Danes and Swedes voted No to the euro, and the Irish voted No to the Nice Treaty.
The Laeken Summit that December took place behind a fortress of razor wire. In that moment of soul searching EU leaders briefly flirted with retreat.
A Convention modelled on Philadelphia in 1787, and partly composed of MPs from national parliaments, would draw up an EU constitution to restore “democratic legitimacy”.
I mention this forgotten episode because what then happened is such a lesson. Insiders hijacked the process. The dissident utterings of nation state champions were quashed in the working groups.
Ambrose 22 May 2019
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