A group of academics, commissioned by France and Germany to explore future EU reforms, has proposed a multi-tiered membership system for the European Union.
The proposal, which includes an “EU lite” category for countries like the UK, has emerged as the EU considers expanding from 27 to 36 members due to the Ukraine crisis.
To prepare for this potential wave of new members, France and Germany have presented a report calling for extensive reforms within the EU institutions, aimed at streamlining the organisation’s operations. These reforms are intended to be in place by 2030, to accommodate new entrants such as Ukraine.
Among the ideas put forward by the working group of academics and lawyers is the concept of differentiated memberships. This would create an inner circle of countries with deep integration in key areas like the Eurozone and Schengen area, while the outer circle would allow for political cooperation without the binding constraints of EU law. It is this latter circle that has drawn significant attention and, notably, echoes of past arguments.
Prominent Brexit advocate and former Member of the European Parliament, Daniel Hannan, has noted the striking similarity between this proposal and ideas he had previously advanced. Mr Hannan, in response to the proposal, highlighted the resonance with his 2016 book “Why Vote Leave,” which extolled the virtues of territories like Switzerland and Guernsey that maintained access to the single market without full EU membership.
Mr Hannan wrote in The Telegraph: “That book spent the referendum campaign in Amazon, Sunday Times, and WH Smith bestseller lists. No one then thought the notion of returning to a common market outrageous.”
Intriguingly, Hannan is not alone in his sentiments. He points to Martin Durkin’s film “Brexit: The Movie,” which celebrated Switzerland’s position in the European landscape as enviable. Moreover, he cited former British Foreign Secretary David Owen’s 2012 book, “Europe Restructured,” which envisaged a political union within a broader pan-European market.
Mr Hannan quoted Owen’s plan, saying: “All countries should remain full members of a single market… Such a grouping of 32 or more states could be called the European Community.”
Lord Owen’s vision, according to Mr Hannan, would have found acceptance among a significant portion of the UK population. It envisioned trade without political integration, a stance once embraced by figures like Peter Shore, Enoch Powell, and even Margaret Thatcher, all of whom advocated for a European Free Trade Association (EFTA)-style arrangement.
However, the Brexiteer also acknowledged that the landscape has shifted since those days. Factors like the late and somewhat hesitant support for Brexit by former Prime Minister Theresa May, along with European leaders’ determination to make Brexit painful, have contributed to the hardening of attitudes on all sides.
The UK’s culture wars have further exacerbated this polarisation, causing many to prioritise their emotions over policy details. Mr Hannan argued: “Culture wars foster negative polarisation. People start to care less about the details of policy than about socking it to the other side.”
