Britain and the Puzzle of European Union

This book is a study of the complex relationship between Britain and Europe from the Second World War to the present day.Drawing on first-hand experience of British and European politics, the author highlights not only the dramatically shifting power play between London and Brussels but also the EU’s own struggle to come to terms with its federal mission. He traces the important constitutional events that have fashioned the EU, of which the Brexit process is an outstanding example. The author proposes a number of constitutional reforms which, if carried through, would form the basis of a new entente between the EU and the UK. Both polities will profit from stronger democratic government of a federal type. The author advocates spanning the divide between NATO and the EU. He proposes installing a new class of affiliate EU membership, which may be useful for the whole European neighbourhood, including the UK.Featuring the history, present and future of Britain’s relationship with the European Union, the book will be of worldwide interest to students and practitioners of European integration, as well as diplomats and journalists. It is the first comprehensive manifesto for the future of Europe and Britain since Brexit.

"Andrew Duff has been one of the shrewdest critics of Brexit. Now he becomes one of its first historians, putting what happened to his own country firmly within the context of the EU’s wider challenges. Anyone interested in the debate on the future of Europe should read Duff’s book."Michel Barnier"Andrew Duff’s fine book is a serious reflection on the lessons of the often tortured relationship between Britain and the European Union and in the failings of the Brexit process.He is right that British departure leaves the EU smaller, weaker and poorer; he is also right that it provides a real opportunity for the EU to focus more seriously on enhancing the capacity of all its institutions to act more decisively; and for it to rethink the way in which it best interacts with its near neighbourhood, including a UK which will not rejoin, but with which a much more complex relationship needs to be built than the one reflected in the rather flimsy Trade and Co-operation Agreement struck last December."Ivan Rogers

Andrew Duff is one of Europe’s leading federalist thinkers. He was a prominent British Member of the European Parliament and Liberal spokesman on constitutional affairs from 1999 to 2014. Duff is a long-standing campaigner for the reform of the European Union. He opposed the holding of the Brexit referendum as well as its result.