Britain, Ireland, And Europe

An edited version of the Irish Business and Employers Confederation Annual Lecture, delivered in Dublin on 22 May 2013 by David Miliband.

David Miliband is a former British foreign secretary (2007-2010) and will become President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee in September 2013.

The sad truth is that the euro crisis has provided fodder for federalists and skeptics, who form a strange alliance in arguing that the euro would work only within a full-fledged federal union. The difference between them is that the federalists want it to happen but fear that it will not, while the skeptics do not want it to happen but fear that it will.

In fact, neither is an adequate response to the crisis. Federalism neglects the foundations of political legitimacy in the nation-state. Skepticism neglects the power of shared sovereignty on key issues. The EU needs both the legitimacy that comes from one vote per country, and the efficiency that comes from qualified majority voting. It isn’t neat, but it is necessary.

The political writer Timothy Garton Ash has described a “dysfunctional triangle” of national politics that is enduringly strong, European policies that seem remote, and global markets that are demanding and fickle. It is a powerful analysis. The answer is not less Europe, more Europe, or no Europe; it is a different Europe.