European Movement UK

Britain's future is with Europe! Join the debate and put your opinion forward!

Can we make sense of the UK immigration debate?

January 13, 2014

by Vicky Pryce, economist and former Joint Head of the Government’s Economic Service./// If the recent debate is anything to go by, it seems that immigration will be the main political issue in the UK in 2014. Not only will it be the topic on which the European elections will be fought in May but… » read more

Posted by European Movement UK

Observer status is redundant. Scotland’s future is at the heart of Europe.

January 12, 2014

Toni Giugliano, SNP candidate in the 2014 EP elections/// This year, 2014, will be momentous for Scotland. It will be not only about Scotland’s future in the UK, but also about Scotland’s place in the world. It’ll be a choice between a UK increasingly marginalised at the European fringes and an independent Scotland working constructively… » read more

Posted by European Movement UK

2014 will be a decisive year for Britain and Europe.

January 3, 2014

by the Rt Hon Charles Kennedy MP for Ross, Skye & Lochaber, President of the European Movement UK /// Locally, nationally and at the EU level 2014 is going to be a decisive one – not just for us pro-Europeans but for Scotland, the UK and the European Union as a whole. It is going… » read more

Posted by European Movement UK

Britain and the EU

A Common Security and Defence Policy is in the interest of Britain and the EU as a whole

December 30, 2013

by Professor Anthony Glees, Director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham /// On 19 and 20 December EU heads of government and high EU officials will meet to consider, in particular, the future direction of the European Union’s Common Security and Defence Policy, the CSDP. No one knows… » read more

Posted by European Movement UK

Britain and the EU, Security

For Scotland, membership of the EU matters.

November 29, 2013

by David Clarke, member of the European Movement in Scotland committee. /// Anti-Europeans would have us all believe that the European Union is the source of all our ills and that more and more people in the UK simply want us to leave. But scratch below the surface and you find that attitudes towards the… » read more

Posted by European Movement UK

European Movement UK

Britain's future is with Europe! Join the debate and put your opinion forward!

The origins of the European Movement

The origins of the European Movement lie in the aftermath of the Second World War. More than eight hundred delegates from across Europe gathered in The Hague in May 1948, under the chairmanship of Sir Winston Churchill, to create a new international movement to unite Europe and prevent further wars between its members. The British section of the European Movement was founded a year later.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the European Movement put forward the arguments for joining the European Economic Community, and it ran a major campaign in the early 1970s, both among the general public and in parliament, to win the battle for entry. In 1975, during the referendum on membership, the European Movement played a central role in the YES campaign. Other campaigns since then have included pressing for direct elections to the European Parliament in the 1970s and promoting the benefits of the single market in the run-up to 1992.

During the 1990s, the organisation became revitalised around the need to create a new national pro-European coalition. The rise in anti-European feeling threatens to undermine Britain's place in the European Union; our exclusion from the first wave of countries joining the euro is an example of how we lose out when the pro-European case is not put strongly enough in public.

Aims and activities

The European Movement is

- A rallying point: The European Movement rallies all those who believe that European unity is vital where the peoples of Europe have interests in common such as increased trade to improve economic prosperity, an improved environment to tackle climate change, and action to combat global poverty. A politically united Europe is needed to sweep aside the petty tribalism that has historically, at the very least, been an obstacle to progress or, at its worst, has led to bitter conflict and a catastrophic loss of human life. Europe must be united as a region of law, justice and democracy, equipped with the institutions capable of achieving these ends. Members receive a regular newsletter, euromove, with information and news about Pro-European developments. In addition, the office publishes updates on campaign ideas and issues an e-mail newsletter, e-News. Members take part in lively discussions in person and online, and the European Movement maintains an informative website.

- A campaign: The Movement has since its creation in 1948 sought to build and maintain public support for the unity of Europe. In the face of a backward-looking nationalist resurgence in some quarters, this role is as vital as ever. The campaigns include public information points, working with the media, and lobbying MPs and other decision-makers. In addition to the work of the London office, the branches and national councils organise campaign activities in their own areas, as well as political discussions and social events for members.

- A pressure group: The creation of the European Union has been an extraordinary achievement - democratic, sovereign states have created a common institutional framework in order to forge a future together based on the rule of law. But the European Movement is not the Union's information service or an apologist for its weaknesses. It must work to win support for the reforms necessary to improve its ability to meet the hopes and aspirations of its peoples.

Contact

Southbank House, Black Prince Road, London W3 7NS

www.euromove.org.uk

emoffice@euromove.org.uk

Tel: 0203 176 0543

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