The UK is not going to leave the European Union. Of course not.

British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg: The UK is not going to leave the European Union. Of course not. We are inextricably wound up with Europe. In terms of culture, history and geography, we are a European nation.

SPIEGEL: Does your euroskeptic coalition partner, Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative party, agree with that?

Clegg: Of course. The Conservatives don't believe in leaving the European Union.

SPIEGEL: But the electorate does. Polls indicate that a clear majority would vote in favor of leaving the EU, if there was a referendum.

Clegg: Opinion polls across the EU -- in the Netherlands and in the south (of Europe) -- are showing a growing disenchantment with the EU as a whole. The UK is by far not alone in this regard. We are losing faith in the EU and its institutions -- for understandable reasons, considering the economic problems we face. But that doesn't mean that it makes sense to forecast the breakup of the EU as a whole.

SPIEGEL: Isn't that quite elitist? We carry on, regardless what our electorates say?
 
Clegg: Not at all. Far from it.

 Der Spiegel 21 May 2012


Det demokratiska underskottet
Samarbetet i EU bygger på en metod som introducerades av Frankrikes utrikesminister Schuman.
Det fanns dock en konflikt inbyggd i den överstatliga unionen ända från början, och det visste Schuman.
Att begränsa medlemsstaternas suveränitet var ingen liten sak, ens för honom.
Annika Ström Melin, DN 9 maj 2012









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