Difference between revisions of "Open Europe"
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+ | In 2014 offshore financier [[Peter de Putron]] and brother-in-law of UK financial services minister [[Andrea Leadsom]] was revealed as a major donor to both the [[Conservative Party]] and Open Europe. Records obtained from a US nonprofit news organisation, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists showed he had given a total of £680,000 to Open Europe. | ||
===Events=== | ===Events=== |
Revision as of 22:24, 16 July 2014
Open Europe is a Eurosceptic think tank which is part of the Stockholm Network and has neoconservative connections.
Contents
Introduction
The European issue has been a defining fault-line for Conservatives for a generation. A not very well known think tank, but arguably a very significant organisation connected to Cameron’s advisers is Open Europe. This think tank focuses on the European Union and is unusual in that it is directly supported by business leaders. ‘Open Europe believes’ says their website ‘that the EU must now embrace radical reform based on economic liberalisation’.[1]What this appears to mean is integrating all EU countries further and faster into the global economy but with a distinct eurosceptic tinge. The Marquess of Salisbury is on the board of this organisation too. Amongst its supporters are John Sainsbury (Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover) who donated to Cameron’s leadership campaign along with fellow donor Peter Gummer.
Origins and History
Open Europe grew out of a collection of broadly euro-sceptic campaign groups that appeared between 1998-2005. The first was Business for Sterling, which was launched by the Labour Cabinet minister (and ex chairman of British Rail) Lord Marsh on 11 June 1998 as a campaign against British integration into the Euro.[2] It had the backing of senior anti-euro business chiefs (Sir Stanley Kalms, Sir Michael Edwardes, Lord Hanson, Sir Rocco Forte) and in September 2000 combined with another anti-euro campaign group New Europe to form the simply-titled “No” campaign.[3] The merge was announced by the launch of a multi-million pound advertising offensive under the strap-line ‘Europe Yes. Euro No’, which was handled by M&C Saatchi.[4] As this slogan suggests, neither New Europe nor Business for Sterling explicitly professed an anti-EU stance; both groups claimed to support the single market, but not integration into a single European currency.[5] In May 2003 - once the perceived threat of the single currency had disappeared - Lord Saatchi backed a new cross-party group, Vote 2004, which was set up to campaign for a referendum on whether to accept the forthcoming findings of the European Convention.[6] Vote 2004 subsequently became Vote No,[7] and was registered as a company Vote No Ltd in May 2004.
This was the milieu of broadly euro-sceptic organisations out of which Open Europe emerged, and from which the think-tank drew its initial staff. In an op-ed in the Financial Times on 18 October 2005, Lord Rodney Leach (who had been chairman of Business for Sterling since its inception) announced that:
This week will see the launch of Open Europe, a UK think-tank that aims to set out a detailed programme of radical reform. It has commissioned leading economists to examine the potential benefits of removing the EU’s trade barriers and reforming the CAP. Their report shows that free trade is not just good for business: it is also a progressive policy.[8]
Writing as the chairman of the soon to be launched Open Europe, Leach argued that there were two imperatives for EU reform: it needed to ‘embrace the painful economic reforms needed to succeed in the 21st century’, and to ‘abandon the historic drive to “ever closer union”’.[9] Two days later, the think-tank launched officially at Bloomberg’s European headquarters in Finsbury Square, London. Leach spoke as chairman of the board of directors, as did Derek Scott (who had been an special advisor to Tony Blair between 1997 and 2003) as deputy chairman.[10] Neil O’Brien, who had up to that point been campaign director of Vote 2004, was appointed as Company Secretary.[11] Lorraine Mullally, who had also been a communications officer at Vote 2004, was appointed as head of research and communications.[12] Paul Stephenson, a researcher at Vote 2004, was employed as a researcher, as was Tom Boal, who had previously worked for the “No” campaign.[13]
Open Europe was incorporated as a UK company on 25 July 2005. Its website was registered on 11 July 2005. [14] It is hosted under the same IP address (212.113.23.102) which hosts the websites of Nick Herbert MP (CEO of Business for Sterling between 1998 and 2000, founder of the No Campaign, and former Director of Reform [15]), Theos, and Policy Exchange.[16]
As of July 2006, the board of Open Europe was comprised of the following people[17]:
Meg Allen - Chairman, DRAMLA SA
John Barton - Chairman, Wellington Underwriting Plc
Rupert Hambro - Chairman, JO Hambro Ltd
Sir John Jennings - Former chairman, Shell Transport & Trading Plc
Lord Rodney Leach of Fairford (Chairman) - Director, Matheson & Co
Lizzie Noel - Director of Comms, Tribal Group Plc
David Ord - Managing Director, the Bristol Port Company
Lord Renwick of Clifton - Vice Chairman of Investment Banking, JP Morgan Europe
Lord Salisbury - Director, Gascoyne Holdings Ltd
Derek Scott (Deputy Chairman) - Economics Advisor to Tony Blair, 1997-2003
