[FR] Westminster in fog

In spring 2008, British MPs were preparing to ratify the Lisbon Treaty. British public opinion, meanwhile, seemed to view the European Union as a constant threat to the country’s economic, political and constitutional interests. How can we explain the intellectual and political stagnation currently engulfing the British debate on Europe? Why such a shift in a country whose political culture is so often praised for its realism?

As a keen observer of British European policy, Peter Sutherland brilliantly traces the genealogy of the misconceptions and electoral calculations that have dominated the debate on Europe for the past 30 years. He examines three areas of particular contention: the euro, the functioning of European institutions and the UK’s role on the world stage. We hope that readers of this essay will join the author in his deep conviction that the British people and their European partners would have much to gain from the UK’s constructive engagement with the EU.