I like the Brexit reading as the UK acting as counter-balance of European "dirigisme." However, the post-Covid world is heavily oriented towards a dirigisme of any kind (and any level), and even the late Tory government wasn't saved from this - let alone current Labour government. So, making a counterfactual of a non-Brexit scenario (in post-Covid era) is perhaps more difficult than it seems, I believe.
Agree. Where would Europe be without Brexit is hard. Where would the UK be without Brexit equally hard. However, in my view, both would be significantly better off. A Europe that is a little less grandiose, a little less overly ambitious, and, I believe, more market orientated.
Macron is the exaggerated expression of an EU trend. The high level of dirigism in the EU political center is not discussed enough. I believe it comes more from incompetence, inefficacy, and disconnection from reality than from a conscious political choice. It is easy to write a piece of paper ordering the world you want - and not check whether it can exist. This has been the only EU policy for 25 years despite all the signs nothing was working.
My favourite quote from Jean Pisani-Ferry: “Je ne sais pas ce qui s’est passé”.
It describes a whole generation of leaders and advisors who decided they were right and never looked again.
Macron delayed fiscal conservatism & pension reforms until it was too late. Now he and his coalition have to do it, and they can't because they don't have a majority in the Assemblée nationale.
I like the Brexit reading as the UK acting as counter-balance of European "dirigisme." However, the post-Covid world is heavily oriented towards a dirigisme of any kind (and any level), and even the late Tory government wasn't saved from this - let alone current Labour government. So, making a counterfactual of a non-Brexit scenario (in post-Covid era) is perhaps more difficult than it seems, I believe.
Agree. Where would Europe be without Brexit is hard. Where would the UK be without Brexit equally hard. However, in my view, both would be significantly better off. A Europe that is a little less grandiose, a little less overly ambitious, and, I believe, more market orientated.
Macron is the exaggerated expression of an EU trend. The high level of dirigism in the EU political center is not discussed enough. I believe it comes more from incompetence, inefficacy, and disconnection from reality than from a conscious political choice. It is easy to write a piece of paper ordering the world you want - and not check whether it can exist. This has been the only EU policy for 25 years despite all the signs nothing was working.
My favourite quote from Jean Pisani-Ferry: “Je ne sais pas ce qui s’est passé”.
It describes a whole generation of leaders and advisors who decided they were right and never looked again.
Great post by the way.
Macron delayed fiscal conservatism & pension reforms until it was too late. Now he and his coalition have to do it, and they can't because they don't have a majority in the Assemblée nationale.