For me, as a Czech MEP elected in 2004, the EU was an opportunity to build upon all the principles I thought European integration represented: the single market, free trade, and the four fundamental freedoms.
We were pre-economic crisis, pre-Lisbon treaty, pre-migration crisis, pre-Brexit, and the air was electrified with opportunity.
However, it was not long before the EU started to buckle under the weight of its own ambitions.
The vision of flexible and effective coopera...
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Already a member? Login hereMatthew is EUobserver's Opinion Editor. He joined EUobserver in June 2018. Previously he worked as a reporter for The Guardian in London, and as editor for AFP in Paris and DPA in Berlin.
Matthew is EUobserver's Opinion Editor. He joined EUobserver in June 2018. Previously he worked as a reporter for The Guardian in London, and as editor for AFP in Paris and DPA in Berlin.