SIMON WATKINS
THE year 2015 is the year that Europe must learn to bend to democracy. Elections in a number of EU states – including of course Britain – will put the institutions of the single market and the single currency to the test.
The rise of Ukip in Britain and the response from the Conservative Party to that threat has once again put Britain’s membership of the European club under scrutiny. Our membership and the terms of any renegotiation of that membership will be a key feature of our Election.
Before then there will be a general election in Greece – the country whose banking and financial crisis almost tore the Eurozone apart two years ago. There, too, the crucial questions will be how Greece can reach a new deal with Europe’s powerful political and financial institutions.
The cases of Britain and Greece are in most respects entirely different. In Britain, Euro- scepticism is largely seen as a feature of the Right and centres on the burdens perceived to come from our membership of the EU.
In Greece the debate is more acute because of its membership of the single currency and the scepticism comes from the Leftwing party Syriza, which has seen its support surge among a population that feels the victim of austerity imposed by unelected European officials.
Syriza says it wishes to stay in the euro, but renegotiate the terms of Greece’s bailout which has imposed unprecedented austerity on that country.
The issues are different but the common feature is a fury with perceived interference by bureaucrats riding roughshod over democratic nation states.
Given the near certainty of Syriza’s victory in Greece, the best outcome that can be hoped for the Greek people and Europe is of a new accommodation in which the new Greek government can claim to have eased austerity and the Eurozone stays intact.
Many City experts have seen signs that Syriza may indeed have sufficiently softened its rhetoric to make such an accommodation possible. But Europe’s central bankers and bureaucrats will have to give ground too.
A comparable balancing act is required in the case of the UK and our membership of the EU. If Britain is to avoid a break with Europe – and for all its faults I believe British business is best served by our continuing membership of the EU – then Brussels and our partner countries in the single market must be prepared to give some ground.
Syriza and Ukip are quite different parties, but they have both emerged in response to a European elite that has forgotten that the success of their international projects hinges on having the support of the people of Europe.