European Parliament tie-up complicates Cameron's reform push
By Kylie MacLellan
LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives have voted to align themselves with two nationalist right-wing parties in the European Parliament, a move that risks alienating allies Cameron needs if he is to win back powers from Brussels.
Cameron has pledged to try to renegotiate Britain's EU relationship if re-elected in a national vote next year, ahead of giving Britons an in/out referendum on membership by 2017.
But his reform drive has so far won only limited backing across Europe. Teaming up with parties that some mainstream politicians and officials whom he needs on side view as unsavoury could make it harder for him to achieve his aims.
The European Conservatives and Reformists group, set up by Cameron in 2009, voted on Wednesday to accept five new parties including the anti-immigration Danish People's Party (DPP) and the right-wing nationalist Finns party from Finland.
Political parties in the European Parliament are in the process of forming groups with other parties following last month's European elections. Such alliances unlock funding and influence, opening the way to secure top seats on committees.
"The risk is that it is going to make it more difficult to get concessions out of the (European) Commission and the (European) Council in terms of Britain's reform agenda," said Stephen Tindale, an associate fellow at The Centre for European Reform think tank.
"His MEPs (European lawmakers) are in alliance with some pretty unpleasant characters and that is going to make it more difficult to have a constructive conversation...Conservative MEPs are going to have to be taking a very hard line on issues like free movement".
For both the DPP and the Finns, becoming members of the ECR gives them a degree of respectability. Both were previously allied to the UK Independence Party in a rightwing, anti-EU group in the parliament.
Conservative leader in the European Parliament, Syed Kamall, said the DPP was on a "political journey".
"It now has a policy of controlled immigration and disagrees with those on the Left who would allow uncontrolled immigration and benefit tourism. There is a clear distinction...between a party that wants to control immigration and one that seeks to demonize immigrants. The DPP is the former," he said.
Mats Persson, Director of Open Europe, a think tank in London, said that while the DPP and Finns were not as far to the right as parties such as France's Front National, the decision still involved a trade-off.
"You are part of a bigger group in the European Parliament that can exert pressure on the mainstream groups and you can strengthen your influence, but image matters and it doesn't look great," he said. "Some of the more liberal parties naturally see the DPP and the Finns as opponents. It is image versus numbers."
To be recognised, a group must hold at least 25 seats in parliament from seven or more EU member states.
With the addition of the DPP and the Finns, the ECR will have at least 55 seats in parliament from 12 countries, making it the fourth largest group, behind the centre-right European People's Party, the centre-left Socialists and the ALDE Liberal alliance.
A decision on whether to accept Germany's anti-euro AfD into the ECR will be taken next week. That could cause more trouble for Cameron, who does not want to aggravate German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a time when he is trying to negotiate with her over who becomes the next European Commission president.
"It is fair to say if the Tories were to join with AfD of course that would be really awkward for Cameron with respect to his relationship with Merkel," said Persson.
(Additional reporting by Luke Baker; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Angus MacSwan)
