Professor Vernon Bogdanor  'The EU without Britain: Never Closer Union?'
Channel: Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow
Date: 2021-03-11

Was Brexit an aberration or does it reveal real weaknesses in the European Union? The European Communities, forerunner of the European Union, were founded by the Treaty of Rome in 1957 in circumstances very different from  those  of  today,  with  just  six  member  states  at  roughly  similar  levels  of  economic  development  and  member states facing a common problem of completing postwar recovery. A prime motive was to integrate Germany into the continent. That was of course achieved many years ago. Today, by contrast with 1957, the European Union comprises 27 member states at very different levels of economic development and it faces very different problems. In addition, the 1950s was a period when the leaders led and the followers followed. Today the `followers’ i.e. the people, demand much greater accountability and control over those who govern them.  The  EU  therefore  must  transform  itself  from  a  technocratic  and  elitist  institution  into  one  that  can  successfully mobilise popular opinion. How is this to be done?   
 BIOGRAPHY
Vernon  Bogdanor  is  Professor  of  Government  at  King’s  College,  London,  and  was  formerly  Professor  of  Government  at  Oxford  University.  His  books  include  Devolution  in  the  United  Kingdom  (1999),  The  New  British Constitution (2009), Beyond Brexit: Towards a British Constitution (2019) and Britain and Europe in a Troubled World (2020).