Michael McGowan: We won't gain a voice in Europe by texting and Twittering

The breathtaking revelation is that Hague wants to increase Britain's influence in the European Union and is now focused on this new ambition by mobilising his secret weapons, the text and the Twitter.

The new Foreign Secretary has announced that he spends hours on the phone each day with his counterparts abroad, communicates with them by

text and even follows the Twitter feed of the foreign minister of Bahrain.

It is just possible that William Hague has been a closet Europhile all along and has decided to come out into the open and declare his love and passion for Europe.

But it has to be pondered whether he really has had a serious change of mind and abandoned his Brussels-bashing behaviour or has he simply

kicked off the start of the silly season?

If William Hague is determined to increase Britain's influence in the European Union and pursue a foreign policy that is active in Europe and across the world is serious, then it has to be welcomed.

However, it has to be said that the decision to pull Tory MEPs out of the influential Centre-Right Christian Democratic group in the European Parliament and then link up with far Right MEPs from Eastern Europe, does not add up with what Hague is now saying.

And it is difficult to forget that William Hague, as leader of the Conservative Party at the 2001 General Election, was criticised by Leon Brittan, the former European Commissioner and Hague's predecessor as

Tory MP for Richmond, for blatantly playing the Eurosceptic card.

The decision to axe regional development agencies, including Yorkshire Forward, is also bad news for Yorkshire and further isolates Britain from Europe.

We can only hope that some wise counsel in the new Government such as Pauline Neville-Jones, an ex pupil of Leeds Girls' High School, will

now explain to William Hague, the importance of having a credible regional strategy for Yorkshire and realistic links with the EU.

It is amazing that it has escaped William Hague that the European Union is a "Europe of the regions" with great diversity across 27 member

states in terms of geography, industry, language, and culture besides population size.

Germany has a population of more than 80 million, Malta has fewer than half a million while Yorkshire is larger than the Irish Republic, as big as Scotland, and twice the size of Wales. And Leeds and Sheffield each have more people than the nation state of Luxembourg, one of the six founder members of the EU.

In the EU, regional identity is paramount and Yorkshire is a region

with a proud history and traditions of self-help, thrift, nonconformity and internationalism, so much to contribute to and benefit from the rest of Europe and a need to be able to speak directly to the European Commission.

Hague's strategy of phoning, texting and Twittering his counterparts in Europe is no alternative to a proper engagement with the European

Union, including using the resource of the directly-elected European Parliament. Hague's record of playing the anti-European card has been unhelpful and dangerous and Yorkshire is now one of two English regions which has sent a far Right MEP from the British National Party to the European Parliament.

William Hague needs to build on the foundations of the positive

building of European co-operation of such Conservative leaders as Edward Heath, Chris Patten and Leon Brittan.

The EU is a great resource for peace and is an economic giant but its political influence in the world has been limited as a result of the disparate views of the 27 member states and a failure to speak with one voice when appropriate.

An aim of the Lisbon Treaty is to address this challenge to give Europe a bigger say and influence in the world, and with positive support from Britain and Foreign Secretary Hague, this opportunity can be taken forward.

William Hague needs to inject some Yorkshire common sense into

relations between Britain and the EU and a decision to return Tory MEPs back into the influential mainstream Christian Democrat group in the European Parliament would demonstrate his serious commitment to Europe and be of benefit to Britain.

He needs to address the likely damage to our region in terms of jobs, services and investment as a result of the decision to axe Yorkshire Forward and understand the importance of regions such as Yorkshire having a direct link with the European Commission in Brussels.

Yorkshire and the rest of the UK can benefit enormously from and have a powerful influence in the EU but if William Hague is serious about playing an active role in the EU – and I really hope he is – he will have to do better than simply texting and Twittering his counterparts

in Europe.

Michael McGowan is the former MEP for Leeds and President of the Development Committee of the European Parliament.