Cameron backs down over Europe
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Contributing editor
Emily Hohler Nov 06, 2009
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David Cameron must "bitterly regret" the article he penned for The Sun in September 2007. In it he gave a "cast-iron guarantee" that he would hold a referendum on the Lisbon treaty if he were to become prime minister, says Peter Oborne in The Observer. But on Tuesday, Vaclav Klaus, the Eurosceptic leader of the Czech Republic, became the last EU leader to ratify the treaty, putting pressure on Cameron to come clean on his policy in Europe.
Tory sources say that he has "not performed a U-turn as he has always made clear that he would only hold a referendum as long as the treaty remained unratified by all EU member states", says The Guardian. Now that it has, holding a referendum would be "pointless and legally impossible".
Have some sympathy for Cameron, says The Daily Telegraph. The treaty was ratified before he could deliver on his pledge. "Only the most hard-line Eurosceptics will see any point in calling a referendum that has already passed into law in all 27 states." Anyway, it was Labour in its 2005 manifesto that promised to put the constitutional treaty to the people in a referendum, only to abandon the pledge once re-elected.
So what now? Cameron must know that renegotiating the treaty is impossible, says Chris Bryant in The Independent on Sunday. That would require the unanimous agreement of all 27 governments, none of whom have the stomach for further talks and, ironically, the Lisbon treaty makes it even more difficult to do. Cameron "coyly intimates he would 'repatriate powers to the UK', but he flatters to deceive".
In any case why are we making such a fuss? "Our membership of the union is vital to our economic future." Britons can now trade and work in the largest market in the world. That has meant three million extra jobs and annual exports of £370bn. But to start punching its weight on the world stage and deliver real benefits to Britain, we need an EU that has "actively decided" to stop squabbling about its treaties.
Cameron can "spot a lost cause when he sees one", says Peter Oborne – and he has "no desire to destroy his premiership before he enters Downing Street". But his supporters, for many of whom the Lisbon Treaty poses an "existential threat to the British state", won't be content for him to shrug his shoulders.
True, says Matthew Parris in The Times. But putting flesh on his "'we won't let matters rest' commitment" is a far easier job for Cameron than a referendum would have been. "A Tory government can keep a nice little battle going over a manageable set of demands that the Eurosceptics will say is not ambitious enough and the Europhiles will say is unachievable and will end in a messy draw."
Europe looks set to continue as an ulcer, but that is our lot – to "string along... with an ill grace", never quite deciding whether to embrace our European destiny or reject it. "It is, in its way, a noble fence to sit on," settled upon by Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. "I see David Cameron too edging towards that honourable perch. Vive l'irrésolution!"
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