> Sheridan looks to his left for a place in Europe > =============================== > MURRAY RITCHIE and FRANCES HORSBURGH > > THE Scottish Socialist Party marked Europe Day yesterday by claiming > it was "guaranteed" a seat in the European Parliament under changes > to the electoral system agreed by Tony Blair at the Nice summit. > > Rules likely to be in force for the 2004 Euro-elections, held under > proportional representation, will allow for groups of nations to > provide a common list of candidates. At least five EU states must > take part. > > The change has interested the United Left Group in the European > Parliament whose senior vice-president, Luigi Vinci, an Italian > socialist MEP, led a delegation to Edinburgh this week. The meeting > was organised by Ken Coates, an English former Labour MEP, and Hugh > Kerr, who was also a Labour MEP and is now press officer to Tommy > Sheridan, the SSP leader. > > Like Mr Coates, he was purged by New Labour along with other left- > wingers when Jack Straw introduced the closed list system for > candidates. Scotland has eight Euro-MPs but under changes agreed by > the UK government at Nice the number is likely to be reduced to seven > at the next election. > > But the new rules will also allow for MEPs to be chosen from the > cross-border lists. The United Left Group is moving towards > recognising the SSP as a British force because it sees it as the best > organised socialist party in the UK, Mr Kerr said. He is likely to be > the leading contender for the SSP's nomination. > > Mr Kerr described the initiative as "very exciting" and predicted it > would result in a common European list and maybe even a loose federal > European socialist party. > > Mr Sheridan said the SSP wanted new links with European > socialists. "The SSP stands for an independent Scottish socialist > republic but we are also internationalists. We want to build strong > links with like-minded socialists in Europe and we have agreed to > open, wide-ranging discussions with the United Left Group in the > European Parliament." > > MSPs celebrated Europe Day in parliament yesterday by arguing about > what was the best way for Scotland to relate to the European Union. > > Jack McConnell, the minister for Europe, accused the SNP and the > Tories of "petty nationalism" in their different ways. He claimed a > devolved Scotland was now a strong regional player in Europe but > without being out of Britain as the nationalists wanted. > > The Tory Euro-sceptic way, he argued, would lead piece by piece > towards a Britain outside the European Union. > > FROM THE HERALD, 10 MAY 2001 > > > > > > >
