Economic policy is triggering disaffection among nations – the very thing the pioneers of unity hoped to erase

The dream of the unification of Europe goes back at least to the 15th century, but it is the nastiness of the world wars in the 20th century that established its urgent need in our time. The challenge was well described by WH Auden in early 1939: In the nightmare of the dark / All the dogs of Europe bark, / And the living nations wait, / Each sequestered in its hate.

It is important to appreciate that the movement for European unification began as a crusade for cross-border amity and political unity, combined with freer movement of people and goods. Giving priority to financial unification, with a common currency, came much later, and it has, to some extent, started to derail the original aspiration of European unity.

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