Twenty years on from the fall of the Berlin wall, and the Europe that emerged from the rubble still brings trials for the two main political parties. This month, David Cameron discovered that navigating the politics of EU treaties involves more tricky corners than even the most serpentine of Conservative leaders can deftly navigate. Yet how he will deal with the practicalities of a post-Lisbon EU remains unclear, hence his carefully phrased “enough is enough” response: the tone hostile, the commitments vague.
A genuine sceptic, the Tory leader thinks Lisbon is just more EU integration pushed by hook, crook and re-run referenda. Here he is in line with pubic opinion. That is why the only real challenge to his position came from Tory hardliners, and their Eurosceptic offspring in Ukip. Cameron thinks he can manage this balance as long as he is winning on other fronts. “Better to have dissatisfied Eurosceptics now than promises we’re not in a position to keep later,” says one senior Cameron strategist.
True, Cameron will be pushed to be more hostile by his own side. He will also need to compensate for the dropped referendum pledge if he is to lure back the pile of voters who deserted him for Ukip in the European elections in June. Yet he is not a leader in the Thatcher mould, who relishes what one long-suffering pro-European Tory wearily calls the “Sinn Fein approach—ourselves alone.” So some kind of positive policy will be needed.
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