Merkel won't give Cameron what he wants most – an EU referendum | Frances O'Grady
 To gain a referendum David Cameron has to – somehow – persuade Angela Merkel into renegotiating EU social protection David Cameron is giving Angela Merkel the full red carpet treatment. This is because he needs her help in his plan to bridge the fundamental divide on the right of British politics. He wants to go into the next election offering a referendum in which the British people get to choose between leaving the EU or staying in. But he is not offering the status quo. He talks of repatriating Europe's powers to Westminster, but what he means is stripping us of the EU workplace rights, consumer protection and environmental standards that most of his backbenchers hate. If Ukip does as well as many think in the European elections in May, the pressure to deliver this can only grow. This can only be done by rewriting the European Union treaty. This requires every EU government to agree; each member state has a veto. Angela Merkel might appear to be a natural ally for David Cameron. She is a centre-right leader of the EU's most powerful state, whose vote went up in the recent elections. But our prime minister is making a big mistake if he thinks the red carpet will automatically lead to a cut in what he dubs red tape. For, as Merkel smartly grasps, German politics has changed. To win she shamelessly borrowed policies such as the minimum wage from her Social Democrat (SPD) opponents. And while her vote went up, the Free Democrats – her natural allies on the right – lost all their seats. This means she has had to form a grand coalition with the Social Democrats, who won key ministries. Across our continent – in both left and Christian Democratic parties – social protection is as much part of Europe as the single market. But Cameron wants to end EU regulation of agency workers, press for deregulation of labour markets, and end working time protection such as the right to four weeks' paid holiday a year. Yet the SPD campaigned for more protection for agency work and against US-style labour markets. They are close to our German union allies and will oppose new UK opt-outs. With the Christian Democrats claiming to have invented the social market economy, however warm Merkel's words this week there is little to no chance that the new German government will allow the UK to undermine these rights at European level. Nor will the prime minister find allies in France. President Hollande made clear his opposition to treaty change on his visit last month, and the French right is as much a part of the European consensus as Germany's Christian Democrats. What the UK right fails to understand is that nearly all of western Europe's leaders see basic levels of social protection as integral to a single market. In this social market they encourage "good" competition, not a race to the bottom through cutting workplace or consumer standards. Even among newer eastern European members, Britain's Conservatives are losing allies. Understandably, rightwing nationalists take offence when their compatriots are treated as benefit tourists and scroungers. Cameron's strategy therefore cannot work. He may believe that his own powers of persuasion can overcome decades of history; his rebellious MPs – especially after a Ukip kicking – may not agree. He therefore can't deliver the UK referendum he wants. And voters will be spared a Hobson's choice, with the option of coming out of Europe with the loss of investment and jobs that would entail, or staying in but with key rights such as paid holidays, gender equality and protection for agency workers stripped away. The EU is far from perfect. "Social" has too often taken a back seat to "market" in recent years. The eurozone crisis has imposed unnecessary pain across its periphery. Only union campaigning has forced a rethink of a trans-Atlantic trade treaty that would give multinationals the power to trump democracy – a real threat to sovereignty. But while an isolated UK cut off from the EU may be able to pass any national laws it wants, at a time when the problems we face – from unaccountable tax dodging multinationals to the environmental crisis – are global, we need to do more than shake a little Britain stick at them. theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds |
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