By Lord Howarth of Newport - 27th October 2011
Lord Howarth of Newport implores the government to exercise constructive influence over any EU reforms.
Tabled some weeks ago, my Question turns out to be rather topical. There are any number of issues to be pursued through supplementaries.
Does the government think it more in Britain's interest that eurozone countries should integrate their financial and fiscal policies or that vulnerable countries should leave the eurozone? The chancellor has indicated he favours the former. But the political implications of that point towards a federal eurozone with a huge new impetus towards a federal EU.
Supposing the peoples of the eurozone countries accept integration (which doesn't appear likely), is not the choice then for Britain to be pulled into the new federal structures or to be marginalised from influence on policy-making and outgunned by our trading partners in the single market? If they do not, do we want to see the eurozone fragment, with the consequent chaos? Will the eurozone not fragment anyway as the disparities of competitiveness between members, heightened by de-leveraging, become more evidently irremediable?
Aren't the timescales of the markets and of the politicians and lawyers hopelessly out of sync? Even if EU leaders agree stopgap measures now, until there is fundamental reform of the financial, fiscal and political structures of the eurozone, won't the system stagger from crisis to crisis with dire consequences for everyone?
In this whole melée, with the resentment of eurozone leaders at what they see as Britain's interference, and with the coalition and the Conservative Party riven by internal disagreements, how can our PM and chancellor hope to exercise any constructive influence?
How will the PM prevent Europe destroying his government?
Alan Howarth is the former member of parliament for Stratford-on-Avon (1983-97) and for Newport East (1997-2005). He was raised to the peerage in 2005 and sits on the Labour benches.
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