Edward McMillan-Scott: Europe is back at the heart of politics, so let’s not forget the benefits it brings

Pro-Europeans, like me, are reassured that Nick Clegg unequivocally restated at the weekend that it would be economic suicide to leave the EU and that the UK should not “retreat to the margins”, as the current 17 eurozone countries create a tighter union.

This newspaper acknowledged the impact of the EU on our economy in its Editorial on the day of the referendum vote in Westminster, but also reported last week that one York firm had blasted a Conservative MP for voting for a referendum: this is just the beginning of a much-needed debate.

Meanwhile, international attention is focused on the euro at the G20 summit this week in Cannes under the chairmanship of Nicolas Sarkozy.

David Cameron must be regretting his casual leadership pledge to withdraw from the European mainstream European People’s Party, the political family of Sarkozy and Angela Merkel, Europe’s paymaster. The gesture was without merit and now mitigates his effectiveness as premier.

His pledge was made to secure the votes of the “Better Off Out” MPs, the very ones who are now harrying him over the EU referendum.

When I described the House of Commons debate and vote on a non-binding call for an EU referendum as “noises off” on BBC TV’s Newsnight, Jeremy Paxman accused the EU of being a “walking disaster” – revealing a point of view which is gaining currency at the BBC.

It is regrettable that other important institutions – the House of Commons and the Conservative Party – have allowed themselves to become victims of an anti-EU spasm.

I cannot deny that the public mood is Eurosceptic but that will change if the euro recovers its poise – and the media report the wider realities about the EU.

For example, much anti-EU opinion is focused on the crisis in the eurozone. However, it is not Brussels but a minority of sovereign governments which have let us all down.

Even so, the euro has succeeded in creating 14 million jobs and has kept inflation at around two per cent in its 17 participating countries.

Moreover, it is worth pointing out that:

The fiscal deficit in Britain is higher than the average in the eurozone.

Economic growth in Britain is lower than the average in the eurozone.

The debt ratio is also higher in Britain.

We simply must not ignore the economic imperatives which drove our predecessors to embrace membership of the Common Market, with its clear ambition of “ever-closer union”.

The EU’s Single Market gives British companies free trade access to the world’s biggest single market and over 500 million consumers. Some 3.5 million British jobs are reliant on the EU’s single market. That is one in every 10 British jobs.

Over 50 per cent of foreign direct investment to the UK comes from other EU member states, and is worth £351bn a year. The UK attracts global FDI because of its full access to the single market.

There are considerable personal benefits too: we all enjoy much cheaper mobile roaming, cheaper flights and enhanced consumer protection, from timeshare touts to unfair TV advertising.

The UK’s role in international affairs is hugely enhanced by our membership of the EU. Democracy and human rights – the priority of the EU’s external relations policy – are the underpinning of the Arab revolutions.

Of course, there are problems and the EU is its own worst enemy when it comes to presentation. The EU is regarded by the popular media as a gravy train, but MEPs were cleaning up their act long before the expenses scandal engulfed the House of Commons.

We now have an exemplary system, despite having 23 official languages, several cultures and (absurdly, thanks to EU governments) two working places.

The Adam Werritty affair, which saw Liam Fox resign as Defence Secretary, allows me to point out that the code of conduct for lobbyists in the EU is also set to the highest international standards.

As a long-standing pro-European who left the Conservative Party as it slipped from being an internationalist party to a nationalist one, I look forward to a properly-informed referendum about whether or not the UK should participate in the coming eurozone economic government, or stay in the “HSBC zone” – Hungary, Sweden, Britain and the Czech Republic.

I look forward to the coming debate with the same relish as I did in 1975, when a weakened premier called a referendum to heal his divided party and two-thirds of the British people voted to stay “in” after they had heard all the arguments. They will again if the question is put.