HAGUE ON THE EU

by RAY FLEMING
WILLIAM Hague, who has been widely criticised for his failure to set out even the broad direction of the LibCon coalition's foreign policy since last May's election, filled in part of the hole yesterday when he spoke about Europe at the Conservative Party Conference. He said: “We will support effective co-operation not navel-gazing, determined action not institutional empire-building -- that is the hard-headed approach others can expect from us in Europe.” Well, I am sure we can all agree that “navel-gazing” (whatever it is) should not be supported and that the EU Commissioner responsible for it should be sacked, but for the rest it is tempting to suggest that Mr Hague's policy formulation is “empty” rather than “hard” headed. He got closer to specifics by opposing the so-called EU “ratcheting” process whereby existing treaties can be modified without a meeting of all 27 heads of government. The LIb-Com coalition agreement stated that a referendum would be needed in Britain on any transfer of power to the EU but Mr Hague appeared to be extending that principle to lesser issues that might involve transfer of powers for administrative or operational efficiency. Yesterday Mr Hague obviously wanted to appeal to the anti-Europeans in the Conservative Party but as his ideas stand they suggest an approach designed to bring change to a halt in the EU whenever possible. Again, that is not hard-headed but thick- headed.