Yesterday, Fraser wrote that ‘reporting of European issues tends to ignore public opinion’. Today, Philip Stephens has
neatly illustrated Fraser’s point in his Financial Times column. Musing on Britain’s possible exit
from the European Union, Stephens writes:
Stephens’ conjecture ignores the European Union’s own polling, which, as Fraser says, shows most Britons to be hostile to the EU. That said, Stephens’ article is substantial. He argues that ‘fiscal union carries its own remorseless logic: the progressive exclusion of Britain from Europe’s economic decision-making’.‘I am not sure this is what the prime minister intends; nor, when it comes to it, that British voters will accept such an outcome.’
The magnitude of George Osborne’s wish that the 17 eurozone states follow the ‘remorseless logic’ of fiscal union is becoming clearer. Closer union is unlikely to take place without affecting the wider single market.
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