Paul Anderson, Tribune column, 19 March 1999
Last week was a bad one for anyone on the pro-European left in Britain. Oskar Lafontaine, the German Finance Minister who resigned last Thursday, was by no means a straightforward hero. Sometimes, his lack of tact was exasperatingly counterproductive. In particular, his frequent calls for the European Central Bank to reduce its interest rates had the effect of stiffening the ECB's resolve not to cut rates lest it be seen to be bowing to political pressure. Sometimes, too, he was strangely obsessive. He insistently demanded exchange-rate target zones for the world's major currencies even though the world's central bankers already informally operate precisely such a system.
But he was a powerful voice in favour of the expansion of demand by the European Union that the Continent so desperately needs if it is to pull itself out of the recession in which it has wallowed for most of the nineties. Contrary to what some of the more obnoxious "New" Labourites contend, his demise does not mean that European social democracy will now embrace Tony Blair's unalloyed enthusiasm for toadying to big business with policies of deregulation and fiscal conservatism. The momentum of the swing toward Eurokeynesianism among Continental socialist parties is too great for that – as Blair himself discovered when his speech in praise of the American economy was received so coolly by the Milan congress of the Party of European Socialists earlier this month.
All the same, without Lafontaine it is going to be more difficult to set up the institutions and introduce the policies that Europe needs if it is not to be crucified by the combination of rampant globalisation and the ECB's monetary conservatism. His departure is a blow for everyone concerned with the only modernising project of the Left worth describing as such – that of weaning European social democracy off the neo-liberalism it adopted in the eighties and creating a democratic federal Europe capable of challenging the hegemony of globally mobile capital. The glee with which New Labour greeted Lafontaine's resignation was little short of nauseating.
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By contrast, this week has provided the pro-European left with the best excuse this year for cracking open the champagne – Monday's spectacular resignation of all 20 European Commissioners after the publication of a report damning the EU executive for incompetence, indolence and nepotism.
The reason for celebrating is simple: the resignation is a stunning victory for what should eventually become Europe's federal legislative assembly, the European Parliament, and for the principle of democracy. The report that criticised the Commission was produced by an inquiry set up by the Parliament following the suspension of an official for leaking allegations of corruption. And it was on the insistence of the Parliament in session, with the Party of European Socialists taking the lead, that the Commissioners resigned.
It was an extraordinary assertion of the Parliament's powers. Never before had it managed to force the resignation of one of the unelected Commissioners – let alone all of them. It is a long time since the Parliament could easily be dismissed as a powerless talking shop: anyone who does so now is an idiot.
The key question now is what role the Parliament plays in choosing a new Commission. The governments of the EU, including the British, are desperate to keep appointment of Commissioners to themselves, and most would be happy to reappoint most of the Commissioners who have resigned, with Commission President Jacques Santer, Edith Cresson and perhaps one or two others offered up for sacrifice.
Such a turnout would be a disgrace. On one hand, the inquiry report makes it clear that the Commissioners as a whole should be held responsible for the shambolic state of their organisation. Replacing only one or two of them would be tantamount to declaring to the public that EU Governments condone incompetence, indolence and nepotism.
On the other hand, for the governments simply to reappoint most of the outgoing Commissioners without consulting the Parliament would be a step backwards as far as democratic accountability is concerned. At the very least, the Parliament should be given the power to veto individual Commissioners – and should threaten to vote no confidence in the whole Commission if it is not.
It would be even better, however, if the Parliament were able to propose candidates, and better still if it elected the Commission itself. There could be no better way of restoring the legitimacy of the Commission than for a new Commission to be chosen by the directly -and freshly – elected representatives of the people after the June European election. Of course, the chance of that happening is extremely small. But dreaming of democracy never did any harm, did it?
