Gary Titley, MEP: What's Up In Euroland?

This is the text of the talk by Gary Titley, MEP taken directly from the Deane-Cum-Heaton Labour Party's Branch minutes.

  The 2000 Euro Elections

Gary began by thanking the Branch members for their support in the Euroelections held the previous June. The turnout had been very disappointing, as had the results for us, with the number of Labour MEPs in the north west being reduced from ten to six.

He believed that the next general election will be in May 2001 and we have a lot to do to improve the turnout by then, especially as we won’t get the same amount of outside help as we did in 1997 since Bolton West is no longer regarded as a marginal seat.

Three of the Tories elected were ex-MPs who are working out their retirement and the one Liberal gets his press releases done by the local Party. Of the opposition MEPs in the NW one is fairly savvy, one is an airline worker in London and only the Labour MEPs know what they’re doing.

In the previous European Parliament we had 62 Labour representatives but these were reduced to 29. The Socialist group is now the second largest with the majority being held by the Christian Democrat/Liberal coalition. Therefore, for the first time in many parliaments we are in opposition. He said that we are now a close-knit, tightly focussed group. However, two Labour MEPs have already resigned and, under the new system, they won’t be replaced.

The North West has been geographically divided into four and Gary’s Radcliffe office is still open. He announced a meeting for all Party members at Breightmet Labour Club in February.

The Tories have increased from 12 to 36 in the Parliament but are a very divided group. There are the Euroenthusiasts, a middle group who do what they’re told and a third group of “head bangers2 who Gary described as “completely mad”! During the Euroelection the Tories played the British nationalist card to win support and are going the same way as the far right Party in Austria, now part of the government there.

There are about 50 Liberals in the parliament, of which 10 are from the UK and we are not sure how they are going to organise themselves. Then there are the Greens and the Scots and Welsh nationalists. The Greens fight amongst themselves a lot. The “odds and sods” include three from the UK Independence Party but they have now split into factions!

  The Main Issues

Gary said that the main issues were:

      The reallocation of EU funds, which would have meant that the UK would have done badly. However, at the Cologne summit and in the Parliament we have come out rather better than expected. The NW as a whole will get £1.25 billion in six years with the majority of that going to Merseyside.

      Defence is to be better organised on a European wide basis. Europe spends 75% as much on defence as the USA but only has about 10% of the effectiveness. A Rapid Deployment Force is to be set up.

      12 new countries are to be admitted, some during the next five to six years.

      The Commission is to be reformed. Neil Kinnock is the Senior Vice-President and he has to sort out the structure of the Commission.

      The Euro is the big issue at the moment. On the financial markets it’s quite successful and beneficial to Germany and France, as their exports have become cheaper. Sweden and Denmark are likely to join and Greece is desperate to be included as well. That would mean only the UK outside the Euro zone.

  Questions and Answers

Members asked Gary questions:

      Human Rights

Leilia asked about human rights issues in applicant countries. Gary said that countries waning to join have addressed these issues. Slovakia, Latvia and Estonia have all changed their constitutions.

      Interest Rates

George asked about interest rates. He said that the problem for Ireland is that they are too low and are causing terrible stresses due to their inflexibility. Gary answered that inflation is one of the most important things that has to be controlled and it and interest rates are always very closely linked. The problem in the UK is that interest rates are going up because of house price increases in the SE and we in the NW suffer as a consequence.

      European Central Bank Presidency

Gary was asked about tensions between the President of the European Central Bank and the German and French Governments. He agreed that such problems existed but said that a new Bank President will be appointed in 2004 and things will be quite different then.

      Election System

Joyce asked why the system that the Party had for the general election wasn’t used for the Euroelection. Gary said that the organisation at Millbank had been a shambles and added that there had been a lack of support from the very top of the Party.

      Relationships With Westminster MPs

Gary said that there were now much stronger links between MEPs and MPs and that he had been appointed as Robin Cook’s Euro PPP and had been regularly attending meetings with Ministers.

      The Euro

Amal asked if it will be a problem for us at he next election that Labour hasn’t made its mind up about the Euro and the Tories are dead against it. Gary agreed that this could be a disadvantage and he believed that the Party should take a stronger position.

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