Abstract
I would like to challenge the three main arguments which have been advanced in recent years in favour of a federal or integrated Europe (I am using ‘federal’ and ‘integrated’ interchangeably). Firstly, is the argument that European integration has prevented war in Europe. Secondly, is the argument that the nation-state and national sovereignty are obsolete, and that supranational federalism is a superior form of governmental institution. And thirdly, is the argument that the European Union is economically successful, so that in John Major’s famous phrase, Britain should be ‘at the heart of it’.1
Lecture at Gresham College, London (1996).
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Notes
See, for example, J. Pinder, European Community: The Building of a Union (Oxford, 1991), Ch. 1.
See William Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (Pan Books, 1964 edition), Ch. 7.
See Martin Holmes, From Single Market to Single Currency: Evaluating Europe’s Economic Experiment (Bruges Group publication 1995, Chapter 5 in this volume).
See Martin Holmes, Beyond Europe: Selected Essays 1989–93 (Nelson & Pollard Publishing, 1993), Chs. 4–6.
See Bill Jamieson, Worlds Apart? (Bruges Group publication, 1995).
For further details, see Ian Milne, Defending British Interests: Jobs, Trade and Investment, Eurofacts Review, December 1995.
See Martin Wolf, The Resistible Appeal of Fortress Europe (Trade Policy Centre, CPS; 1994).
As to how successive Tory governments from Macmillan’s onwards deluded themselves that Britain could lead, shape and change the European Community to suit British interests, see Martin Holmes, The Conservative Party and Europe (Bruges Group publication 1994, Chapter 2 in this volume).
A.J.P. Taylor, English History 1914–45 (Pelican, 1970 edition), p. 727.
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© 2001 Martin Holmes
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Holmes, M. (2001). European Federal Integration: The Case Against (1996). In: European Integration. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230510753_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230510753_8
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