A Doomed Marriage: Britain and Europe

by Daniel Hannan

The European project is in collapse. Far from bringing prosperity and peace, the euro has catalysed an economic crisis and stirred up national antagonisms. We can now see clearly that the intellectual basis of European integration was false. Here is an alternative vision, adumbrated from first a statement of the case for national self-determination and parliamentary supremacy. Daniel Hannan is a committed European. He speaks French and Spanish, has lived and worked all over Europe, and has served in the European Parliament since 1999. He believes that the EU is making its constituent nations poorer, less democratic and less free. It is time to rediscover the virtues that raised Europe to diversity, pluralism, personal freedom, national independence and parliamentary democracy.

Genres: Essays

113 pages, Hardcover

First published August 3, 2012

About the author

British politician, journalist, and author who is a Member of the European Parliament. He is also the Secretary-General of the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (AECR). Hannan advocates localism, and he has written several books arguing for democratic reform. He is also President of the Young Britons' Foundation and a patron of Reading University Conservative Association. He is a Eurosceptic and is strongly critical of European integration. Besides politics, Hannan is a journalist; he has written newspaper leaders, a blog for The Daily Telegraph and currently writes for the online news website and aggregator CapX, and has published several books. Born in Peru, Hannan speaks Spanish and French fluently.

Reviews

[Paul Westwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is essentially the aristocrats argument for Brexit. It is a very well written, intelligent book which presents some strong arguments for Britain leaving the EU. The author draws on many historical and cultural references to lend the air of an academic thesis on why we should leave the EU rather than a bipartisan analysis of the pros and cons of leaving. The author is Oxbridge educated and speaks three languages and this shines through clearly, to the extent that he comes across as pretentious at times. I feel there is an arrogance in quoting a block of text in French and not providing an interpretation. This book was not written for the working class millions in the Brexit heartlands.
He makes some very good points about the lack of democratic structures and the corruption and greed in Brussels but while he's saying this I couldn't shake the thought that this man is a Tory. So many of the things he was criticising the EU for are things his own adopted party are guilty of in the UK.
He also criticises the forced privatisations and austerity by the EU on struggling countries like Greece and once again I was reminded that his own party has been one of the standard bearers for austerity and neoliberal economics for decades.
He makes some very interesting and probably accurate observations about how organisations who receive funding from the EU will then become supporters of the institution in order to maintain their funding. This includes many charities and not for profit organisations and he then compares them to the global corporations in how they lobby Brussels. This is all fair enough if that's what happens but he misses a fundamental point in that charities, even if they are desperate for the EU money, are essentially there to make certain people's lives better in some way while the corporations primary focus is increasing their profits. So lumping them in together is rather disingenuous.
On the contentious issue of immigration and the free movement of people he appears to believe that this is necessary for us to continue trading freely with Europe. This clearly contradicts how Theresa May is going about Brexit as she is pushing for the end to free movement.
So, as a summary, this is very well written and in parts it is very convincing. As someone who voted remain but is not entirely happy with the EU as it is I found it enlightening but it wasn't enough to convince me that leaving is a good thing. The main reason for that is we have one of the most right wing, authoritarian governments in our history and they cannot be trusted to do a deal that will be in the best interests of the majority. As a conceptual piece it's clever but it doesn't cover the messy decisions like what to do with EU nationals in the UK, how to stop the government tearing up our human rights, environmental laws, our civil liberties and selling off the NHS and any other public asset they can get their hands on.
A Brexiteer will probably read it and rejoice that something so erudite is available to backup their argument and yet it couldn't quite do enough to persuade an already skeptical remainer.

[Jamilla Smith-Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure how much this is a take on the ‘Doomed Marriage’ between Britain and the EU, instead a thorough critique of the EU with a few reasons as to why Britain should not be a part of it, but whatever. The Europhilic/pro-Europe take on leaving the EU. Even though I disagree with the stance, it is very well argued by Hannan, and engaging - which is not easy to do with EU trade policy. And this is really about trade policy I think - he makes it clear we absolutely should be collaborating with our neighbours on military and security. Hannan’s point is that we should be engaging with the EU economically and politically in a different way.

It’s interesting that this is written pre-referendum, and pre-referendum even being announced. Even though I may personally disagree, I’ve always argued that the EU is not perfect, and that in a different world maybe Brexit could have worked out better. This has been trickier than normal for me to review, and to gather my thoughts on! But I think it’s a good read no matter your stance on the EU.

[Noa Cohen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting to read from a pre-Brexit eursceptic point of view but I couldn’t review my thoughts properly until we had a deal - if we had gone out with no deal I think I would feel very differently (about this book and stress levels in my life in general).

Hannan makes a decent case for Britain leaving the EU, and in particular focuses on the massive democratic deficit in European governance. I have always thought that the massive hubbub made by ardent Remainers about Brexit being about immigration is an overly simplistic argument which is often made to make themselves feel morally superior (not denying it was a factor, but I don’t like how it’s posited as the only deciding factor). Immigration isn’t mentioned once in this long essay - the case is built around sovereignty, bureaucracy (far too much of it), democracy, and economics.

Ultimately I wish the referendum had gone a different way in 2016 but as it didn’t, this little book did make me somewhat optimistic for the possibility of a more democratic and efficient (not the word I mean but can’t think atm) Britain - but I’m still not sure we’ll get there.

[Darren · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book on a recent visit back home to the UK, having lived outside of the UK for some time it seems crazy to me that the UK would want to leave the EU. I was surprised to learn that some friends vehemently believe we should leave - am i missing something? So i bought this book to give me a better idea of what the arguments were for leaving and read it on the aircraft back. There are good and bad points to this book, much of the evidence within it is anecdotal and opinionated. There are some interesting quotes, one from a George Orwell essay i read recently concerning the British perspective of europe and fascism written during the second world war. Unfortunately that about sums up this book, it relies on dated anecdotes and doesn't look to the future of Europe. It doesn't make any allowances for changes taking place in Europe. Read in isolation it would seem crazy to remain, supporters of the Brexit will feel buoyed up no doubt however it is based on some fairly flimsy assumptions and loose figures. It is interesting to note that one of the arguments it makes is that we will strengthen our ties with the US by leaving when in fact the US think we would be crazy to leave. The fact that this book is sandwiched between 2 essays written by the publishers owner makes it clear that this is not intended to be written from an unbiased perspective. Had it been so it might have made a stronger argument. A short read of the daily papers dispelled many of the myths propagated by this book. I was left feeling slightly disappointed that these seem to be the arguments for leaving. It seemed to have the adverse effect of bolstering my opinion that we should remain. I am giving this book an additional star because aside from anything else it is beautifully printed and i do love a publisher who takes care and attention over the art of making books.

[Vicky Clayton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful to have a different perspective on Brexit.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very useful, measured overview of the UK's relationship with the EU over the last 40 years and the real agenda behind the project of "ever closer union". How could we ever have thought this was about anything else other than the creation of a European super-state?