UK Tory MEPs put spanner in works

A bitter political tussle has broken out over a new deal announced between the British Conservatives and the European Parliament’s centre-right group.

Following an lengthy spell of Conservative party in-fighting over its links with the pro-European EPP, UK leader Michael Howard and the head of the party in European Parliament Jonathan Evans finally forged an agreement to stay with Europe's umbrella centre-right club.

It was hailed on Tuesday as a “significant breakthrough” in relations with the EPP-ED group.  

But in an ironic twist, the centre-right group last night erupted into angry mud-slinging over concessions offered to the Conservatives, who will remain only as allied members in a separate “European Democrats” faction.

After a tense five year relationship with the UK faction, resentment reached boiling point among the EPP’s French, Belgian and Dutch members, resulting in a vote on the new deal being delayed until Thursday. 

The terms of the new agreement, seen by this website, would mean the Conservatives would continue in the ED with the right “to promote and develop their distinct views on constitutional and institutional issues in relation to the future of Europe.”

And, to the chagrin of some pro-European EPP members, it would award the alliance a vice-President’s post in the group and more money for staff.

EPP insiders also say a secret deal over staffing arrangements announced to the British Conservatives but not to the EPP group may fuel the political furore even further.

One source claimed the agreement, still under wraps, would allow the Conservatives to recruit their proportion of staff, up to 40 employees, as eurosceptics.

Conservative group leader Jonathan Evans dismissed the report as “mischievious.”

“I do not recognise any such agreement,” he said, but added that “the [staff] arrangements made are ones that will require a group rule change.”

But the staffing question sheds light on the most fundamental difficulty in the EPP’s relations with Europe.

Leading EPP members are concerned that the development of the ED alliance, with its eurosceptic connotations, will change the character of the pro-European EPP.

With the European elections looming, some members fear that ambitions by parties such as Portugal’s Partito Popular or the Czech Civic Democratic Party to join the ED will bolster the entire groups eurosceptic tendencies.

Concerns over the EPP’s pro-European credentials may even prompt a French walk-out, insiders say.

There is even talk that the concessions offered to the UK Conservatives could force some EPP factions to cross the floor.

Jean-Louis Bourlanges, a member of the French UDF party, told EUpolitix.com there would be no “overnight” decisions but that his party was “preparing other things.”

“The EPP-ED group is in the biggest confusion,” he said, adding that it had become too “catch-all.”

Parliament insiders have reported talks between the UDF and leader of the Liberal group Graham Watson.

“Mr Watson maintains regular contact with politicians who have views close to the Liberal family,”said a Liberal spokesman.

Some MEPs were reported to be in favour of cutting the Conservatives off from the group but senior members have stressed that a solid majority are in favour of maintaining close links.

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