Politics has been the loser in the last week. I do not just mean that our democratic system is debased in the eyes of the electorate. It is also the case that MP’s expenses have taken our focus away from our shaky economy and our many social ills. And as the European elections approach, discussions about European policy are practically non-existent.
Few will therefore have noticed the story that broke last week about the Conservatives’ potential partners in the European Parliament after the election. Sources have suggested that our new allies may include the Czech Civic Democrats, Poland’s Law and Justice Party and the Latvian For Fatherland and Freedom.
Nick Cohen, in yesterday’s Observer, gives us a taster of what we can expect from our opponents if these reports are true. A long list of quotations from these parties and their representatives include the contentions that the election of Obama represented the “end of the civilisation of the white man”, “homosexuality will lead to the downfall of civilisation” and that “global warming is a false myth and every serious person and scientist says so”. If that wasn’t enough, Cohen goes on to report that MP’s from the Fatherland for Freedom party marched with Latvian SS veterans this year.
Before we get carried away, the Conservatives have not confirmed these reports. Last week, a Conservative spokesman said that we would be providing a voice for “a modern, open flexible Europe” and “we do not intend to comment on potential allies”. I believe in this flexible Europe, and I respect David Cameron’s straightforward assertion that “under my leadership, we wouldn’t say one thing in London and a different thing in Brussels”. As modern, liberal Conservatives we must hold David Cameron to this pledge.
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In what sense does modern liberal Conservatism require uncritical acceptance of the manmade global warming dogma?
Dear Michael,
Your blog post demands the sort of practical Burkean interpretation which ultimately prompts us to reassess the importance we ascribe to current events. Allow me to offer specific context in support of your concerns, for context has the remarkable property of helping an otherwise sound and lofty mind reassess causality and risk. And as Winston Churchill once said: “A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen.”
Now, let me give you that specific context and leave the rest to your ability to foretell what might happen tomorrow or next year, because of David Cameron’s decision to part ways with the European People’s Party.
To those you speak of but don’t enumerate in thorough detail belongs one of the new rising stars of Bulgarian politics, Yane Yanev. Mr, Yanev, now leader of a party with a name that rings true to its leader’s populist rhetoric, Order, Justice and Security, has been enjoying growing popular support by showering Bulgarian politicians, businesses, and judiciary members with accusations and “proof” of corruption. Given Bulgaria’s reputation, of a country still struggling to reform its institutions, this may all sound well (at least to Bulgarians). However, what greatly disturbs me is not what Mr. Yanev says, although much of it degrades the order of a modern liberal democracy and on social issues reminds of the Kaczyński twins. My concern is with who Mr. Yanev is, what he does and how he does it. The few bullet points below might leave those who take the high standards of British politics for granted in denial. For as you read on you might be hearing the sounds of a new clanking “Conservative” partnership in Europe:
1. Since 1994, Mr. Yanev has switched 3 parties to land in the newly formed Order, Justice, and Security party, established by former Bulgarian Secret Service agent Georgui Markov (not to be confused with the Bulgarian dissident writer by the same name who was fatally stabbed by a poisoned umbrella in London by agents of that same infamous secret service)
2. In 2003, Yanev nominated the ultra-nationalist, Volen Siderov (now leader of the racist party Ataka) for mayor of the capital Sofia
3. Proposed and helped pass a new election law, two months before June/July 2009 elections in Bulgaria, which favors the former unreformed communist party, the Bulgarian Socialist Party
4. Last week, Yanev instructed his representative in the electoral commission, dominated by the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party, to deny the registration of the UDF for the national elections to be held July 2009. The UDF is the anti-communist, reformist party in Bulgaria, and a member of the European People’s Party. Over the last two months it has been fighting for its survival, against a series of unlawful administrative, legislative, and judiciary attacks instigated by the former communist party (Bulgarian Socialist Party)
5. Yanev, has been using TV cameras every fortnight to wave manila folders containing alleged proof of corruption against politicians and business people. He claims to be getting his incriminating proof from a newly formed law enforcement agency headed by former KGB and Bulgarian Secret Service agents. Now why exactly is he doing that and not the attorney general, I leave for you to speculate over.
Much more could be written about this apparent Putinization of the young Bulgarian democracy. This disturbing process of restoration of old Soviet habits certainly can be easily brushed aside and into the dusty corners of a country that few Oxford educated Brits would even care to point on the map, were it not for how Mr. Yanev managed to brand himself in the eyes of the “adolescent” Bulgarian electorate as a “new conservative”, and as the only alternative to the former communist party; thus, directly challenging the authentic democratic forces in the face of the right-wing UDF. Yanev was legitimized by no other than the British Conservatives. He claims, on his party’s website, in TV adds, in interviews and newspapers, that the Tory Party is Yanev’s premier partner. He says: “A series of meetings with the head of the British Conservative Party David Cameron, Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague, Shadow Europe Minister Mark Francois, Sir Michael Spicer, and Mr. Geoffrey Van Orden set the beginning of the close partnership between our two parties.” Quote continues: “The British Conservatives gave their full support to Order, Justice and Security and promised to send us over a team of specialist who would helps in our fight against corruption, before and after the elections for Bulgarian parliament. Our two parties became co-founders of the new union of European Conservatives, which will become the foundation of a newly formed party in the European Parliament.”
Now, before I stop boring you with detail, allow me to suggest that this specific example, perhaps, begs for a more friendly interpretation of David Miliband’s words: “misbegotten, mistaken, misguided … the Conservatives offer a fast route to the margins of Europe and the margins internationally.” Perhaps, David Cameron’s friend in arms, Swedish conservative leader Reinfeldt, might just have a better grasp of the risks that lie ahead. And whether, the British Conservative Party, until recently at least, an example worthy of emulation for many democratically, reform-minded young Eastern European politicians, has a responsibility toward the preservation of liberal democracy throughout the world is a question for the British Conservatives to answer. In today’s interconnected world, a lot more is at stake here than just a few more miscalculated seats in the House of Commons.