It is difficult these days to imagine life in Europe without the European Union. While we are mercifully not in a position to launch such a counter-factual experiment, it is fair to say that Europe’s economic development would otherwise have proceeded more slowly. There would be no single competition policy, single market or single currency. There would be less trade among the nations of Europe, more macroeconomic instability. Spain and Ireland would probably not have achieved their spectacular economic transformation, and without the EU, many countries of central and east Europe would have found it more difficult to manage the transition after the collapse of communism.

For most member states, the EU acted both as a harmonising and a liberalising force. The combined effect of EU enlargement, the single market and a common transport policy has produced a high degree of commercial integration that would otherwise have taken much longer to achieve. Today, one of the most striking images of European integration is the sight of motorways full of trucks from countries such as Romania and Lithuania. Air travel liberalisation has perhaps contributed more than any other policy to bring the people of Europe closer.