This article outlining the Liberal Democrats’ approach to Europe was written by Jeremy for a Portuguese magazine, Focus, during the 2005 General Election campaign.

No issue has played a more consistent role, or caused more trouble, in British post-war politics, than the question of Britain’s relationship with our continental neighbours. Every few years it bursts on to the stage to split political parties and help bring down governments, on both sides of the political divide. In large part, this is because the two dominant parties, the right-wing Conservatives, and traditionally left-wing Labour party, have been very confused about what to think about the development of the European Union. Indeed over the last twenty years or so, they have essentially swapped their positions around on Europe: through the process of British accession and the first period of membership of the EU, it was the Conservatives who were pro-European, and Labour who were against. But in an extraordinary switch, since the mid-1980s the right has moved towards its present position of being divided between those who want to ‘repatriate’ some of the EU powers and those who want to leave the EU entirely, and the Labour party has been broadly supportive of the general development of the EU.

But through all this changing around, the centre Liberal Democrats have been consistent in our support for the development of what is now the European Union – with the UK playing a leading part in it. When the origins of the EU were being laid down by the founding six nations in the 1950s, the Liberal party saw that this represented the best chance for the peaceful future development of our continent, and supported Britain being part of it. Liberals played a central part in the referendum on membership of the EEC in 1975, and their successor Liberal Democrats remain the strongest voice for Britain’s positive engagement with the EU today.

We believe the European Union plays an essential role in guaranteeing the security of Europe today. The years since 1945 have been a period of unprecedented peace in western Europe, and the European project, with its approach of resolving disagreements around a conference table, through legal and democratic means, has been central to this.

We recognise that Britain’s place in the EU is also central to the prosperity of British citizens. Our country’s history is as a successful trading nation, and it is now estimated that many millions of British jobs depend on trading with other European countries – greatly facilitated by the EU and our place in it.

The European Union has been good for Britain in a thousand other ways too – from the sort of action to protect the environment which can only effectively be taken at the European level, to the excellent work of the European Parliament to protect the rights of consumers. Fundamentally, the Liberal Democrats recognise that working together with our European neighbours is to the benefit of all of us.

Our strong support for the EU in principle, can lead our political opponents to portray us as completely uncritical of the EU, blindly supporting everything about it, and every proposal to come out of the European Commission.

In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Lib Dems have long been critical of the EU’s organisational shortcomings – and unlike the other parties, we have put forward principled and practical proposals for improving them.

It is a scandal that for most of its history, the EU Council has met in secret – along with Cuba and North Korea one of only three legislatures in the world to do so! We would not tolerate such a thing in our own countries and we should not accept it in law-making at the European level. And it is unacceptable that historically many EU laws have been made without even the involvement of the European Parliament.

Fortunately, we have made good progress in improving both these arrangements over the last few years. Meeting in public, and greater power for the democratically-elected European Parliament, are both enshrined in the European Constitution – and a Constitution which sets down clearly what are the responsibilities of the EU, and what are not, is something else that we have campaigned for. As Liberal Democrats we want to see power devolved and decentralised, held as close as possible to the people it affects. Where Europe can act most effectively by doing so together, we want to see action at the European level. But many of the most important decisions are best taken by those they affect directly, at a local level.

We expect that some time over the next year and a half Britain will have a referendum on the European Constitution, and we will be playing a leading role in the campaign for a ‘Yes’. We have also consistently called for a referendum and a Yes vote on Britain joining the Euro. One of the most depressing things for Liberal Democrat pro-Europeans in recent years has been the failure of Prime Minister Tony Blair, who initially said so many of the right things about Britain’s engagement with Europe, to take a strong lead in tackling the anti-Europeanism that is so prevalent in Britain, and hold a referendum on British membership of the Euro.

The Liberal Democrats are unique in national British politics in our consistent commitment to the European Union. Our 12 Members of the European Parliament, and the pan-European grouping of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe which they are part of, work hard for Britain, and in promoting our vision for the development of the European Union which is more democratic, and more effective.

Jeremy Hargreaves is a Liberal Democrat candidate in the UK General Election, and Chair of the Liberal Democrat European Group.