Europe

Apart from a few years in the middle-east, I've lived my whole life in europe; the great majority in britain. I am a european, both from conviction and pragmatism. Europe, of which the uk remains a part, is helping forge a new way forward for the world. It is a lighthouse of how old enemies can become not just new allies, but so closely bound and integrated that their future prosperity depends on them hanging ever closer together. At its best, europe brings real benefits from bigger and freer flowing markets, economies of scale, the circulation of best practice and safety in numbers. I have written a lot about europe, mainly in my guise of new europe, and you can read it all here. Watch the clip, by oscar-winning producer alice doyard

from dayton to brussels (January 2007)

Peace-building has turned to state-building, or, more precisely, to Member State building - because as much as ending the Bosnian war was an American affair, rebuilding the country has been a European one...

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stability, security and growth (April 2004)

Everyone knows the adage about a camel being a racehorse designed by a committee, but a look at how far Europe has come in a few short decades shows that everything is possible...

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flagging (May 2004)

From its inception until today, the single most important word in the EU lexicon has been Germany...

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save democracy: abolish elections ! (June 2004)

Ministers are forced to engage in Europe, to see it close up and see how it works, to shape its habits, to understand and even explain it. They are forced to find workable solutions...

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passport to citizenship (July 2004)

Unlike normal societies which slowly evolve concepts and finally carve them in law, the EU first creates a legal basis, and then tries to build something on it...

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taking a little constitutional (September 2004)

As for London, no-one wants the single market's powerhouse to leave the EU, nor does the UK want to leave - but sometimes you just have to make a choice...

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the wages of sin (November 2004)

One day your bags are packed and six lucrative part-time City directorships and a Dukedom await you, and the next you're back around a Brussels table discussing the 6th amendment to Paragraph 4 of Annex 2 of the Competition in the Markets for Telecommunications Services Directive. Again.

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the new jews (October 2004)

High up on a climbing frame with young son, a large and rather strange winged insect lands nearby. Despite the greatest respect for life of all kinds, the first instinct is to kill it...

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the toblerones of brussels (December 2004)

A new Directive is being finalised in conference chamber 69b-4 on floor 1.2 of one of those drab buildings which give the impression that some time in the sixties the Russians conquered Belgium and no-one noticed...

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the big softie (March 2005)

"Soft power" is actually a very powerful doctrine, representing far more than a cut-price way to win friends and influence people. The EU is the world's largest deployer of trade, aid, culture, ideas and international law...

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