Nigel Smith - Former Chairman, the ‘No’ Campaign
Michael Spencer - CEO, ICAP Plc
Stuart Wheeler - Founder, IG Group Plc
Sir Brian Williamson - Senior Advisor, Fleming Family and Partners
Simon Wolfson - CEO, Next Plc
Examples of influence
On 5 December 2011, Open Europe published a briefing, Continental Shift: Safeguarding the UK’s financial trade in a changing Europe,[18] which Ed Conway, economics editor of Sky News, said "seems to have influenced and informed the Prime Minister's position negotiating in Brussels".[19] The Open Europe Blog suggested UK Prime Minister David Cameron "Insert a political declaration in the summit conclusions tomorrow that calls for concrete measures to protect non-euro member states' economic interests; 2) Work out concrete protocol language amounting to a UK safeguard over EU financial services".[20] The first had already been detailed in a "secret Foreign Office diplomatic note";[21] the second, not published as of 14 December 2011, corresponds to the "specific protocol on financial services" mentioned by EU President Barroso that resulted in the remaining 26 countries of the EU "moving ahead [on a fiscal compact] without UK’s participation". Prior to this outcome, some commentators had suggested Cameron might succeed, and satisfy Conservative MPs: "the sceptical think tank Open Europe has argued for a protocol for the single market where Britain's influence over financial services laws could be safeguarded, particularly against decisions taken by the eurozone that will impact on all 27 EU countries. As a text contained within a formal protocol, this would have some legal basis."[22]
Stockholm Network
Open Europe, like both Politeia and the Policy Exchange, is a member of the Stockholm Network of free market think tanks whose membership also includes the stalwarts of the free market right from the early stages of the neo-liberal revolution such as the Institute of Economic Affairs, the Adam Smith Institute, the Centre for Policy Studies and the Social Affairs Unit (of a total of 19 UK member organisations).[23]
The Stockholm Network is the ‘main liaison channel’ for free market European think tanks. It was founded in September 1997 and claims to bring together over 120 think tanks from across Europe.[24]The member groups are primarily ‘dogmatic free-marketeers who want to introduce minimalist "flat taxes" (thus ending redistribution via taxation), terminate social protection systems and privatise healthcare. They attack socially or environmentally progressive legislation, which is in place or under discussion, and that places restrictions on market activity. For example, these think tanks consistently cast doubt on the seriousness of climate change, oppose environmental regulations and promote free-market pseudo-solutions to virtually every problem.'[25]
The Stockholm Network links also to the network of right wing think tanks in the US. It has close links with the Heritage Foundation, which ‘frequently’ sends staff to Europe and has ‘worked closely with five like-minded European think tanks to produce and launch a European edition of their Index of Economic Freedom, which ranks countries according to criteria like tax reduction and deregulation policies.’[26]
Neocon connections
Funding
The 2006 accounts of the right-wing American Smith Richardson Foundation describe a $176,000 grant given to Open Europe's then Director Neil O'Brien to research and write a book on the EU for the Policy Forum on International Security Affairs. The project was titled Reforming the E.U. for the 21st Century: Roadmaps for Reform and described as follows:
Neil O’Brien will research and write a book exploring the future of the European Union. He will commission public opinion research, conduct interviews with leading European officials, and convene a series of meetings in order to develop a roadmap for reform of the European Union.[27]
As of July 2009 the book does not so far appear to have been published, although Open Europe did arrange a seminar called 'Reforming the EU for the 21st century' on 14 May 2009 at the Europaforum in Hässleholm. The speakers at the seminar were Mats Persson and Lorraine Mullally from Open Europe and Bruno Waterfield the EU correspondent for the Daily Telegraph. [28]
The 2007 accounts of the Policy Forum on International Security Affairs reveal that the forum provided a grant of $78,080 to Open Europe that year. [29] The accounts provide no further details of the purpose of the grant.
The obscure conservative foundation the Institute for Policy Research has also funded Open Europe repeatedly. Full details from Charity Commission filings are in the table below.
Funding agency[30] | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | Total 2005-2013 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Institute for Policy Research | 70,000 | 95,346 | 127,000 | 181,500 | 105,000 | 143,000 | 113,000 | 300,000 | 201,000 | 1,335,846 |
The Sir John Ritblat Family Foundation | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | ? | 1,000 |
In 2014 offshore financier Peter de Putron and brother-in-law of UK financial services minister Andrea Leadsom was revealed as a major donor to both the Conservative Party and Open Europe. Records obtained from a US nonprofit news organisation, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists showed he had given a total of £680,000 to Open Europe.
