicholson MEP who supported proposals, that were unveiled in front of the

European Parliament's agriculture committee have taken on board many of the recommendations

of the High Level Milk Group, a body set up last year to examine the milk sector, to find ways to

stabilise the market and to secure dairy farmers incomes.24

And through Malcolm Harbour MEP, Chairman of the parliament's internal market committee,

they support the Single Market Act. The Act is actually a series of legislative and non-legislative

initiatives that aim to drive down barriers in the Single Market, increase mobility of skilled

workers and cut red tape for small businesses who wish to trade goods and services across the

EU. Proposals include a European Skills Passport, improved access to finance for small and

medium enterprises and clearer implementation of legislation.25

We can also remember the fact that in 2009, the ECR group has already proved pivotal in the re-

election of the President of the European Commission José Barroso26. Mr. Barroso was under fire

from the left and needed support from other groups. The ECR appears to provide the crucial

23 David Keating, One down, eleven to go' in Strasbourg battle, 9 March 2011, 10 April 2011,<http://gulfstreamblues.blogspot.com/2011/03/one-down-eleven-to-go-in-strasbourg.html>.

24 Nicholson gives cautious welcome to commission's milk proposals. 9 December 2010. 16 March 2011. < http://www.ecrgroup.eu/nicholson-gives-cautious-welcome-to-commision--039-s-milk-proposals-news-228.html>.

25 The European Parliament, The Single Market Act, Internal Market and Consumer Protection, 16 March 2011,<http://www.europarl.europa.eu/activities/committees/subjectFilesCom/subjectFileCom.do?language=EN&id=20101214CDT09688&body=IMCO>.

26 Timothy Kirkhope, Deputy Leader of ECR Group Timothy Kirkhope's key note speech at PiS conference in Poznan, 7 March 2010, 16 March 2011, < http://www.ecrgroup.eu/deputy-leader-of-ecr-group-timothy-kirkhope--039-s-key-note-speech-at-pis-conference-in-poznan-speeches-18.html >.

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votes necessary for the EPP to secure the confirmation of José Manuel Barroso’s second term as

European Commission President.

Even though, Tory rebel Edward McMillan-Scott, who left the party due to his struggle against

Kaminski, said that the ECR group was "a divided leadership and a massive lack of

achievement."27, it cannot be denied that the group made many proposals and a few achievements

only in a few months.

CONCLUSION.

Although the ECR is a new group made up of members from various centre right political

groups, it has quickly established itself as a controversial force in the European Parliament, due

to its euroscepticism.

No single group has a majority on its own in the European Parliament and every major issue

requires debate and negotiation. In these discussions, the ECR is able to exert its influence to

promote Britain’s national interests and the ones of its partners in the European Union.

The ECR group, which comprises the most pro-liberalisation delegations in the European Union,

will be looking for concessions from other groups such as the EPP on budgetary control, internal

market, environmental and Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform legislation.  From their

recent results, the British Conservatives are arguably in a stronger position to implement the ten

principles of the Prague Declaration than at any point during their association with the EPP.

However, even if the political parties that composed the ECR group share the same

euroscepticism toward the current state of the EU, differences between ECR member parties are

apparent on issues such as agriculture, climate change, Turkish accession and even the Lisbon

Treaty. The ECR is also vulnerable because of the EP’s rule that groups must have members

from at least eight Member States. The ECR currently includes parties from eight, but five of

them consist of only one MEP. A defection could inflict serious damage, and this gives small

delegations significant leverage. It is important that the ECR remains viable for a period of one

year because after that time, EP rules state that a group doesn’t collapse automatically even

below the threshold, provided that other groups agree.

27 Martin Banks, War of words breaks out between former Tory colleagues, 8 October 2010, The Parliament.com, 10 March 2011, <http://www.theparliament.com/latest-news/article/newsarticle/war-of-words-breaks-out-between-former-tory-colleagues/>

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We must also remember that the Tories clearly wanted to defend the national interest by any

means. In the Conservative manifesto for the European election of 2009, Timothy Kirkhope,

leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament, wrote: “In the next five years

Conservative MEPs will build on our achievements to make sure that Britain’s key national

interests are properly looked after. We have an outstanding group of experienced MEPs and able

and committed candidates. Only our MEPs will fight for our businesses and our farmers, for the

environment, for transparency and accountability. “ 28

It is even confirmed in the 2010 Conservative Manifesto for the general election entitled

“Invitation to Join the Government of Britain” where the tories maintain their principles about

their antifederalism and the protection of their interests: “We will be positive members of the

European Union but we are clear that there should be no further extension of the EU’s power

over the UK without the British people’s consent. We will ensure that by law no future

government can hand over areas of power to the EU or join the Euro without a referendum of the

British people. We will work to bring back key powers over legal rights, criminal justice and

social and employment legislation to the UK.”29

We can infer that British policies towards the European Union have a long history of cooperation

and conflict, and are characterised by the contradiction of supporting the single market and

economic integration while at the same time questioning the necessity of institutional reforms

and deeper political integration. It is clear that David Cameron and the ECR group want to

remain in the EU, because it provides many advantages such as regional funding, a single market

and an influence on a worldwide level. But if they keep on asking the other member states for

opt-outs, they are likely to fail. Judging from their achievements, their best strategy is to seek

only modest changes to the treaties and to make alliances with other centre-right groups within

the parliament. Then, step by step they are changing the rules according to their conservative and

anti federalist principles stated in the Prague Declaration and in the ECR political guideline.

A major clash between Britain and its partners will have dramatic consequences for the

Conservatives, because the eurosceptic forces which wish to drive Britain out of the EU will

increase. The ability of Cameron and the ECR to control those forces must be open to question.

28 ECR group, Vote for Change, 16 March 2011, p.6, <http://www.ecrgroup.eu/download/publications/euro-election-manifesto.pdf>

29 The Conservative Party, Invitation to Join the Government of Britain, April 2010, 16 March 2011, p.113, <http://media.conservatives.s3.amazonaws.com/manifesto/cpmanifesto2010_lowres.pdf>

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