The 2004 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom was held concurrently with the 2004 general election which saw Chris Patten’s Conservatives returned to power with an increased majority. The 2004 European Parliament elections would show the threat the euroskeptic Union party posed to both the British political establishment and continuing membership in the EU. In an ironic twist of fate, Britain would register one of the highest turnouts in Europe for the election, but would also see an influx of euroskeptic MEP’s join Strasbourg partially as a result of his higher turnout. In a breakthrough for the Union party, the party gained significantly in both seat and vote shares. Mirroring the regions which had the most significant share of the vote for “Keep”, Union polled first in the Tory strongholds of the East of England South East England.
An oddity of the European Parliament election saw Union gained significantly more votes than in the general election, largely as a result of the more proportional voting system held for EP elections. Union, in some Tory seats, would endorse euroskeptic candidates like Edward Leigh and David Davis and in battleground seats voters felt more able to choose Union over the established parties with less fears of a spoiler effect. The results would also confirm to both the Tory and Labour party the necessity of FPTP to maintain the duopoly in Westminster, as a change to a more proportional system could see such parties make bigger gains.
Union had an eclectic leader with Zac Goldsmith, who had been elected as an MEP in 1999 as a “Keep UK” MEP. Goldsmith, despite his youth, his rich roots and his relative inexperience was well regarded amongst his fellow MEPs. Coming close to winning the constituency of North East Norfolk in 2000 was the best of both worlds, keeping him as an MEP but ensuring a party profile. Becoming both Union’s lead candidate and then (with Pim Fortuyn), the euroskeptic grouping in Strasbourg’s leader greatly advanced his profile and image.
Whilst Union never came close to knocking off Labour from second position, Union had established itself as a force to be reckoned with. Labour, under new EP leader Lucy Powell, failed to reverse the decline of the party faced by the since 1999 and pointed to the challenges the party faced in the new decade. While the Conservatives did see a significant decline in its vote share, Emma Nicholson the leader of the Conservative grouping, portrayed the results as positive, with the Conservatives maintaining its position as the largest party and (thanks to the way the votes were cast nationally) didn’t see a significant loss in its seat total even as there was a hefty swing against them.
The Alliance, perhaps the most pro-Europe party in the election and with Chris Davies being both the main organiser of the liberal grouping ALDE in Brussels, continued its decline nationally, despite the ALDE doing well across Europe.
The Greens, led via collective responsibility, benefited greatly from Labour’s slump and gained a seat in the North West of England, while holding both its London and South East seat in the process.
On the European level, the two main parties (the European People's Party [EPP] and Party of European Socialists [PES]) saw success. The EPP (or national parties constituting the EPP) winning a clear plurality of both vote and the seats. Success in Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece and the UK buoyed the centre-right governments in such nations. The PES did surprisingly well in the new Eastern Europe states (which participated in these EP elections, rather than had happened with the 1995 tranche) as did the ALDE.
When the dust settled, the results were seen as a vindication of the policies taken by the Kohl Commission, even if not the man himself. Corruption allegation which involved by Kohl personally, stemming from his time as German Chancellor and of his commission had led to his official censure by the European Parliament in 2002 and an attempt to reinstall Kohl as Commission President was seen an non-starter. Avoiding such a scenario meant that long before 2004, it was clear that Kohl would not be serving another term as Commission President.
This vacancy would mean a new candidate was needed to become Commission President. Unlike in 1994 however, the EU had dramatically changed since when the position was last open. With a significant influx of Eastern European states, their was a rebalancing with Europe’s centre moving to the East. Along with such a geographical movement, the influx of new people and cultures had burnt out the Commission and Parliament, with Kohl’s tenure being the most active in European Union history.
Despite the continuing negotiations on drafting a European Constitution, and with the ecuzone being created in January 2005, it seemed as if there was an impulse to slow down and focus on European internal affairs.
With the EPP and PES invigorated by the results of the election, there was a clear majority in favour of a mainstream candidate. The EPP wanted a moderate, and accepted that perhaps there should be another party to have a chance at the job, while the PES pushed hard for one of its own. The new swathe of nations accepted in 2004 played hard-ball, wanting a less europhillic Commission than Kohl’s had been and one from a newer member state, rather than one from a state who had been with the EU from its inception.
What began as a leak from the Patten Government which was only covered in Westminster circles, was the attempt to make Tony Blair, the former Foreign Secretary and soon-to-be candidate for Labour Party leadership, to become the next Commission President. A clearly transparent move (similar to Gordon Brown’s 2000 posting to become IMF chief) to take Blair out of domestic politics, however still had its merits. Blair was naturally charismatic, had a good reputation on the continent and after being out of frontline politics in the last few years seemed low-key enough to be a different style of Commission President than Kohl.
Blair however, would not be interested. During an interview with the BBC’s Political Editor John Pienaar during the Labour leadership election, Blair categorically ruled out that he wanted to become Commission President and that perhaps the “
rumour mill was spinning a bit too fast”.
Candidates included Greece’s Konstantinos Simitis, Spain’s José María Aznar and Sweden’s Göran Persson who were all discussed as a potential candidate for Commission President. However, it would be Gro Harlem Brundtland, the former Norwegian PM who had singlehandedly seen Norway join the EU during the 1994 referendum (before becoming an MEP in 1999) who ticked all the boxes. Moderate, from the PES, from a nominally euroskeptic nation, but who personally had impeccable credentials, credibility and europhillic tendencies, she was an acceptable compromise and was acclaimed as the next European Commission President.