Citizens of partnership, not subjects of an empire

Having now seen the headlines, Mr Barroso, the President of the European Commission, must be regretting his careless remarks about the European Union being an empire.

Europe has not had an altogether happy experience with empires, whether at home or abroad and in any case the idea of empire - a centre that grows wealthy on the resources of the lands it controls - is surely the opposite of what the EU is supposed to entail. His rationale is therefore something of a mystery; more importan...