Jacques Delors called for Britain to be given a 'privileged partnership' with the EU: participation in the single market, but not the common political structures. Now the Union of European Federalists have called for 'associate membership', again envisaged as a kind of amplified trade deal.
In both cases, the motive is uncomplicated: supporters of a United States of Europe know that they can't fulfil that objective while Britain has a veto. They therefore propose to give Britain a looser form of association, which would see that veto power disappear. In principle, the idea is an excellent one. You'd expect me to say that, of course: I've been proposing precisely such a trade-off for years. As always, though, it's the details that count. One part of the settlement is easy enough. Britain would lose its Commissioners and MEPs and would, in return, repatriate non-economic matters: foreign affairs, criminal justice, immigration, fisheries and so on. (...)
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