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A positive story about the Conservative Party and Europe is to be celebrated. Yesterday, David Cameron expressed common sense in Brussels. I suspect all Conservatives would agree that the EU is imperfect. The CAP, in particular, needs a radical overhaul. The whiff of fraud at the Commission needs to be extinguished. Furthermore, the bureaucratic brake on economic development that the EU causes needs urgently to be addressed. The knowledge-based economy that all Europeans need and claim to want will not be created within the economic environment presently in place.
Despite the obvious failings, all Conservatives should agree that the EU has helped cement peace on the Continent over the last 50 years, and is probably our only diplomatic vehicle for securing peace further to the East in this next century. Over 50% of our trade is done with our European partners and that proportion continues to grow. The great majority of Conservatives would also accept that dealing with contemporary and future environmental problems needs a continental approach, indeed, a global one.
To achieve all of this the EU needs to change. It is crying out for a fresh approach from a political leader of the next generation. As each day passes, that leader would appear to be David Cameron.
