1998
-
20
23
25 years on, the CER is more necessary than ever by David Miliband
I am very proud to have played a role in founding the Centre for European Reform. The CER has done stimulating and important work for the benefit of Britain and Europe. Charles Grant has displayed striking intellectual and organisational leadership as well as longevity. And the spirit of the CER, taking the issues seriously but retaining a rosy and sometimes irreverent spirit, has run through the succession of highly impressive people who have been part of it, whether as staff, board members, partners or supporters.
PHOTO: David Miliband CER's 18th birthday reception London, July 2016
Of course, there is an immediate irony: Britain has become more European, in all kinds of ways, over the last 25 years, but during that time has divorced itself from the EU. As the Brexit mangle has shown, the UK economy has become highly integrated with that of the EU across a very wide range of sectors, and more than three million EU citizens have moved to the UK. UK reforms like tax credits and the independence of the Bank of England had continental antecedents. Meanwhile the EU often reformed itself with British prompting, from the economic regulation of network industries to overseas aid. Today Britain and the EU face the task of reforming themselves separately in the face of some common challenges. This irony does not undermine the case for the CER; if anything it strengthens it. The origins of the CER were, as Nick Butler describes, the product of youthful impatience.
This was certainly the case for me. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the break-up of former Yugoslavia, we had an instinct that there was a desperate need for new ways of thinking, beyond Mrs Thatcher’s “No! No! No!” approach to the (then) European Communities. Hence the idea of a ‘centre’ convening and creating dialogue. While the language would be English and the perspective from the UK, it need not be confined to the UK. At the time, the word ‘European’ meant the institutions, policies and practices of the EU, but it was also animated by the spirit of a Europe “whole and free”, beyond the EU. And ‘reform’ spoke for itself: nothing was off the table. Speaking for myself, I saw the EU policy of a future Labour government primarily through the prism of commitments to social justice and the environment that needed to be reconciled with economic competition. Jacques Delors’ speech to the Trades Union Congress conference in 1988 enraged Margaret Thatcher but gave me hope. Delors suggested EU-wide legislation, with provision for national distinctiveness (for example on minimum wages): this seemed to offer a bulwark against beggar-thy-neighbour competition, and a way to help Britain tackle inequality at home.