Saturday’s meeting of the UK European Movement’s new national Council was a very heartening experience: after a very difficult couple of years, the EM has clearly picked up itself, dusted itself down, and is really starting to focus on the future.
The last meeting I attended elected Peter Luff as the EM’s new Chairman, with a strong team of others too to lead the organisation and they have obviously been working very hard since, both in sorting out some of the challenging practical issues, but also in pursuing ambitious but realistic aims. Many of these will be coming to fruition and becoming visible over the next few weeks and months.
There is already a major programme of meetings, run mostly by EM branches around the country, the Speak Up Europe project. This has taken off mainly thanks to the efforts of Margaret Daly, and is an excellent project (and part of an EU-wide programme).
The last ten years have been a dispiriting time to be involved in pro-European campaigning: Tony Blair wanted to do something about Britain’s relationship with the EU and pro-European campaigners engaged enthusiastically with him to try to do so. But when it actually came down to it, he repeatedly failed actually to do anything, and in the process virtually destroyed the pro-European movement in this country. I dare say that wasn’t his prime concern, and I won’t say more about it here (there’s certainly a book or several to be written about it!), but it hasn’t made being involved very easy or much fun at times. And even once the Britain in Europe organisation was safely dead and buried, the last eighteen months have been extremely challenging for the EM internally, leading to (among many other things) a complete overhaul of its internal structures and a total change in its leadership.
All of which makes it so pleasing that the EM has now managed to put all that behind it and start focussing on its real job of campaigning for Britain to play a leading part in a democratic and effective Europe. No-one quite knows what a new Prime Minister will bring for the European debate in this country - the events of next weekend and the following week should both help to make that clearer - but as I’ve said before I remain optimistic that the opportunities for British pro-Europeans may be about to change.
June 18th, 2007 at 13:22
J.
This is indeed good news: we need to counter the shrill and misleading (if not worse) barrage of comments from UKIP and the like. The EU is not responsible for the need for new houses: http://chelmsford-libdems.org.uk/news/000151.html or for regional assemblies: http://chelmsford-libdems.org.uk/news/000090.html
The relaunched Essex branch of EM is planning a Speak Up event for the autumn.
Stephen
June 18th, 2007 at 23:09
Yes, Saturday was indeed a very positive experience! I have high hopes for the Young European Movement for next year; after a long period of de facto dormancy there is now a clear vision for future development. Moreover, it was clear that the EM will do its best to support YEM.
June 19th, 2007 at 17:14
Is Peter Luff our Chairman the same person as Peter Luff MP? I received a mail shot signed by Peter Luff and replied asking for a little more info. on what is going on before making a donation. In particular I asked if steps are being taken to sort out the website which seems very out of date and gives a very poor impression. Have received no reply which again does not inspire confidence. Have I missed some communications?
June 20th, 2007 at 11:39
No, there are two Peter Luffs. (That ought to be the chant at a football match, shouldn’t it?) Our one is better, although the other one is also good.
As to the current state of the European Movement, it is currently picking itself up again after rather a bruising and difficult experience with Britain in Europe. The loss of the main funding and the loss of the major strategic objective have left us with a number of the systems and routines designed for a much larger and better-resourced organisation. For example, we have gone from a team of full-time staff members to one part-time person. As a result, we are having to adopt a new set of habits and methods that suit our new configuration better. That includes both dealing with membership questions and also updating the website. Apologies if your particular enquiry has not yet had the attention it deserves.
We are asking our members for some understanding during this process but also thanking them for their support. What makes the European Movement unique, and the reason why it persists, is the fact that is based on its members and their pro-European political opinions rather than being the creation or representation of some other outside organisation. The debate about the revival of the constitutional treaty is a great opportunity for the European Movement to start to rebuild itself as a political force in the UK.
Richard Laming
Secretary. European Movement
March 29th, 2009 at 19:24
‘ ….the reason why it persists, is the fact that is based on its members and their pro-European political opinions rather than being the creation or representation of some other outside organisation.’
To get to the truth of this claim it is worth reading:
‘The Hidden Hand’ by Professor Richard Aldridge
First published in 2001 by John Murray.
Some extracts:
‘The most remarkable US covert operation was vast secret funding of the European Movement’.
‘In 1948, its [European Movement] main handicap was scarcity of funds; indeed it was bankrupt and close to collapse. The discreet injection of $4 million by the CIA between 1949 and 1960 was central to efforts …………….’
‘This covert contribution never formed less than half the European Movement’s budget and, after 1952 it was probably two thirds’.
‘The conduit for American assistance was the American Committee on United Europe (ACUE)
‘The CIA funding operation through ACUE tells us a lot about the nature of American intervention in Western Europe’.
‘…….Strikingly, the same small band of senior officials, many of them from the Western intelligence community, were central in supporting the three most important ‘insider’ groups emerging in the 1950s: the European Movement, the Bilderberg group and Jean Monnet’s Action Committee for a United States of Europe’.
‘The origins of CIA covert funding for European federalists may be traced back to the little-known figure of Count Coudenhove-Kalergi’.
There is a wealth of information in this book to interest those curious about how we ‘got to here from there’.
Also it is not widely know that the European Movement played an active part in PM Heath’s campaign to take us in the then EEC. Whilst posing as a grass roots organisation it took part in almost all government planning meetings from 1970 to 1972. It also received funding from the EEC and government.