Power to the people is the way forward in Europe

Written by Diana Wallis and published in Yorkshire Post on Tue 20th Jun 2006

IN his first domestic keynote speech, Geoff Hoon, the Europe Minister, in his words, said he wanted "to restart the debate in this country - and in particular to rekindle interest in the European Union". This is to be welcomed yet he has no practical suggestion for just how this will happen.

It seems that the first job of every new Europe Minister - and they come along at regular intervals - is to call for a debate on the EU and a reconnection with the citizens. Tony Blair is equally guilty of this empty rhetoric, telling last week's EU summit in Brussels to focus on "bread and butter" issues worrying ordinary people - and then try to win support for a constitutional treaty.

No, the only way that a real debate on the EU will happen is through a referendum. We were promised one two years ago on the EU Constitutional Treaty, a promise which has never been formally withdrawn. It is my view this would be a great opportunity to debate, discuss and eventually vote. In the process everybody would be better informed and we would get a sense of the sort of Europe the British people wanted.

A further point here is that it is, of course, not the first time that the Labour Government has promised a referendum which has never materialised. In addition to the missing vote on the Constitutional Treaty should be added ballots on the adoption of the euro, on a change in the voting system and on the establishment of an elected regional assembly here in Yorkshire and the Humber.

Herein lies the problem with the way referendums and popular votes are perceived by successive UK governments; they are something to be allowed to the people by government, dropped as crumbs from the top table, which can be equally withdrawn without any explanation. It is little wonder when politicians talk about listening to the people the public become even more cynical.

I still believe that the British people have a right to vote on all of the matters thus far denied us. It is possible that in some of them, perhaps all of them, the vote might not go the way that I want, but, hey, that's democracy. It would certainly engage both the electorate and politicians in a vote on something outside of party elections.

It is ironic that one of the elements of the seemingly-doomed Constitutional Treaty was what is known as the "citizen's right of initiative". This established that a million European Union citizens can request the adoption of a European law. Those who argued that the treaty would make for less democracy conveniently overlooked this.

It wasn't just the Constitutional Treaty which thought the "citizen's right of initiative" worth taking forward. The report from the Power Inquiry, which is exploring how political participation and involvement can be deepened in Britain, has embraced this point. The report said: "Citizens' initiatives have the potential to capture the political energy generated by single issues and make them a source of re-engagement with formal democratic processes. The packed meeting at the Power to the People Conference last month to listen to representatives of the Institute of Referendums and Initiatives and others shows the appetite for a citizen's right of initiative."

A further irony about this is that a non-EU member state, Switzerland, has voted twice in referendums in the last year on EU issues (enlargement and free movement) and probably faces another, on financial perspectives, later this year. Through this referendum process, I would contend that the average Swiss citizen is better informed than the average UK citizen on EU matters.

Many of us believed that Tony Blair's decision to hold a referendum was a cynical ploy to undermine the Conservative's campaign for the 2004 European elections, and to win backing from the Murdoch press. The fact that he so easily and with no discussion abandoned the idea supports the view his heart was never really in it. There must be a fundamental change in the way in which referendums can be held in this country but it also touches on the right of citizens to initiate policy.

The key argument here is the ever increasing gap between EU policy and the average British citizen. Opinion will not be moved until we have a debate. Yet this is an educative, societal process which the British Government, overcentralised and increasingly presidential, no longer has any interest in.

Diana Wallis, is Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament for Yorkshire & the Humber and was recently elected leader of the Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament. She is a board member of the Institute of Referendums and Initiatives - Europe.