Fiction, Fact and Future: The Essence of EU Democracy

By James Elles

Since its inception, the European Union has developed to become an open and transparent system which is democratically accountable to more than five hundred million European citizens. James Elles explains how the EU functions, emphasizing the emerging role of the European Parliament in the process. Elles reviews the history of Britain’s relationship with the EU and illustrates how a reluctance to consult the British people on multiple Treaty changes led to a lack of understanding about Brussels. Looking to the future, Elles assesses the global long-term trends that lie ahead to 2030 and underlines that closer European cooperation, for example on environmental and digital policies, will help them to be more easily resolved. As the next decade unfurls, the EU with President Macron at the forefront of the debate will progress and the European Parliament will continue to develop as a platform for the voice of the European people. From the disinterest of political leaders to the ambitions of emerging nations, Fiction, Fact and Future is not only a guide to why Britain failed to make the most of its EU membership, but also an optimistic message to a younger generation to help shape their future in the 21st century.
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Haus Publishing
• Release date: Oct 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9781912208647

Book preview

Importance

1

Fiction

Thanks to the votes cast by the British people in the referendum on 23rd June 2016, the UK decided to leave the EU. Looking back over the period of membership, there have been many times, not least since the referendum, when it has been legitimate to ask whether we as a country really ever understood what our commitments to EU membership were. As we shall see, many politicians were (and still are) seemingly totally unaware of the nature of the EU institutions and of their legal obligations – and the fundamental fact that the EU is a rules-based legal system with elected representatives to help create the laws applying to all its people.

I should explain that, during my professional life, I have had a greater opportunity than most to observe this at close quarters, having started working at the European Commission in February 1976, starting as a ‘stagiaire’ (trainee) before becoming a full-time administrator on both commercial and agricultural policy for a seven-year period. On leaving the European Commission in June 1984, I was elected as an MEP for the European Parliament constituency of Oxford and Buckinghamshire. I remained an elected MEP for 30 years before voluntarily standing down in June 2014.

The general lack of understanding of the EU was nicely put in an article in The Times by Simon Nixon, who commented, ‘The reason why the Brexit debate has gone round in circles for the past two years – and why the UK’s negotiations have been almost completely stalled for months – is that much of the British political class have never fully understood what the EU is or how it works.’¹ He ended the piece by indicating that the UK had failed to cooperate effectively within the EU’s systems:

The British political class increasingly resembles a British tourist asking a foreigner for directions: unable to make itself understood, it simply shouts louder. Complaints about EU theologians only reveal a worrying lack of understanding of the realities of an organisation of which the UK was a member for 43 years. If Britain is to avoid finding itself unexpectedly stranded without a deal in March, it will need to start learning the language.²

On being elected as a MEP in June 1984, I found myself with a European Parliament constituency of around half a million voters stretching across the Thames Valley. The experience was a sharp learning curve, but I had the good fortune to share a parliamentary office in Amersham with the MP Ian Gilmour, Baron Gilmour of Craigmillar (who was then Sir Ian Gilmour), as well as benefitting from the advice of a canny political agent, Robert Nairne. Furthermore, not only did I have the luck to be a full-time member of the Budget Committee in Brussels, but I also started a regional network called TARGET to promote training in skills and technologies with my neighbouring MEP (my mother, Baroness Elles!). As it turned out, TARGET was a highly successful venture reaching more than 5,000 small and medium-sized enterprises across the Thames Valley, linking businesses with colleges and training