A State of Independence: Why the EU is the problem and not the solution

“If still in doubt this book makes it perfectly clear that the EU of today is a pipe dream and that taxpayer money could be much better spent elsewhere.” Luke Johnson, Chairman of Risk Capital Partners, author, entrepreneur

How has it been possible to brand those voters as ‘EU sceptics’ who want a European project which focuses on the Common Market, a vision in line both with the original intentions of the European project and the views of the voters?

How has it also been possible, until recently, to largely ignore the grumblings of the people despite democratic systems in all EU member states?

Why have so few leading public servants - supposedly the guardians of both national interests and taxpayers’ money – put up so little resistance to the EU federalist agenda?

How can the same people responsible for the flagrant mismanagement of the euro project remain in charge of EU economic policies?

Why, really, is the immigration issue so toxic?

Why is it so hard to find prominent European academics and Brussels correspondents who raise serious EU objections despite also claiming to offer critical analysis?

Why is the EU debate so emotional despite decent and intelligent people on both sides of the political divide?

Mark Brolin answers these issues by applying a realist approach. He takes a longer look at the history and politics of Europe to point out that romantic political ideas have never ended in romantic outcomes.

“Amidst the debate on Brexit which reaches new low points every day, this is a most welcome contribution. We need a serious attempt to evaluate the best form of institutions to govern us given what we know about human nature. This does not necessarily mean unconstrained democratic nation states, but neither should we be governed by bureaucracies with no obvious means of accountability. This is one of many fundamental aspects of the EU debate which is being largely ignored. Mark Brolin tackles this issue.” Philip Booth, Academic and Research Director, Institute of Economic Affairs

“An important and timely contribution to the debate about the EU that offers some unique insights into the evolution of the EU, its structural flaws, and its ideological biases.” Dr David Green, CEO, Civitas

"Mark Brolin reveals the inexorable dynamics of ever closer union and the deficiencies of the current institutional set-up. I doubt that these evils can be cured." Roland Vaubel, Professor of Economics at the University of Mannheim

“In A State of Independence, Mark Brolin draws implicitly on public choice theory to document the inevitable centralization of power in Brussels, explained in part by the personal interests of the EU’s bureaucrats in expanding the size and scope of the European managerial/administrative state, shows its negative impact on national sovereignty and individual liberties, and argues forcefully that Britain’s exit from the Union would have salutary economic and political effects both at home and abroad. Brolin supplies a roadmap for substantive European reform that should be read by Eurosceptics and defenders.” William F. Shughart II, J. Fish Smith Professor in Public Choice, Utah State University, USA, and editor in chief of Public Choice

Mark Brolin is a British-Swedish Economist educated at the Stockholm School of Economics and presently a UK/EU correspondent facing mainly the Swedish press.

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