Nice points
From Mr Jeremy Stanford Sir: What place for Britain's political par- ties in Europe's new democracy?
The European Commission plans a politi- cal environment in which the public is rep- resented by 'pan-European' parties: cross- border alliances elected to the European Parliament on collective manifestos, and thus clearly outriders for single government.
The manifestos of these parties, and indeed their party organisation, will not be left to chance. The Commission is prepar- ing a statute for the regulation of political parties which will include conditions for their 'recognition' and sanctions that could suspend their public financing. Domestic political parties forming the backbone of `pan-European' parties will need to con- form to such regulation by default.
The socialist PES European parliamen- tary group leader has called for this statute to `ring-fence democracy by codifying the boundaries of acceptable political behaviour'. The new European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia has welcomed political regulation on the grounds that 'the legitimacy accorded by involvement in government to Austria's Freedom party might encourage other xenophobic and anti-Europe parties'.
The Commission has plans for parties in government, too. Rules enabling a unanimity of member states to object to a fellow mem- ber for 'a serious and persistent breach' of fundamental principles are to be relaxed, allowing only a qualified majority to cause a suspension from Community rights for mere- ly a 'threatened breach' of EU principles.
Such proposals for 'limited democracy' appear more subtle than Brezhnev's doc- trine of 'limited sovereignty', but can we be confident their outcome will be less severe? They are all due to be agreed this Decem- ber in Nice.
Jeremy Stanford
Eurocritic Magazine, London W8
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