Europe must maintain strong nation states

The Economist reflects on how the European project could achieve democratic legitimation. Not by more federalism, it argues, but by a stronger role for the nation state: "There is no European demos and, across 27 member-states, there will never be. For example, centre-right parties in France are far warier of free trade than the Swedish centre-left. When it comes to views of America or Russia, mainstream voters in Greece or Cyprus have little in common with mainstream voters in Poland or Britain. Passing treaties by pan-European majority votes would be a swift way to break up the EU; what country could tolerate having a treaty imposed on it, if its own citizens had rejected it by a clear margin? ... Ireland shows that most voters do not understand the EU, and do not really want to. What they do understand is national politics, and care about who wins national elections. So the only coherent answer to disenchantment with the EU lies in preserving a leading role for national governments and parliaments. ... That is not all roses—national politicians are to blame for some of the EU's worst failures (such as fisheries). But the EU's best hope of enjoying democratic support for its extravagantly complex workings is a devolved form of consent, channelled through national representatives. ... Anything else is neither sane, nor sensible."

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