Events
On 22 May 2007 Open Europe co-hosted an event at the House of Commons with the International Media Intelligence Analysis called 'Iran, Britain and Europe: Post hostage crisis, what can we expect next?'. The event included presentations by Claude Moniquet, the Director of the European Strategic and Intelligence Center and Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Non-proliferation at the State Department.
Fitzpatrick said that Iran was looking to develop longer range missiles capable of reaching western Europe and that Israel “has real reason to see an Iranian nuclear capability as an existential threat”. Moniquet said that there was a danger of terrorist attacks in Europe if military action is taken against Iran, saying that “Iran was a terrorist state for 23 years. We have no proof this has changed. Iran is working hard to organise terror in Europe,” targeting the UK in particular. [31]
On 9 October 2007 Open Europe hosted a debate on the Galileo European Satellite System. One speaker at the debate was Peter Brookes of the Heritage Foundation. According to Open Europe's account of the speech Brookes said that some in the US are alarmed about the military aspects of the Galileo and saw the push for the system as symptomatic of some in Europe that are pushing Europe to pursue its own security and defence identity, separate from the US and NATO. He said: “It could be argued that the militarisation of the EU – Galileo being part of that – marks one of the greatest geo-political shifts in the transatlantic alliance since the second world war. In the eyes of some the ESDP [European Security and Defense Policy] embodies some of the worst elements of European animosity towards the United States.” [32]
People
Contact
- 7 Tufton Street, London
Resources
- Open Europe 2005-2007Board Accessed 22 Aug 2007
- Open Europe 2005-2007Supporters Accessed 22 Aug 2007
References
- ↑ Open Europe About Us, accessed 25 February 2009
- ↑ Colin Brown, ‘Business for Sterling to campaign against euro’, Independent, 11 June 1998. ‘Business for Sterling to campaign against euro’, “Independent”, 11 June 1998.
- ↑ BBC News, 4 September 2000
- ↑ David Cracknell, Anti-euro groups combine to run No campaign, “Telegraph”, 3 September 2000.
- ↑ Robert Evans, “Talking about Money: Public Participation and Expert Knowledge in the Euro Referendum”, University of Cardiff School of Social Sciences Department, Working Paper 31 (November 2002), p. 17.
- ↑ Colin Brown & Francis Elliot, New campaign launched for referendum on EU ‘superstate’, “Telegraph”, 18 May 2003.
- ↑ Steve Richards, 'A campaign with a winning message - and a complete lack of self-confidence', Independent, 19 May 2005
- ↑ Rodney Leach, ‘European reformers must be bold’, “Financial Times”, October 18 2005.
- ↑ Rodney Leach, ‘European reformers must be bold’
- ↑ Open Europe Events, 2005
- ↑ Open Europe Ltd Companies House Appointments, accessed 18 June 2009
- ↑ Lorraine Mullally, LinkedIn
- ↑ Tom Boal, Portland Communications; Paul Stephenson, LinkedIn
- ↑ Open Europe Whois Record, accessed from Domain Tools at 9:35 on 18 June 2009
- ↑ Tom Baldwin, ‘Davis team plan fuels fears over factions’, The Times, 27 October 2001
- ↑ Reverse IP Search, 10:22, 18 June 2009
- ↑ Open Europe Board, July 2006
- ↑ Open Europe press release, "UK Government should use EU Treaty negotiations to secure “emergency brake” on financial laws", 5 December 2011, accessed 14 December 2011; PDF of report
- ↑ Ed Conway, What the PM Really Asked For In Brussels, Sky News, 9 December 2011
- ↑ http://openeuropeblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/what-could-cameron-hope-for.html
- ↑ Bruno Waterfield, Debt crisis: as it happened December 8, 2011, Daily Telegraph, 8 December 2011, accessed 14 December 2011
- ↑ James Landale, PM's EU task: Saving the euro and saving his party, BBC News, 7 December 2011, accessed 14 December 2011
- ↑ See the list of UK members at http://www.stockholm-network.org/network/details.php?id=1, accessed 2 April 2007.
- ↑ http://www.stockholm-network.org
- ↑ Corporate Europe Observatory, "Covert industry funding fuels the expansion of radical rightwing EU think tanks", July 2005. http://www.corporateeurope.org/stockholmnetwork.html
- ↑ Corporate Europe Observatory, 2005.
- ↑ Annual Report 2006, Smith Richardson Foundation, Inc. Accessed 27 December 2008.
- ↑ Europaforum, Hässleholm, Torsdag 14 maj/Thursday, accessed 19 June 2009
- ↑ Policy Forum on International Security Affairs 2007 IRS Form 990, p.3
- ↑ Data compiled from filings at the Charity Commission.
- ↑ 'Iran, Britain and Europe: Post hostage crisis, what can we expect next? - 22 May 2007', Open Europe Events, accessed 19 June 2009
- ↑ 'Galileo - is it worth it? 9 October, 2007', Open Europe Events, accessed 19 June 2009