What Kind of Renegotiation with the EU does Britain Want?

Abstract

In the previous chapter I have set out to demonstrate that the Eurocentric foreign policy pursued by the UK in the post-war period has been bad for Britain and not particularly good for our continental colleagues. We have been an unhappy partner. Many on the continent have seen us as a sheet anchor, dragging the ship of European integration backwards, or trying to slow it down as often as possible. Some people in Britain have grown impatient with the government’s indecision over Europe because they wish to join more wholeheartedly in the schemes of European union and integration. Many others have grown despondent, seeing successive administrations claiming that all we want is a glorified free trade area, but being dragged ineluctably into something much bigger and deeper.