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The Madrid bombings are a monstrous assault on European democracy. The time has come to unite against the totalitarianism of terror, writes Denis MacShane

Denis MacShane
Thursday March 11, 2004
The Guardian

· "No pasaran" was the message of those defending ballot-box democracy during the Spanish civil war. As the full horror of the Madrid atrocity unfolds, surely the time has come to unite against terrorism - the new fascism of the 21st century, wherever it takes place. On Sunday, millions of Spaniards will vote freely to chose a government. Today we see a monstrous assault on European democracy and all of Europe must stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Spain as they find themselves in the front line against the evil of world terrorism.

I learnt my Spanish in San Sebastian - Donastia in the Basque language - and ETA and their political front party have only marginal support. The PNV Basque party gathers in Basque support, and the Basque country has more autonomy and more support for the Basque language, culture and identity than any comparative region in Europe. At time of writing we do not know who is responsible. But the culture of terrorism, whether in Europe, in the Middle East, in Iraq and Kashmir, in Colombia or Russia is now a common threat to any notion of democracy and progress. Those who find ways of justifying terrorism, who can talk of understanding the motives of terrorist actions, need to think hard and think differently. No progress in human affairs will ever be built on the blood of innocent people. Today, we are all Spanish.

I get a text early in the morning from Madrid from a young socialist woman who worked for me as a parliamentary assistant. It recounts the early news of horror. She signs off with "many kisses of democracy", and I know the great heart of the Spanish people, with the help of all their friends in Britain and Europe, will not be cowed by this assault. Democracy will win and the new totalitarianism of terrorism will not pass.

· Sweden is slowly picking up the pieces after the shock of Anna Lindh's murder and the no vote in the euro referendum last year. I like the Swedes. Friendly, clear-headed, and the most perfect bastion of the application of 18th century rationality to solving economic and social problems. Quintin Hogg is reputed to moaned "why must it always be Sweden?" when the Tories were looking for new ideas to keep alive the Macmillan government in the early 1960s. But the Swedes usually are there, just ahead of the rest of us. Their social democracy is built on solid economic foundations. If in the year 1900 you invested £100 in the City, Wall St, the Paris Bourse, or the Stockholm Stock Exchange, your money would have grown fastest in Sweden. In 1945, the Swedish trade unions uprooted communist militants from their trade unions and forged a pact with the Social Democratic Party that allowed the long era of centre-left rule to begin.

In the 1980s, I organised a Europe-wide campaign for a 35-hour week in the metal industries. The Swedish unions refused to participate saying a narrow focus on the working week was wrong and what counted was holidays and time for family life. They were right and I was wrong. I think of this as officials in Brussels and some MEPs want to punish the EU's number one job-creating economy - that's us in the UK - by enforcing rigid work-time rules.

· As Stockholm settles under the whitest of snow I have dinner with three MPs. One is a Social Democratic woman who has just had a baby and will quit parliament. She is 33 and has been an MP for 10 years. Then there is an energetic Green MP. He is just 21! I ask if he has been to university and he shakes his head. I am all for yoof but am glad I had the chance to enjoy my 20s and 30s without the duties and pressures of parliamentary politics.

· More snow in Venice - yes, the onerous task of being Europe minister takes one into the worst corners of Europe. I watch Japanese tourists shivering in snow-laden gondolas. At the conference I am addressing I hear the European Central Bank president, Jean-Claude Trichet, ask a good question. Why in the US is the glass always half-full, while in Europe the glass is always half-empty? We talk ourselves down permanently. The negative cynicism of the Rothermere press can be discounted. The Rothermere papers supported appeasement and isolationism in the 1930s and have not changed. But the cities of Europe I visit are bustling. Nine out of 10 Europeans have jobs, often well-paid. Freedom, democracy and rule of law now cover 450 million people, with more queuing to join. European soldiers promote stability in Africa, Asia, the greater Middle East and most recently, Haiti. I would love to earn enough to own a BMW or the other great products Europe produces, or to travel and stay in the world's greatest scenery and culture. But every time I open our papers I read stories about Europe which present gloom, doom and nothing but misery. Come off it!

· A change of government in Greece. Pasok friends knew it was coming after two decades of rule. The New Democracy government is signed up for the EU constitution and the first interview I see given by the new Greek PM is to Die Welt in which he reaffirms Greek's new positive relationship with Turkey. I hope my friend in the Spanish socialists does well in the election on Sunday. But if the ruling PP party wins, the centre-right government in Madrid will remain fully engaged in the EU project. Contrast this to our own Conservatives. Michael Howard said in Berlin last month that the Tories were still saying "never" to the euro - the currency used in all other major EU nations governed by the centre-right. He also said the UK would quit the common fisheries policy. You cannot do that without leaving the EU. No wonder continental Conservatives wonder when their British comrades will grow up on Europe.

· The debate on Europe and Islam continues. In Turkey, the religious affairs ministry has sent out instruction to all mosques that the Friday sermon last week was to support women's rights. This Friday, imams have been told to preach against honour killings. The sermons themselves will be preached in Turkish. Mosques in Turkey are being pulled in behind the Turkish government's reform programme. It shows how faith and secular democracy can be mutually supportive. No religion can expect to replace or be superior to the democratic state.

· Switzerland is not part of the EU, but has to adapt all its laws to be Europe-compatible. A visit to Bern and Geneva confirms that these cities are becoming more and more normal European cities. Switzerland is losing its status as a Sonderfall (a special case) and is slowly and sometime painfully coming to terms with the existence of an EU which decides major policy issues on a united basis. The Swiss have a saying that "what is not forbidden is compulsory", and although a beacon of Alpine democracy and freedom throughout the ages, the real success story of modern Switzerland is about a very highly ordered economy and society. The country matters greatly to Britain. There are 400 Swiss firms in Britain employing 100,000 people. In-sourcing is very important to the UK economy and the last thing we need is to give the impression we want to slow down the movement of capital and investment that so benefits our economy. We export more to Switzerland than to Italy, Spain or Sweden - or for that matter to Hong Kong or India.

· The old stereotype about women being marginalised in Swiss politics is out of date. I have a long talk with Micheline Calmey Rey, the Swiss foreign minister. She is a socialist from Geneva and is organising a gathering of women foreign ministers for the start of the annual UN human rights conference in Geneva later this month. Micheline had just returned from a trip to Africa. I told her about Tony Blair's new initiative to make the shocking poverty and health disaster of much of Africa a key theme for Britain's presidency of the European council and the G8 next year. She is keen to cooperate.

· On the train from Berne to Geneva I read a new book by one of the editors of the main Swiss French newspaper, Le Temps. Joelle Kuntz's essays on the role of frontiers in the modern world, both inside and between nations, take me into new thinking about how Europe needs to redefine itself. I hope an English publisher is found soon. If I have time, I try and drop into a bookshop in any European city I am visiting. Even when I don't know the language, it is fascinating to see what books are being sold and what is being translated from English. Harry Potter and Michael Moore are everywhere. But we do not seem to repay the compliment. It would be good to start with Joelle Kuntz's book.

· Denis MacShane is minister for Europe and MP for Rotherham