The European ‘Goal’ and the Popular Press

Abstract

In the early summer of 1996, as the Inter-Governmental Conference in Florence approached, nothing was further from the minds of the majority of British journalists than the goal of European unity. With the BSE crisis at its height, Tory politicians and the right-wing press were voicing grave misgivings about Britain’s future in Europe, while Eurosceptics clamoured for withdrawal. The goal of harmony, understanding and close co-operation within Europe fell victim to scientific and governmental uncertainty over BSE, submerged in a confusion of economic threats, vested interests and consumer anxiety. John Major and his ministers were obstructing progress in Europe by widespread recourse to the veto in an effort to save the British beef industry, and the dominant Tory rhetoric, reflected in the columns of the press, was overtly anti-European. As the European Cup football matches got under way, and English expectations rose with successive victories, the tabloids were rapidly carried away by a wave of patriotic fervour. Spurred on by intense rivalry, they seemed to be vying to outdo one another in blatant chauvinism and crude stereotyping of Dutch, Spanish and German opponents in turn. Eagerness for the English football goal became more immediate and emotionally compelling than the possibly noble but elusive European ‘goal’, and anti-European crusading in the press intensified to an extraordinary degree.