Facing Up to Britain's Europe Problems

Abstract

The European Union is no longer a problem just to British government; it is now a problem to Europe's governors as well. This paper reviews distinctive ways in which the British government has attempted to address these interdependent problems. It also makes recommendations about what it might realistically do, because much of its content is drawn from the author's written submissions to British parliamentary committees on the 2011 EU referendum lock; the need for the British government to develop an EU policy that can be acceptable to other EU member states as well as to Conservative backbenchers; the challenge to foreign policy if Scotland became independent; and the challenge to the EU's capacity of applying rigorous standards when evaluating countries for further enlargement.