Press

Your correspondent recently had the chance to attend a stimulating conference hosted by the Centre for European Reform. One of the interesting ideas we discussed was the “re-nationalisation of fiscal policy”. In exchange for accepting German plans for a European Monetary Fund, which would only provide emergency lending after private creditors are forced to take large losses, elected governments would have more freedom to tax and spend. Treaty-based deficit rules would be replaced by market discipline.

Confused and divided, Britain no longer has an agreed-upon national narrative, said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform. “In the 2012 Olympics we had one,” he said. “Global Britain, open Britain, generous Britain.” But now there is a competition between that narrative and the nativist one.Mr Grant, like others who have spent their careers watching British and European politics, predicts rough seas for Britain as it casts off nearly 45 years of intimate trade and legal ties with those annoying Europeans.“Everywhere I go,” he said, “people are asking me, ‘What’s wrong with your country?’ ”

The rescue [which saw almost 600 refugees picked up] coincided with the release of a report by a think-tank that examined the EU’s response to migrants crossing the Mediterranean, suggesting that the union was shifting from internal reforms to making deals with countries in Africa and Asia to try to halt the flow of refugees before they even leave their countries of origin or where they leave from to head to Europe. The report, authored by Luigi Scazzieri and John Springford for the Centre for European Reform, says that “the EU’s initial ad hoc response to the migration crisis [has] slowly being formalised into a strategy to curb migration by using foreign policy to prevent migrants from crossing the Mediterranean.

Think-tank boss Charles Grant said that Germany will not let Juncker get away with his “delusional” EU vision, which includes allowing the richer northern Europe to pay for the poorer areas of southern Europe. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced his plans in September for a united European super bloc. Mr Juncker’s plans include taking power away from member states and introducing an overall president. Mr Grant, who is the Director of the Centre for European Reform, told BBC Radio 4: “[Juncker] believes that the Eurozone, in order to survive, needs to federalise.