Geoffrey Pridham - Transnational Party Co-Operation and European Integration: The Process Towards Direct Elections

Transnational Party Co-operation and European Integration

In this book, first published in 1981, the authors trace and analyse the growth of transnational party co-operation and the factors important to it during the years before and immediately following direct elections. They recognise three major dimensions of transnational co-operation: the Euro-parliamentary groups; the new European party federations; and the national party frameworks in the member states. This title will be of interest to academics and students concerned with European affairs.

Transnational Party Co-operation and European Integration

The Process towards Direct Elections

Geoffrey Pridham Pippa Pridham

First published in 1981

by George Allen & Unwin Ltd

This edition first published in 2016 by Routledge

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1981 George Allen & Unwin (Publishers) Ltd

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

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The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact.

A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number: 80041479

ISBN 13: 978-1-138-95720-6 (hbk)

ISBN 13: 978-1-315-66524-5 (ebk)

GEOFFREY PRIDHAM and PIPPA PRIDHAM

First published in 1981

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. All rights are reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act. 1956, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Enquiries should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned address:

GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD

40 Museum Street. London WC1A 1LU

George Allen & Unwin (Publishers) Ltd, 1981

Set in 10 on 11 point Times by Grove Graphics

and printed in Great Britain

by Lowe & Brydone Limited. Thetford. Norfolk.

The idea for this joint study arose from the authors own co-operation in researching and writing two chapters on transnational party co-operation in 1977 for Stanley Henigs Political Parties in the European Community, at a time when this activity was already acquiring a new importance with the prospect of direct elections to the European Parliament. Their combined work on the subject in fact began with this initial survey and continued from then on, although Geoffrey Pridham had for many years previously during the 1970s studied the growth of transnational party co-operation.

The method pursued in researching comprehensively what is, apart from the background history of the Euro-parliamentary groups, a relatively new area of European integration has been to concentrate on extensive lite-level interviews with those involved in transnational party activity which were substantiated by available and relevant documentation from European Community and national party sources. Interviews were conducted both at the European level with MEPs and group secretariats, EP officials and those working for the new party federations and in the national capitals with party leaders, international secretaries and party Euro-experts as well as national party officials and organisers. All the national capitals were visited except for Rome and Dublin, mainly because of time constraints, although this deficiency was in part remedied by invitations to the party federation congresses which proved an ideal location for contacts with party personnel from the various EC countries all at the same time. Much further information and material was gained by continuous and lengthy correspondence with EC and national party contacts during 1978 and 1979.

Our greatest single debt is to the European Commission for providing us with one of their annual research grants in 1977. This financed our many trips abroad which while undoubtedly beneficial to the cause of academic hedonism allowed us the opportunity to tap many fruitful and informative sources, open unexpected doors to further investigation and also make several new friends. Individual thanks must be recorded not only to all those mentioned in the List of Interviews at the end of this book who generously gave us of their time, but also in particular to Michael Palmer and David Millar (also for commenting on , Schelto Patijn and Len Berghoef for making our visit to Holland so worthwhile and, last but not least, the Konnertz family, Fiona Macleod and Carol and Val Herman for their hospitality while working in Bonn, Luxemburg and The Hague respectively. Our main thanks in finishing the book go to Anne Merriman, without whose typing skills this work would have reached production in a much messier form. Although this Preface does not wish to end with a commercial, it has to be acknowledged that this study would have been less bearable at the writing stage without Nescaf and Kenya coffee supplies as well as Hamlet cigars, whose atmospheric effects were countered by the swinging-door relationship between the co-authors in the final months of the work. A final culinary thanks should be given to the staff of the Berkeley caf, while much appreciation is felt for the countryside around Bristol where long rambles helped to clear our minds.