The Left and the European Constitution

This book examines how left-wing parties are being affected by European integration. It does so by concentrating on the left-wing responses to the Treaty of Lisbon and the European Constitutional Treaty. Both treaties were rocked by No votes in referendums, and left-wing parties played crucial roles [...]
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This book examines how left-wing parties are being affected by European integration. It does so by concentrating on the left-wing responses to the Treaty of Lisbon and the European Constitutional Treaty. Both treaties were rocked by No votes in referendums, and left-wing parties played crucial roles in these. In France, the Socialists and the Greens both had to deal with sharp internal disputes on the issues, while in the Netherlands the Labour Party and the Socialist Party were on opposite sides. The book examines this from a broad left perspective, looking at parties from all three left-wing families - social democrats, left-socialists and left-greens. It contains case-studies of eleven EU member states, and also examines the left in the European Parliament. It provides a unique cross-national, cross-party evaluation of contemporary events. The book shows a steady move amongst all left-wing parties to a more pro-European position. This is most pronounced with the social democrats, but it is also evident among left-greens and left socialists. However, that more pro-European sentiment is offset by considerable disagreement about the current direction of the EU.The increasingly neo-liberal slant of the EU - epitomized by the Laval judgement, the Lisbon Agenda, and the Bolkestein Directive, all of which are discussed in the book - caused extensive disagreement among left-wing parties. Third, the book also shows that politics for left-wing parties remains strongly national in its orientation. It is the national political arena and electorate that dominates their outlook.