The Trouble with Europe

After the carnage of two world wars, and the polarization of the globe between the emergent superpowers, Europe's leaders had a noble dream of founding a new union that would contain its members destructive tendencies, but also act as a beacon of free trade, human rights and cooperation. As this or [...]
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After the carnage of two world wars, and the polarization of the globe between the emergent superpowers, Europe's leaders had a noble dream of founding a new union that would contain its members destructive tendencies, but also act as a beacon of free trade, human rights and cooperation. As this organization attracted new countries, including Britain in the 1970s, the European Economic Community eventually became the European Union, and a seemingly inevitable march toward a federal super-state began, culminating in the creation of the totemic, but economically suspect single currency: the euro. Now Europe stands at a crossroads. Does it choose full political integration, with the lives of over 300 million people affected directly by the once reluctant Germany, or does it fragment as so many polls suggest increasing numbers of its citizens (particularly the British) would prefer - could national economies even survive this? Or perhaps there is another way. Roger Bootle turns his masterly gaze to the defining political question of our era - one which affects not just Britain or Europe, but the whole world.