Bigger and revitalised, ECR group leader Syed Kamall calls for practical reform of the EU and 'less navel-gazing'.

Interview with Syed Kamall: leader of a growing force?

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/11822936/n003-0298-en.srt

Good morning, Syed Kamall.  Congratulations on your election

as leader of the European  Conservatives and Reformists.

what's going to change in the ECR Group  under your leadership?

Thank you for your kind words  of congratulations.

I think what's exciting about the group  is that we are growing -

we are now the third-largest group  in the European Parliament -

but we will also have a positive agenda.  We have the word 'reformist' in our title

and I want us to be the group that people  look to when it comes to ideas on reform.

You said you've gone up in the rankings  as the third-largest group in the Parliament.

To achieve that, you're brought on board  some populists, some extremists,

in particular from Finland and Denmark.  What did you have in mind there?

Firstly, I don't recognise your description  of them. They are very interesting parties.

I sat down with the Danish People's Party.

I looked them in the eye and I said, 'I see  these stories on the internet about you.'

'It was when we were younger.  We've grown up.'

'I didn't know people  from immigrant communities.'

and our party worries about controlled  immigration, but we're not anti-immigrant.'

The same with the Finns. They said,  'We believe in tackling the issues

on concerns about immigration,  but we're not anti-immigrant.'

If you believe in building a Europe for  the 2050s, you are welcome to our group,

or you're on a journey  to being a mainstream party.

That's what attracts the various parties  in our group together.

Let's talk about the nomination  of the next President of the Commission,

on which David Cameron, your leader,  has found himself pretty well isolated

in his opposition to Jean-Claude Juncker.

What is your take on the way  this nomination has been carried out

in the past four weeks since the elections?

Our criticism of the Spitzenkandidaten  process is two-fold.

Firstly, it's a very tenuous interpretation  of the Lisbon Treaty.

It says the Parliament should be consulted,  not that it should choose

who the next President of the Commission  should be.

Secondly, we're focused  on institutional issues

When I knock on doors, people are worried  about jobs, about growth.

They want to see  a forward, modernised society.

They want better broadband connections.  They want us to tackle social problems.

What are we doing in Brussels?  We're talking about institutional issues.

We're navel-gazing instead of looking at  the challenges of the wider world.

They also talk about the democratic  legitimacy of Europe as a whole.

All the institutions, and Parliament,  the EPP and Socialists in particular,

represents the democratic will of Europe  in these elections. What do you say to that?

I disagree. It does not represent  the democratic will.

If you speak to my friends  in different EU countries -

not all EU countries, but different ones -

they were voting for their local  party or MEP candidates.

They don't know  who Juncker, Schulz, or Verhofstadt are.

Who would you have liked  instead of Jean-Claude Juncker and why?

My main criticism is the process itself,  the Spitzenkandidaten process.

I will have to work with whoever ends up  as the President of the Commission,

so I don't want to look back  as to who else it could have been.

I want to look forward. I've said to my group,  'It's all about looking forward, not back.'

If it does end up with Juncker,  I'll have to work with him.

As long as he has an agenda on reform,  we might find some common ground.

You've mentioned reform many times  in this interview.

Just run through the key reforms  that you want to see put in place

and what in particular  is the timeline for this?

If you look forward, you must think about  the world you're building in the future.

You must look at the world and Europe  facing the challenges of the world

for myself, my children and grandchildren,  looking forward to the 2050s.

Specifically what are...  -One of my problems

is that we are too focused on  institutional navel-gazing.

I want less of the Parliament  flexing its muscles vis-à-vis the Council.

For example, where any of the candidates  talk about a digital single market,

we will be supportive. Where any  of the candidates or the other groups

and making sure that the EU budget doesn't  increase and take more taxpayers' money,

we will be supportive. Where they talk about  more flexible employment laws

to tackle the chronic unemployment  you see mainly in eurozone countries,

we will support that. Where they talk about  finally sorting out the eurozone problem

and getting to grips with it  and the fiscal transfers, we will support that.

We will support meaningful reform that gets  us out of our mess and looks to the future.

Within the year the Conservatives  will go to the polls in the UK

and they need to deliver something  to the people of the United Kingdom

in terms of this reform agenda  you talk about.

or what commitments do you need to have  within, let's say, six to nine months

that David Cameron can take  to the people of Britain?

when people say reform can't be achieved,  we can achieve reform.

For example, when we took Britain  out of the eurozone bailout mechanism,

a lot of our critics said it couldn't be done  and we showed it could be.

When we said we'd get  the first-ever cut to the EU budget,

critics said, 'Not even Margaret Thatcher,  that great defender of British interests,

managed to cut the EU budget.  It can't be done.'

And we did it. So we have delivered  change and reform in the past.

As long as we continue to show  not only our record of reform,

but continue to set the agenda on reform,

that's a positive message  for the British people.

Syed Kamall, many thanks  for this interview.