If no referendum beckoned, there would still have had to be a negative verdict on Helsinki, as a summit that left a large number of Britain-sensitive issues unresolved. As it is, the knowledge that there will be a referendum, or that Mr Blair can be intimidated into not holding one, permeates every British contribution to public debate. Only after it has happened, ironically, might it be possible for many issues to be discussed at a rational level. In Berlin, as at Helsinki, questions, though asked, were not resolved, and sometimes not well discussed. Legitimacy is a big question.
Popular assent is another one.
The final political shape of the EU is chronically avoided. One doesn't have to be outside the euro-mainstream, heading for the exit, to understand the depth of these issues. Nor does being outside offer any escape from them. On the contrary, only real insiders, who believe in what they're doing, however difficult, can address them. Tony Blair, reporting back from Helsinki yesterday, demolished William Hague.